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I don't think my truck is a factory dually!


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After doing some digging here and other places, it's come to my attention that my truck very likely isn't a factory dually.

The duallys weren't listed as crew cabs, and had an 11k gvwr, whereas my dually has a 9200 gvwr like a single wheel truck.

It has rear spacers instead of a dually rear, and weird big 5/8" studs and 1" lug nuts that nobody can seem to find.

It also has the dually fender clearance lights on the bottom, and they're round. They aren't the normal small ones at the top like '85 and up rigs.

Am I correct in my assumption or did ford half-ass the whole dually thing that bad in '84? I'm wanting to run 17" alcoas off a 2010s ram 3500, but I need to swap the front adapters to ram ones for those 11/16" studs. I'm curious if there's a factory ford DRW axle with 11/16" studs as well.

The more I dig on my truck the more weird stuff I find. All these threads are probably starting to be a pest but I just want to know if there's anyone else who's found weird things on their conversion trucks. They don't seem to get that much love here.

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Ok, Centurion, took Ford trucks and redid them, they used to build a serious beast before Ford started building Excursions. You need to look at the certification label, on Crew Cabs it is on the back of the left front door just above the latch. If not, maybe it will be on the rear door post on that side in case they simply extended the cab. It will in all probability say "Incomplete vehicle manufactured by Ford Motor Company".

Once you have located that, maybe a picture of it can help. The rear axle on a 1984 will be a Dana and they were the same length for single or dual wheel trucks, it wasn't until the Sterling 10.25" debuted in 1985 that the wider track width (and full width inside of the bed) was available.

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Ok, Centurion, took Ford trucks and redid them, they used to build a serious beast before Ford started building Excursions. You need to look at the certification label, on Crew Cabs it is on the back of the left front door just above the latch. If not, maybe it will be on the rear door post on that side in case they simply extended the cab. It will in all probability say "Incomplete vehicle manufactured by Ford Motor Company".

Once you have located that, maybe a picture of it can help. The rear axle on a 1984 will be a Dana and they were the same length for single or dual wheel trucks, it wasn't until the Sterling 10.25" debuted in 1985 that the wider track width (and full width inside of the bed) was available.

I don't think mine says incomplete vehicle. It has all of the centurion logos, a Canadian DOT cert sticker, and the usual ford US federal VIN sticker, I'll have a look tomorrow if I remember. My phone is busted but I'll see if I can pester it enough to make it take pictures lol. It's the truck in my avatar that's in question. I think it was shipped as a base XL crew cab with a few hand picked options, was shipped off, had Centurion seats/highliner headliner/usual old man classy stuff stuck all over it and got shipped back to the dealer. It is a Dana, with 4.10 gears, and has around a 2" spacer, and sits the wheels even with the full floating hub. Would it be worth updating it to a Sterling? I know they have a smaller ring gear, and I also have experience with rebuilding the 70s.

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I don't think mine says incomplete vehicle. It has all of the centurion logos, a Canadian DOT cert sticker, and the usual ford US federal VIN sticker, I'll have a look tomorrow if I remember. My phone is busted but I'll see if I can pester it enough to make it take pictures lol. It's the truck in my avatar that's in question. I think it was shipped as a base XL crew cab with a few hand picked options, was shipped off, had Centurion seats/highliner headliner/usual old man classy stuff stuck all over it and got shipped back to the dealer. It is a Dana, with 4.10 gears, and has around a 2" spacer, and sits the wheels even with the full floating hub. Would it be worth updating it to a Sterling? I know they have a smaller ring gear, and I also have experience with rebuilding the 70s.

Mine is an 84 built in Sept 83 and shipped to Centurion came with the 6.9, T19 and a Sterling rear, definitely not a Dana but I don't believe you would see much benefit from going to the Sterling

 

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Mine is an 84 built in Sept 83 and shipped to Centurion came with the 6.9, T19 and a Sterling rear, definitely not a Dana but I don't believe you would see much benefit from going to the Sterling

Also, look under the rear fenders at the box sides - they're totally different. I'm betting that you'll find that the box has been cut away for tire clearance. If it's a Centurion, it's most probably a SRW/DRW conversion. Almost all of them were.

Also, if it's a 4x4, it's definitely a conversion. Prior to Super Dutys, only Cab/Chassis trucks were available 4x4 and DRW.

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Mine is an 84 built in Sept 83 and shipped to Centurion came with the 6.9, T19 and a Sterling rear, definitely not a Dana but I don't believe you would see much benefit from going to the Sterling

Have you owned it since new?

I don't recall ever having seen a 10.25 rear in a truck earlier than '85, and yours rolled off the line 9/83?

Not doubting, just trying to get my head around it.

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