81 f-250 T/S

Recently purchased this 81 as a roller with the 400 in pieces in the bed with the C-6 as well. I already have a mild build 351w and a small block c-6 but also have a built up AOD for one of my Mustangs but thinking I would like to use the built up AOD in the truck instead of the C-6. I understand from the gentleman that sent me to this site that the 351w in these trucks had a 2 piece driveshaft versus the 1 piece that's in my bed. I will have to find that out. Anyway I really like my new truck. Other than needing another hood and cowl grille replacement too I can't wait to get it running. I believe it may have come from Washington state. Anyone here used to own it? >

Nice looking truck.

I like the 400, though most don't.  Built right they have great torque, don't weigh as much as the 460, and will get better MPG.

But if you are going with the 351W you should change the engine stands, the things the engines sit down onto and that are bolted and riveted to the frame.  The Windsors take different ones than the M-blocks.  They are shown on the page at Documentation/Exterior/Frames/Engine Perches.

On the driveshaft, I've had two 351M trucks and two 351W trucks, and all took a one-piece driveshaft.

That looks like a really nice truck.
I agree with Gary about the driveshaft.
I am pretty sure that on the bullnose trucks the two piece driveshafts are only on the longer wheel base trucks - extended cab 8' box and up. I do recall changing centre support bearings on regular cab 8' box trucks from earlier years but they all had manual transmissions - no slip yoke on the tailshaft of the transmission.
Any truck with a two piece shaft will have a mounting point for the centre support, I think if you look under the truck you will see that there is no mounting bracket and so the truck must have had a one piece driveshaft.



In the picture you can see the centre support by the muffler and sort of make out the bracket.
Hope that helps

Thanks Gary, Yes I did already buy the bolt in small block 302/351w engine perches on Ebay from a great seller that gave me a lot of info and directed me here. He also said my stock trans crossmember can be used for either my small block c-6 or the AOD which ever I decide to use. Interesting about your 351ws having a solid shaft as I had heard they were 2-piece. I would rather have the one piece obviously if I can. I know most people would probably rather use the 400 instead but I thought it was a lot of extra weight and didn't think the aftermarket had much to wake up the stock engine versus the Windsor. but seeing as how it needs to be rebuilt and most likely not knowing about the c6, I would rather use the two units I have ready to go at least right now to get it running. I will keep all the original parts with the truck if I want to change back to stock. I will only be pulling a small camper with it and occasionally a small boat so I should be good. I believe my 351w I had built for my mustang project should do fine. Any tip's?

Thanks for the compliment, Yes I really like it too. Can't wait to get it running so I can go around the vehicle inside and out to get it back in shape. The interior is a pretty decent start with nice carpet sans plastic door panel breakdown and a slight small tear in the original seat material with only having some small limited body issues. I will be looking at different vendors to see what interior and exterior parts are available to put it back. Your right about the carrier bearing mount I did used to have one on my old 68 390/automatic 2-wl regular cab camper special and that has what confused me on this build. So I didn't know if I would need to set this up the same way. Thanks for the picture good info.

My F250 4x2 parts truck had a 302/AOD, was a regular cab long bed, and had a two-piece driveshaft. I couldn't understand why, since all of the other regular cab long bed trucks I've taken apart had one piece driveshafts. That's why I'm unsure if it was just an AOD thing because this is the first AOD truck I've torn down.

That's interesting. What year parts truck was it. Once this months long rain spell ends I'll be able to get out underneath to get a better look before starting. I'll also take length measurements and pinion to tail shaft pitch/angle measurements of my stock 91 4x2 302/aod f150 long box reg cab to see how much different the frame measurements are from one truck to another correlating between the different transmission bracket and tail shaft heights. If it looks to be the same or very close measurement that was done on my 91 from Ford, I don't see why I would need a 2 piece shaft and carrier bearing for the aod on this truck. Did the stock 351w have that much more low end torque than the 5.0 from late 80's to early 90's? I confess this is my first 80-86 so am learning as I go and really do appreciate everyone's input to date. I know my old 68 f100 C/S reg cab 390/C-6 truck had one, but that was technology of the time and possibly for Ford to be able to warranty the truck for heavy use? Don't know, but will get this worked out soon for the build and can't wait. Will also get pic's for all to see as I go.

The truck was an 86. It was a light duty F250 with a GVWR of around 6600.

It may also just be an F250 thing as well, although I can't verify that.

Yeah it could have been. I'll see what I find out this next week. Thanks for that.