I recently aquired a 77 Chevy 1/2 ton that I am going to strip the engine and tranny from for my 55 F100. A friend of mine asked why I don't just mount mine on the chevy frame? It has possibilities if I lower the front and rear end of the chevy. Has anyone done this swap?

 

Hey Wilky, I do alot of frame swaps, and that one is not fesable. I don't say it's impossible, but very impractical. First off the track width is WAY too wide, second the frame rails are swept up too high, and there's no practical way of lowering it enough to make it work, then you can't get the engine to sit in the correct place after you have done all the other stuff. I tried once, and I never could get it to work and suit me.

The best "reframe" for a 53-56 F100 is a Dodge Dakota. They're a true midsize truck, and the track width is perfect, and the frame height is very low, everything will work out very well. You need to find an early 80's Dakota, with 5 lug bolt pattern wheels. The rear ends in these trucks ain't real good, but you can buy a whole frame and change the rear end for either an 8.8" late model Ford rear end, or a 9" rear end. The Dakota frames can be bought for around $400, and have a rack and pinion steering setup and will clear about any engine combo. I hope this helps, and dont hesitate to email me and I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have.

trucks1956@yahoo.com

GOD bless

 

Do a search of the site to find discussions about frame swapping. The consensus is it's better to upgrade your stock frame although there are a few brave souls who have done a chassis swap.

 

I'm using a 72 Chevy chassis under my 56 panel,not sure of the difference between the 77. I'm using lowered springs and drop spindles, lowering it 4 inches that will just tuck the wheels into the openings. I don't feel that I'm going to run into any serious problems, not as far as the swap any ways. My bigest problems have been my inexperence in body work. I did however had to make room for the transmission but I think you may have to do that depending what you decide to power it with even if you stayed with the original frame, I may be corrected on that however. I am in no ways trying to tell you that a frame swap is a walk in the park and I'm sure that sticking to the original will create much less headaches but there are cures for them,lol. But just because some will say that it can't be done there are always some who will try to prove them wrong.

John

 

Right on! That's half the fun, to do something that everyone says can't be done. I have never done a frame swap but I have done other projects that when I started I had people standing around telling it can't be done and I have proven them wrong. If you feel you can do it go for it. If you fail, so what, at least you tried. If you succeed all the better.

 

Amen to that my friend
John

 

all i can say is go for it . dain near had my 55 onto a 74 ford 1/2 ton frame swap done when it got damaged for reasons not discussed . a lot of nay sayers but if you want it it can be done . i still get a wild hair up my backside on stuff and i'll drop in here and let my freinds talk sense to me . no more swaps i'll upgrade what i got , as i know what a lot of headaches it is now!!!!!!

 

How skilled are you? There are a lot of 1/2 done frame swaps you can buy cheap on ebay for a reason: Builders that jump into a project that is way over their head on the "advice" of ill informed "friends". These are not plastic model kits to sit on a shelf, but vehicles that are at least "meant" to be driven, that need to be safe and moderately practical. No offense to panel 56, but he is building a panel truck which is quite different animal from a pickup. He has had to raise up the load floor quite a lot to clear his frame swap which is less of an issue in a panel than it is to raise the floor in a pickup 1/2 way to the top of the bed. It looks awkward and makes the bed useless. There are a few other frame swaps being done on here, but only a couple have actually managed to get them to a drivable state, and those were people with tons of fabrication experience who knew what they were getting into when they started. My advice (and I am one of the people with tons of fab experience who wouldn't do a frame swap on a 53-56 except to a custom made frame) has always been if you are inexperienced enough to have to ask about doing a frame swap, don't do it!
Sure anything can be done if you are skilled or stubborn enough. Someone could probably graft kangaroo legs onto a cow, but why would they want to spend the effort and expense? Sure wouldn't make a better cow!

 

Crap!!! I have the cow and was waiting for the kangaroo to be shipped, bought it on EBay Crap...crap there goes another "great idea" out the window....well back to the 53's interior :-)

 

-------------- --------- AX you should post that one on the other thread funny sayings

JOhn

 

AMEN AX, I tried on a 56 F100 pickup, and couldn't get it low enough, without comprimising all kinds of important stuff. I did manage to put a 1957 Chevy truck on the same frame a few years later, but it still didn't go low enough to suit me, but for my father in law it looked good. He's happy, and I'm happy to get rid of it!!! The Chevy truck did fit better than my F100 did, but stilll had some problems. As AX said, the panel truck is a totally different animal, and has a little more forgiveness in the area of raising floors to compensate for the frame.

I'd say look at a Dakota, it's a good swap for "beginners" and it fits very well!

 

You want to make your ChevMoCo run? Might need some Motorwrench parts to make this one work!

 

Hi there Terry, was just viewing your gallery and I figure my panel will have about the same stance as your pickup, I only raised the floor at the rear by 3". I don't think that much loss in the depth of a pickup bed would be much of a sacrifice seeing as most of us would only be carrying soft luggage. But all your points are well taken without any offence, it's good to get everyone's perspective.

John

 

Hey man, thanks! I always try to make comments that are helpful, and not critical. I DONT always manage to make it come out that way, but thanks anyway. Yes it's not much of a sacrifice in a panel to loose 3" of floor space. My F100's floor is kind of goofed up in that my gas tank (25 gallon fuel cell) is "suspended between the floor, and half is in the bed and half is below the bed. I lost alot of bed floor, plus with a tub for the pumpkin of the 3rd member, I have very little bed depth. When I started out on the 1975 Chevy truck frame, I had to move the engine back and up so far, I had a BIG notch in the firewall and the engine set back into the cab kind of like a van.


I hated that setup and took it off the frame and tried again. Currently my truck has a 1976 Nova subframe with a 9" Ford rear end. I was goin to change the whole frame and engine and all, but after much consideration, I think I'll just build another truck and keep mine pretty much as is. I will add EFI to it, and put some better springs in the front. Right now I have my coils almost touching each other, and it bottoms pretty bad in the front.

Thanks for the kind words, and keep up the good work!! One more thing about my truck's stance. The first year I drove to the Supernats, I was walking around the show and saw a guy who was etching a whiskey glass with a poloroid picture he had taken at the show. When I asked the guy about the picture, he said the guy who asked for the etching said, he wanted a 56 with a really low stance. So he picked mine, he then told me that when he finished with the etching, he'd give me the picture. He DID!! How cool is that!!

 

You guys are the best. I never imagined that I would get so much feedback in such a short amount of time.