Bed finally on truck but need everyone's advice..

[MikeO]

... because I am at a crossroads.



To refresh everyone's memory, I have a 92 D350 C&C. I purchased a practically new dually bed from Rust Free in Iowa and some spacers from Arrowcraft.



Anyway, I mounted the bed yesterday and I have 28" of space between the cab and the pickup bed. The options I have come up with so far are:



Shorten the frame 28". The challenges with this are shortening of the brake line and driveshaft. The dilemna with the driveshaft is that I believe the 8' reg cab pickup used a one piece driveshaft. I have a two piece. Can I adapt the output shaft of the transmission to accept the driveshaft (shaft #1 happens to be 28" so I would like to know how to remove it)?



Get a crossbody tool box made to match the height of the pickup box. The extra lockable storage would be great. As would the extra weight for ride quality.



Convert it to a four door. I don't think the 28" will do it.



Buy an 8' bed and use the front 28" to create a spacer bed. A sheet of diamond plate steel would be used for the rear panel. This would again be good for extra storage and I could fabricate a locking/waterproof lid system for it for extra storage.



Need to figure out soon what to do. Your thoughts are appreciated.



Mike O.



PS The Arrowcraft spacers really put the rear drums out there in the airflow nicely to keep things cool.

 

[AMikonis]

driveshafts

Mike, my '92 D250 regular cab has a 2-piece driveshaft, so maybe you're okay if you go that route. My '92 W250 regular cab has a one piece r. driveshaft.

 

[JTMcCracken]

seeing as how a Lincoln Classic II diesel welding machine is 24" wide, that is what I would put in that space. You should probably go with the toolbox though. Could you explain what the Arrowcraft spacers are? Thanks... ... . JTMcC.

 

[MikeO]

Arrowcraft spacers

The rear axle on a dually Cab & Chassis is 6" narrower than a dually pickup. To allow the tires to clear the bed I needed to either swap axles or buy spacers. Considering I put a new gearset in the rearend and just did the brakes again, I went the easy route and did the spacers.



Since the drums are in their original location and the wheels are moved out 3" on each side, the drum is now viewable from the rear and it seems they may sit out in the airflow quite nicely now.



Mike O.



PS The Lincoln would give it a nice ride!

 

[JTMcCracken]

Thanks for the quick reply. I hace a 1990 cab & chassis welding rig and it is 6" narrower than my F-350. My Dana 70 needs an overhaul and seeing how I could use that extra 6" of width I think I will replace it with a pickup rear end, maybe a Dana 80. Does anyone know if the widths on 2nd gen. trucks are the same?

I will be on a job later today where they have a 2nd gen 1 ton pickup so I'll take some measurements. JTMcC.

 

[JHansen]

My buddy at the auto wreckers close to here has a Dana 80 from a 2nd gen truck swung under his 1st gen... . it's a cab & chassis so overall width is hard to judge-but it didn't look out of proportion so I believe it's close. Even the spring pads are set at the right width! You have to make a bushing for the center bolts as the 2nd gen springs have a larger head diameter than the 1st gen ones-he just made them out of pipe. I imagine the driveshaft would have to be a little bit shorter for the 80-but I never specifically asked him.



HTH

Jason

 

[Hutchew]

U could do this, which would be cool.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1825029535

Always wanted one of these rigs, just for the heck of it... .

 

[scott4glamis]

there is a truck like this for sale in the local auto trader that has been there for months. price if i remember correctly is @1/2 of what that rig sold for. but it doesn't look nearly as nice.