Hello everyone, im a new member. I am planning to swap the body from an 86 f150 2wd to an 83 f350 4wd. I know it s a lot of work but at the same time it isnt. i was wondering what all will i expect to run into trouble wise. I dont imagine i will be getting around to doing the swap soon as moneys tight so for now im just swapping my tired 300 for a rebuilt 300. I am new to fords so how can i tell what trannsmission i have in my 86? And what rear/gear ratio?

Thanks, Joe

Welcome to the site Joe!

As for your body swap,make sure the 86 body will fit the frame.In example,if the 86 is a single cab longbed,make sure the 83 F350 is also a single cab longbed.If the frames aren't the same,then you're going to have some work ahead of you.

As far as transmissions go,do you have an automatic or a manual?You can tell what Automatic transmission you have by looking at the shape of the transmission pan.I'm not a manual transmission guy,so maybe someone else in here can chime in.

Once again,welcome to the forums.

Yeah they are both regular cab longboxes. The tranny is an auto.

THanks fordtruckman!!!! I hope to be here forever now lol

yenkojoe said:

Yeah they are both regular cab longboxes. The tranny is an auto.

THanks fordtruckman!!!! I hope to be here forever now lol

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Okay that's good.Here's a chart that will help you Identify your transmission....



Hope that helps.

This truly is a great site.Everyone here is friendly,and we're all here to help each other.Enjoy the site man,and I look forward to seein more posts on your swap.Good luck.

That actually sounds like a neat little project! (well.. I dunno if you can really call it "little" )

Keep us updated for sure!

basically with a cab swap like Shaun (Fordtruckman80) said is the frames. but from what you say its the same which is good!. the other things you will run into is wires...lots and lots of wires....haha. but on the firewall infront or the driverside part under the hood is i believe a very large connector which has most of the wires going from the engine compartment to the cab. as far as i know the 7th gen has this...the 8th and 9th gen do so im assuming yours does as well. the other thing would be the e-brake cable, speedo cable, tranny shiter cable, washer fluid hose, anything that is mounted to the firewall inside the engine compartment has to be taken off, fenders and hood will have to be removed as well. on these cabs there is 4 body mounts pretty much on the 4 corners. the back 2 will be under the carpet behind the seat. there is going to be 2 access holes that you have to remove (take the 2 or so bolts out and take the cover off) and then remove the body mount bolts there. the front 2 are the same way. lift up the carpet in the front floor where it starts to go at an upward slant. there will be 2 more access holes in the floor and the body mount bolts are right under neath there.

Travis,some trucks don't have carpet.lol.

I'm not entirely sure,but I don't think my truck has that master connector you mentioned.

yeah im not 100% positive on that. i know they have it in the 8th gen. not sure about the 7th gen though. but i figure the 7th/8th/9th gen trucks are so much alike you, it might have it

Yeah when i get the time and some more money saved ill be doing the swap, i was planning on doing it this fall but i dont know anymore... we will see. maybe ill have to rid out the winter in 2wd... not that fun but it can be at times...

haha yeah i know what you mean. empty parking lots rule!

eah i have no carpet, it is pretty sweet, i got a deal on the f150, 700 bucks and it is really clean cab. i cant complain

yenkojoe said:

eah i have no carpet, it is pretty sweet, i got a deal on the f150, 700 bucks and it is really clean cab. i cant complain

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I got ya beat...Sorta...I paid 400 for mine,no rust in the normal places,except for the driver's side floor pan.I'm slowly rebuilding mine.You did get a pretty good deal though.

89frankenford said:

haha yeah i know what you mean. empty parking lots rule!

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It doesn't snow in Florida,it just gets really cold.

lol i think for up here i got a pretty good deal. On my driver side under the floor mat i got rust too lol its weird. otherwise the corners and doors are solid but a couple small spots.

and it sucks being in a one wheel wonder in the snow... absoluetley horrible, no matter how much weight i had i would slip around,,

yenkojoe said:

and it sucks being in a one wheel wonder in the snow... absoluetley horrible, no matter how much weight i had i would slip around,,

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i cant agree with you more!!!! hence why i have the Trac-Loc ale now

yenkojoe said:

lol i think for up here i got a pretty good deal. On my driver side under the floor mat i got rust too lol its weird. otherwise the corners and doors are solid but a couple small spots.

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My floor mat was completely deteriorated on the driver's side,so water just sat on the bare metal and rusted through it.I just decided to rip the floor mat out cause it was trapping moisture.I also have a problem with my front bed panel.It's only hanging on by a couple of the spot welds.My truck sat for 3 years before I got it,so the bottom of the panel rusted out too.I'm looking at close to 600 bucks to rid my truck of rust.

yeah i might be getting a new front clip for the truck... the cab and bed are good, thats why i got it, i havent been able to find a good cab anywhere around here for cheap, not to mention a longbox

Good decent cabs are getting harder to find for these trucks.

I'm really afraid to see what the bottom of my radiator support looks like.I hope it's not full of rust.

yeah i know wat you mean, its been a long time since i started this little project especialy since my dad has been harping on me to get rid of it... for a couple years now