1972 Ford F250 – Sam P.

The truck came as a roller from a Nebraska Sandhills cattle rancher. Body was excessively corroded so I swapped that out for an Idaho 2WD F250 ‘72 camper special original sequoia brown metallic body that was in good condition. I completed a few generations of drivetrain swaps over the years, starting with the Ford F26 axles and 4sp FE390. I daily drive, run it on trips, haul projects, and haul a tank to water trees so I needed a truck that I could not be scared to run. For peace of mind, I cleared out all drip rails and cab/bed seams, rust prevented, seam sealed all, then single stage paint matched blending to existing original patina. I was not needing a show quality paint job, I preferred an aged look and did not want to have to fuss about a new paint job. Undersides, frame, and cavities I sandblasted then undercoated.
I built and swapped in a cummins 4bt/nv4500 in 2021, then in 2023, I built and swapped in a 91.5 cummins 6bt/nv4500 5sp. In the process, I built a front ‘78 dana 60 with 3.54 gears and built and changed out the dana 60 rear to a 1992 10.25 axle. I optimized it with Superduty front leaf springs, stock lift and tires the way I like it as a one-ton 6000 lb worker and plains long distance driver. I just finished installing the air conditioning, drove it on an 800 mile vacation, and the truck suits me well, and the mileage is fantastic for a 52 year old 4×4. The mechanical diesel seems dead reliable and has been the best thing I have done to the truck even though it was quite some work and money to figure out and install. When riding, my kids like to notice if people are watching as we are driving by. I had excellent help from the tremendous members at 4btswaps.com, fordification, and ford-trucks.com. I did all the work in my single stall city garage on nights/weekends. When you do the hard jobs and turn the wrenches yourself, you know exactly what you’ve got!