The year of the LTD I used was a 1975. The truck now sits as low as the car did. It`s about 5 inches off the ground. But, as I stated earlier,the front is wider and I had to buy off-set wheels to keep them from rubbing when I turned the wheels.
I bought some smoothie wheels from Summit Racing made by Bart Wheels. A hell of alot cheaper than any I found anywhere.And I looked at all of them.
I just wish I had take pictures of the installation,but after the head aches I had with the Volarie suspension, I wasn`t sure if it was going to come out right. The Volarie was installed by a pro and he did it correctly, but it just wouldn`t hold up as well even after being rebuilt.
It`s funny when people tell me it can`t be done while they are standing next to the truck. Another thing is, be sure that when it is aligned, that they don`t charge you for a truck alignment, which is more expensive. They`ll argue that it`s still a truck, but DON`T GIVE IN! E-mail me any time, and good luck. Randy

 

You have any pictures of the truck to share?

 

I have a couple questions 1 what didn't you like about the mopar front end. 2 How much of the LTD frame did you use and how did you graft it to the truck frame. I have a 61 uni I want put a front end in and am still weighing options you've given me another option. Thanks Rich

 

I'm wondering about the volare front end too. I read an article
in an automotive magazine that the torsion bar front ends like
the volare have a design flaw that is hard to overcome. They
were saying that the torsion bar locates the lower arm while it
acts like a spring too. But because of the way the bar is mounted with such a short distance, the arm actually swings in an
arc moving the lower ball joint front to rear as the suspension
moves up and down. This movement causes the tie rod end to move
back and forth causing the wheel to turn slightly (bumpsteer) as
you go over bumps in the road. I suppose if the front end is
carefully installed as in the original car, these effects can
be minimized, but I suppose they will always be there to a certain extent.

 

The first time I rebuilt the front end I replaced everything before the motor went in. About 1 year later I had to replace the ball joints. That time, I went to a Dodge dealer thinking they would be of better quality. NOT! Later I had talked to a Mopar mechanic about the problems I was having and he told me that I will continue rebuilding the suspension as long as I have it. It was the torsion bars that were causing the problems.
So, after my 302 gave out, I decided to go with the LTD and not rely on some "off brand" .
The LTD clip was cut where the frame kicks out to the side rails. It slid in, (with a little coaxing),on the out side of the truck rails which were cut 14" foward of the firewall to about 1" before the body mount bracket on the truck frame.
The top of the clip was even with the top of the truck rails, and that gave it the same height that the car was at. I boxed everything and had a more experieced welder to weld things solid.
At the front, I cut the cross member straight across, getting rid of the car`s frame horns, and to mount the sheet metal of the truck. I used the truck`s frame horns to mount the bumper back on.
I hope this answered some questions regarding this swap. Any more, just give me a hollar. Randy

 

Randy thanks for the info. I've been talking to my brother who is storing my truck. He has an 80something Dodge Mirada that he says I can have anything off of that I want. That means I'm pretty sure I'm going to put the mopar front end in hell it's free. I've been doing front end work for many years and replacing ball joints on a regular basis is no biggie to me. Thanks again for the info. I plan to keep everyone up to date as my project progresses on the slick 60s web site. Rich.

 

Doesn`t the Mirada have the bars that go towards the rear? The mopar man told me that`s the ones to go with, but it is alot diferent than the Volarie. Did you say free? Now your talkin`.lol That`s the way it used to be, doing it which ever way you can. I used the car`s rearend too. It has the same bolt pattern, and a shop wanted $100.00 to redrill my axles. They say it isn`t as strong as the 9" rear I took out, but Ive pulled some pretty big loads with my truck and it hasn`t given up yet. Keep me informed how things go. Randy

 

years ago I put a 1960 F-100 shortbed cab and bed on a 1968 LTD frame. cut the 2-door frame down 1 ft and bolted the cab on using the steps inside the door for a mounting area. the core support fit right up. I had to cut big holes in the bed floor to fit the coil-spring rear suspension, and made a raised bed floor to hide it. I used a maverick steering column, and it had teh 1968 429 4V. it really hauled!!

 

Sometimes you just gotta put the books back on the shelves and do what works.