f250 to f350 dually conversion
 

Is this possible? One of our drivers retired and his truck is going back into the fleet but its a little bit small for what we carry. We try not to leave with less than about 2200# on the bed. I was curious as to if we could change out the rear end and put a flatbed on it. Its a long bed now. I know Id need 6 new wheels and tires and the complete rear axle would have all i need. But what about the front end?

Also, is there a way to have your vehicle "re-rated" if modifications are made to make it capable of carrying more weight?

The truck is a 2002 F250 long bed 2x4 crew cab (not the 4 full doors) with 135000 miles on it and ITS PAID OFF so im thinking this may be the way to go instead of trading it in on a 350 or 450.

We run 2 F550's and building a F650 right now. But itd be nice to have an in-between truck for local deliveries..

cale d.

As far as I have ever known, you are stuck with the GVW on the door sticker. You can make it a more comfortable and safer tow rig, but nothing can be done about he manufactures GVCW and GVWR.

It can be done, but you are talking about a fair amount of work and parts. I'd just start with the right truck. Sell it, and buy another.

Cale,

If it doesn't have full rear doors then it's a SuperCab, not a Crew Cab.

I tend to agree with the other replies, just don't see it being cost effective. I've seen people do it though.

Buck

Had an acquaintance do it. Could have bought a new one and saved a fortune by the time he finished.

The one company I worked for we did this on a few of our trucks. Try to find a disk brake rear end out of a dually , then take it to a spring shop and have the rear springs redone for a few hundred. I noticed on my buddies 2000 dually it has a spacer on the rear drives and one one the front for the off set wheels. Look in your local trader, or on ebay for the parts you'll need. If you decide to run on this make sure you have everything before starting , its alot easier.

Save some long term money and sell or trade the 250 and buy a 350/450

Bowtie and straightjacket;

Isn't it more than just getting dual wheels on the back and a little front offset?

Don't know much about it really. I know it won't help your gvwr or your gcvwr but it will give you more stability. The new F250's aren't any different than the F350's except for the steering stabilizer bar. Still better to buy the dually in the first place, I don't disagree with that.

In Fl, no matter what you do to make it a dually, the gvw is still the gvw the mfg rated it at, insurance liabilities if something were ever to happen, could fall back on you.

i kinda figured that'd be the responses. I think the route we're going to go is to sell it..the bed is so beat up on it that I doubt we'll get much out of it..thats why i was curious about the conversion.

if it is white and a long bed, there is a shop by us that has like five of these ford beds single wheel, on the ground from doing the heavy bed conversions can check into a price if you like?

the 250 & 350 are the same trucks. just different stickers, tires, & the 250 has a smaller spring block at the rear axle. they both have the same gcwr (towing). there of course were different spring packages available. however they are the same from 250 to 350. if you really need the dual wheels however, my opinion get a different truck. I run a 2001 250 with a heavy spring pkg. and changed the spring blocks. tows and handles weight great.

Check with shops in your area that do utility boxes and see if they have any take offs. You can get a great deal on a complete box that way, sometimes in the correct color.
New from Ford there around 3500.00 to 3800.00 complete.
I sell them wholesale for 25 to 28 hundred.

we ended up putting F350 SRW rear spring pack on it, new shocks and a full flatbed. Being that we HAVE to stay under GVWR for insurance, its now a dedicated hotshot truck. With our flatbed gooseneck, that was the best way we couuld still utilize the truck without spending the money to upgrade to a new truck and not have a driver to fill the seat.
The trailer is a little big for the truck, we just dont fill it to capacity. The rear springs DID make a difference. Before we put them on, we were on the overload springs with more than 1800# on the back. Now with that same amount, we have about 3" before we touch the overloads.

Thanks for everyones help..

Are the axles the same diameter for the srw vs drw? We used to make dually's out of f250's in the early 70's for wreckers and the axles would break from stress.

XACTLY buy the 350 and move on !

I converted a 1/2 ton Suburan to a 1 ton back in the early 80's. Bought the rear and front clips complete out of a wrecked one ton. Had to drill the frame to fit the front A arms. had to get a u joint made to jump from the bigger rear end to the drive shaft. Got fenders from a place in CA. The truck was much more stable on the road when towing, but I had to give it away to get rid of it.