59 cab swap
 

Hello forum , thanks for the 250/100 answers. I'm close to buying this 59 truck with a flareside6ft. bed., looked for and didn't find any vin tag on the glove box door, drivers door , firewall, etc. This is looking like a scavenged truck, the guy says he has a clean title, the fenders say f250, but its all f-100 on the drive train. My question is, which year donor truck can I sit the 59 cab and 6ft bed on? 2wd or 4wd doesnt matter to me, I just want it as easy as possible, I've got the mig welder on stand by tho, thanks for any input

My opinion is - I flat out would not by a Frankentruck that might be a problem down the line.But, I do live in Cali, where being found with an altered vehicle can get you in trouble.

How can he have a title with out any VIN ?!? :-huh

Did you look on the frame? I found mine about a foot in front of the firewall on the passenger's frame rail.

Well, if I can get this truck for my price, I really am leaning towards puttin the cab and 6ft bed on a donor - so what are my donor options?

You can use anything you want as a donor, depending on how much work you want to do. Frame swaps are never easy and often turn out looking like warmed over poo. I know a lot of guys running the Crown Vic front stub. I haven't done one (yet) but I intend to. The guys I know who have say it isn't that big of a job.

Thanks, so I guess there's really no one year truck I can lift the body off of, and just put my cab and bed on

Not many frames with a 110" wheelbase that the 57 to 60s short beds had, so not many "easy" donors. Even on the "easy" ones there are cab and bed mount issues, steering column differences, etc. that crop up.

No expert on cab swaps never having done one, but depending how modern(dark) you want your truck to eventually be I'm thinking even a 'hard' cab swap is easy compared to doing everything from scratch. Since September I've swapped beds, rear axle, converted front hubs, swapped to a diesel and off brand trans, altered both driveshafts, fuel delivery, wheels and tires, radiator on and on. I still don't have power steering or power brakes with dual master that most people want. My point is I could have perhaps mounted the 59 cab and the 9' styleside bed on my 4x4 diesel 92 f350. They both have 60" cab to axle dimension. My service box is a bit rusty and I only paid 3500.00 for the truck. A lot of cutting and welding for sure, but it would have ps, pb, 7.3 v8 diesel, not to mention 4wd AND the entire chassis would have remained the way ford engineered it. Some would appreciate it being ALL ford as well. Sometimes I eventhink I shoulda just mounted the flareside box on the 92 and be done with it. Hindsite is 20 20 Anybody got a good fridge cab? ;)

I knew you were alright down deep inside somewhere!?! :D

I love fords! If the cummins woulda taken a t-18 I'd be all over it! My grandpa Sisson was a ford dealer for heaven's sake....:-X03

I am glad he can't see what you are doing to yours! LOL LOL!:D:-X04

He would prolly admire your engine-nuity!:-X22

By the way, that is a very cool old pic of your grandpa's garage!

He died in'28 when my dad was one year old, sold a ton of model Ts. I have a lot of old paperwork and some nice photos from there... Wareham Mass. Always wondered if he lived to see a model A...........I still think a body swap is a good way to go. I'd like to do one some day. A guy on the island here did a pretty nice one, a 65 3/4 ton transplanted onto a '79 3/4 ton 4x4 chassis. It wasn't radical, it looked stock. He was only about 23 when he did it. He told me the mounts were mostly square tubing. As for the 110" wheelbase, last saturday I saw one of those truck shows on tv where they made a c10 longbed into a shortbed. They made shortening the frame look like a walk in the park. It really isn't rocket science.