Forest Service Truck Coyote Swap

[67mann]

Nice work

[miller]

Thanks! I got rear end assembled. Waiting for some lug nuts from amazon to show up today so I can mount wheels.

[miller]

Made a very ugly jib, but it did work to pull the cab.

[miller]

This is how the cab looks, I have some work to do. I'm also going to finish cleaning up frame and painting.

[miller]

Some more pictures.

[Fordkid68]

Very nice! It looks great! Good score on the solid cab. You don't have a whole lot to patch, so that will be easier.
Are you keeping the patina? because it looks really awesome! That will be a sweet truck when you are done.

[miller]

Thanks Adam. Yes keeping patina just getting the cab a bit more solid while I can.

[bellamor]

The progress looks nice, I can't wait to see this car clean and out of rust.

[cumminskiller]

Nice build so far. I work in a steel fab shop and I am a CWI by trade. I try not to comment on welding and fab, however, your fab and welding skills look top notch from here! Keep it up!

[Mercury100]

I’m still running my 9 inch with adapter to the 4.5 pattern.
What will I need to put on the 97 explorer disk brakes?
The bracket to hold the caliper. Does some one make it?
I already need new axles for the 4.5 pattern but the famous last words” while I’m in there” I wouldn’t mind the disk brakes if the cost is reasonable.
You have a nice build going. Keep up the great work.

[miller]

Thanks for all the great replies.

For the explorer rear brakes mine bolted right up to my axle. I had to put in a spacer which is the thickness of the explorer bracket so the axle bearing will be seated. Currier has them. U can pick up the explorer axles cheap at any junk yard. I’m not a 9” ford expert but mine I believe is the big bearing bolt pattern which is same as explorer. I can get u some measurements next week if u need them.

[miller]

After a much needed break in Sunny Florida with the family time to get back at it. All my sheetmetal showed up. I bought the floor pan, cab corners and door post lower rocker pieces from Tabco. The floor pan seems to be 16 gauge metal along with the door post piece and then the cab corners 18 gauge. The door post pieces will need to be trimmed to fit they were only $10 so it will be something to work with. all the other parts I got from Tom at F100 flashback and are nice quality.

[miller]

Not sure if I should replace the entire floor pan or just the parts that are bad? Any thoughts?

[Fordkid68]

On my truck I did not use the entire pan. I did not replace it up by the pedals, because then I would not have to worry about duplicating factory holes. For pedals, clutch linkage, etc. I only did the lower part. Your floors look really solid, and you only have rust by the kick panels, but there were times on my truck that I thought I could see all of the rust, but when I started stripping paint off I found lots more holes. So it might be a good idea to replace the entire lower flat part of the floor, just so you know it's solid.

[miller]

Thanks Adam. I put the bed back on and verified wheel alignment looks good in WW. Also removed cab heater. Mice had a nice spot!