Figured I'd post my recent 4x4 swap. When researching this I only found one thread for this generation of truck, and one YouTube video documenting the conversion. I hope this will be helpful to the next guy.
I inherited this truck and wanted to keep it apart of my vehicle fleet as one day I'd like to have a boat, and RV. I was having nightmares of ending up on YouTube sliding backwards at the boat ramp, plus liked the 4x4 stance so entertained the swap.
Probably costed me 2500 dollars. Was it worth it? Tough to say. Hopefully one day when I do sell this truck it'll go for more given most people I imagine want a 4wd. I could of saved some money by using the old coil buckets, and coil springs.
I bought this half frame, manual transfer case, both drive shafts, and assorted hardware from a junk 2016 f350 for 1500. I thought this was a reasonable deal since it gave me pretty much everything. The manual transfer case was key to not have to mess around with any wiring or vacuum lines.
I put 1.5 inch rough country leveling springs on. It's currently way too high in the front so I ordered some 4 inch rear blocks. Mine are 2 inch. Hopefully that'll level it and that is all the lift I want. To be determines.
Anyways - here's the half frame I bought
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I tore it all down. I thought the Axle was in Ok condition. A little rusty so gave it the landlord special and painted it. I had to change a wheel bearing, one stud, and the drop arm. Otherwise it all seemed intact. I changed the gear oil too. I took off the coil pedestals from the prior lift kit which required some serious breaker bar action.
![Image]()
Here's what I did for the manual shifter. Cut a hole. Bought some weather stripping. Drilled 4 holes and bolted it down in place. Not sure how it's held in a 4wd truck but I think this looks pretty good. The big bolt that it hinges on is already on your 2wd transmission. There's no wind noise. There is a plate underneath the floor that you have to peel the floor down to unscrew before cutting a hole in the flooring.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Take this yoke off the end of your transmission and the T case bolts right up to it. No big deal. Looks like for older trucks you needed a new transmission, not this generation.
![Image]()
You have to grind off the old coil buckets and bolt up 4x4 coil buckets that I purchased from Lakeland ford. I guess I could of grinded the old ones off the old frame I had. It was like 300 bucks. Maybe would of been worth it depending how tight your budget is. To get the rivets out I had to drill them out and use an air hammer. This was unpleasant. The holes on the frame are a touch under 1/2 inch, so I just drilled out the coil bucket and frame holes to 1/2 and used nice grade 8 bolts. Looks pretty good I think.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Once that's done it all kind of bolts into place. So far no problems. You can see this is with the 2wd brake lines. They seem to work but I'll swap em to the 4wd ones that came with my junk frame so that the bracket is there to bolt to the coil pedestal.
![Image]()
I inherited this truck and wanted to keep it apart of my vehicle fleet as one day I'd like to have a boat, and RV. I was having nightmares of ending up on YouTube sliding backwards at the boat ramp, plus liked the 4x4 stance so entertained the swap.
Probably costed me 2500 dollars. Was it worth it? Tough to say. Hopefully one day when I do sell this truck it'll go for more given most people I imagine want a 4wd. I could of saved some money by using the old coil buckets, and coil springs.
I bought this half frame, manual transfer case, both drive shafts, and assorted hardware from a junk 2016 f350 for 1500. I thought this was a reasonable deal since it gave me pretty much everything. The manual transfer case was key to not have to mess around with any wiring or vacuum lines.
I put 1.5 inch rough country leveling springs on. It's currently way too high in the front so I ordered some 4 inch rear blocks. Mine are 2 inch. Hopefully that'll level it and that is all the lift I want. To be determines.
Anyways - here's the half frame I bought
I tore it all down. I thought the Axle was in Ok condition. A little rusty so gave it the landlord special and painted it. I had to change a wheel bearing, one stud, and the drop arm. Otherwise it all seemed intact. I changed the gear oil too. I took off the coil pedestals from the prior lift kit which required some serious breaker bar action.
Here's what I did for the manual shifter. Cut a hole. Bought some weather stripping. Drilled 4 holes and bolted it down in place. Not sure how it's held in a 4wd truck but I think this looks pretty good. The big bolt that it hinges on is already on your 2wd transmission. There's no wind noise. There is a plate underneath the floor that you have to peel the floor down to unscrew before cutting a hole in the flooring.
Take this yoke off the end of your transmission and the T case bolts right up to it. No big deal. Looks like for older trucks you needed a new transmission, not this generation.
You have to grind off the old coil buckets and bolt up 4x4 coil buckets that I purchased from Lakeland ford. I guess I could of grinded the old ones off the old frame I had. It was like 300 bucks. Maybe would of been worth it depending how tight your budget is. To get the rivets out I had to drill them out and use an air hammer. This was unpleasant. The holes on the frame are a touch under 1/2 inch, so I just drilled out the coil bucket and frame holes to 1/2 and used nice grade 8 bolts. Looks pretty good I think.
Once that's done it all kind of bolts into place. So far no problems. You can see this is with the 2wd brake lines. They seem to work but I'll swap em to the 4wd ones that came with my junk frame so that the bracket is there to bolt to the coil pedestal.
