F350 Cab Swap '96 onto '94 Chassis | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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F350 Cab Swap '96 onto '94 Chassis

Carguy3J

Explorer Addict
Joined
June 21, 2008
Messages
1,525
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City, State
North East New Jersey
Year, Model & Trim Level
'99 4dr. XLT SOHC A4WD
Well, what the title says:
I'm looking at buying a '94 F350 with a wrecked cab/bed. The frame is straight. It comes with a parts truck donor for the cab/bed. The donor is a '96.

Both trucks are F-350's, 351/5.8L, 5spd, 4x4. The '94 chassis has a nearly new motor and clutch, along with a ton of fresh steering and suspension parts, whereas the chassis, and the motor is bad on the high mileage '96 donor, hence the desire to swap cabs, instead of fixing the '96.

I know the sheet metal is the same. My concern is possible wiring/electronics differences, particularly because the donor is a '96. Is this going to be OBD2, or did the heavy duty F350 "hold over" with an obd1 system? What will have to be kept from the 94 and switched? OR what would I need to take from the '96 (such as sensors on the motor, etc..) to make the '94 motor compatible with the '96 ecm/wiring?

Since the title is what the cab is, that means the truck will be a '96 legally, so I'm wondering if I might run into inspection issues if I keep the '94 ecm/emissions. Or are there no differences on these particular trucks? I KNOW it would be a problem with a car or light duty truck. I'm just wondering if the fact its an f350 might "save" me, as far as different emissions requirements.
 



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Saw your post over on Pirate as well. Did you decide to go with the project or just buy a complete working truck?
 






Saw your post over on Pirate as well. Did you decide to go with the project or just buy a complete working truck?

I didn't buy them, but I think they are worth saving. Rather then do the cab swap, I would keep the '96, and put the motor/trans/t-case from the '94 in. The frame wasn't that bad, and the body would be fine for a work truck. I just need something asap, and I can't wait to rebuild a project. But, someone should save one of those trucks.

I just bought a '00 F-250 super Duty, Powerstroke/ZF stick, 4x4
It's being dropped off this morning. I just hope I didn't make a big mistake. Its a lot of money, for me anyway. I paid $3200 for the truck, and it needs tires and front end work. The frames ok, but the cab has bad corners/rockers, and the bed is a beater. I drove it for an hour, and it seemed good. Has a little bit of an oil leak at the pan/front cover interface. It also has a tuner on it.
 






If you need any body parts you should come out here. The yards are full of old oil field trucks that get sent to the scraper once the engines fail out of warranty.
 






If you need any body parts you should come out here. The yards are full of old oil field trucks that get sent to the scraper once the engines fail out of warranty.

Too bad you're so far away. I doubt it would be worth a cross-country trip. I wonder what freight would be for a pallet of various body parts? (doors, tailgate, fenders, running board/nerf bars, etc..)

This thing is already turning into a money pit. Now it needs rear springs, as the "main" leaf on on side is broken. Its snapped off completely just ahead of the u-bolt plate. I have it clamped together for now, but its only temporary. It will also need shackles/hangers/u-bolts at the same time, as well as 4 shocks.
 






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