Hi guys, new here to this site, hope some of you will be willing to give some advise on a project that I have started. It starts with my 15 year old daughter wanting an old pickup instead of inheeriting her mothers 04 dodge 1/2 ton, so I picked up a 60 model f100 swb did a small amount of body work and a coat of paint and it was driveable. Since then I came upith a 98 ranger 4x4 ripped the body off and now have the 60 body just setting on the frame, the ? is should I rail it out for the cab or just build new body mounts, should I shave the rear hump over the axle to lower the bed. I know I am going to have to shorten the frame 16.5" and then the fun begains HOW the heck am I going to make the steering, power brakes,gear shift etc work? Anyone have any sugestions throw them at me!!

 

Can't help with this but wanted to ask for pics

 

Welcome to FTE! If you had come here first, 99% of us would have said don't try putting the truck on a newer frame but since you've already started the project, good luck! I have nothing I can tell you that would help. I don't doubt that it could be done but I'd never attempt it...

 

Welcome Dennis
Post some pics!!

 

I've seen a few posts here before where someone has done a body swap like your talking about. One guy took a explorer and cut the body off and left floor board and firewall of the explorer and mounted the old truck body to that. I dont know if that would work in your case or not but if you had to like you say you can build new body mounts.

 

ummmm that would be a PITA i say find a 4x4 frame of a 1996 and older truck and start over 4x4 frames with complete running gear around here in south texas go for anywhere between 200-1000 bucks not bad considering it makes it ALOT EASIER ON YOU or you could find a old bronco and transfer the axles and such what motor and tranny are you running?

 

I've been running all sorts of differant ideas on how to do a conversion like this. So far if you do the ranger frame swap and you leave the floor boards of the ranger you could graph the body onto that since its already attached to the frame, some mods will be needed to the floor board and firewall area of the old truck you are trying to fit on it. Yea its abit of work but with any conversion like this there will be alot of work involved. One of the biggest problems will be trying to get the track width correct, on the bigger trucks your wheels will stick out on the sides depending on its track width, my 2010 has a track width of 69 inches so it would stick out 4 inches on each side. I also did some checking on differant frames that could be used and the ranger is the closest, it has a 60 inch track width (98 and up I believe) which is close to our frames and the wheel base is 126-127 inches so you would only have to shorten the frame 16-17 inches, so instead of just fitting the body onto the ranger floor board or fabbing up some body mounts and maybe mods to the firewall. With the bigger truck frames you would have to widen the truck your trying to fit on the frame (wouldnt be worth it) or run diff offsets on your wheels along with all the stuff you would have to do to the ranger frame so you would be doing even more work if you went that route. Or the other option is to get a mustang II, jag, or crown vic ifs and put that on the truck, either way you go there will be work to do.

 

Pictures of the area where the frame and body meet on the underside would be helpful. I put a ranger 2/wheel drive frame under a 51 f-1 and was able to use the front and rear mounts from the 51,but i had to build the center mounts . The wheel base on it was correct , 114 in , for the 51,so i never had to cut it. I believe the 60 body is wider than a 51 , so i'm not sure how that's going to work out for you.

 

Thanks for pointing that out, all the stuff I was looking into was for my 55 and with your 60 I'm sure there are some differences between them...

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by 76f350spercamprspeal

Welcome to FTE, Best Damn Forum EVER!
------------------------
Here's How to Post Pictures:
1. Login to FTE.
2.Click User CP (In the Top Left Hand Corner)
3.(On the Left, There will be a list, The 5th Option Down, will say "Pictures & Albums) Click That.
4.Then, Click Add Album, Enter a title, and description, if ya want to.
5. Click Upload Pictures, Then click Browse, Locate the Files of your truck. (You can add 3 files at a time)
5. Click Upload.
6. Add a description to the individual pictures, then click save.
7. Add more files if ya want.
8. Click The Picture you want to post, it will give you two codes at the bottom, Right Click The Second one (It say's BB Code, Then Say's [IMG]http:blahblahblah...[/IMG])
Then, Once that is highlighted, Right Click, Then Copy, Then Paste it into your post.
You can add up to 30 Images in one FTE Post.
If, Ya need any help, Don't hesitate to ask.

 

Welcome to FTE!

A local, (who I haven't talked to in a few years now) put an F1 on an older Ranger 4x4 frame with great results. I'll say that anything can be possible with enough cutting, fitting, R&D, etc.... can be expensive, but if you can make it look stock, I'd say it will work. I'd start by assessing the dimensions of the firewall where it meets the frame on both, but if the Ranger cab is already off, then this could be difficult. The idea is to find that location so that steering, shift linkage, brake MC, etc... will have a similar location, and can minimize the mods on them. Then, I'd check for wheel-well centering, and hope the front lines up. The back, as you say by cutting 16.5" out, is obviously not centered yet. So I would look at where you can make multiple cuts to achieve the proper length. The process will go on and on until it all fits and works.

That said, many swaps like this have been started and never finished. These take a lot of time, and by the time it would be finished, your daughter could be 21. That's coming from experience. But I'm not trying to tell you no, I'm just saying with a few here who have done it, and other means of help, this can get done one step at a time. But I would start by taking measurements, post them here, and go from there. Good luck!

 

ok guys here is where I am at, I have the cab where I want it and have the front mounts fabed up and installed, tomorrow I plan to fab up and install the center mounts, I will hold of on the rear until I cut the frame and refit it, I plan to fab a set of temp mounts to keep everything in place. I see that I am going to have the equivalent of a 4" body lift when I am done. I also will have to install a set of wheel spacers to get the tire width correct. there is only 1/2"differance in frame width but the ranger has a narrower axle than the 60. I will get some pics as soon as I can g,et the wife to load them for me, I am not that comp savvy as of yet, What do you all think about me fabing up my own fuel tank, the ranger tank is going to be too long to fit after the frame is cut?

 

Didn't some Rangers come with an auxillery tank? I remember seeing 2 gas doors on some models and would suspect that the rear tank would be mounted between the frame rails. I've seen dual gas tanks on the '83-'90 bodystyle Rangers, not sure of your bodystyle.

 

My 87 is a dual tank ship. Yes the rear tank is mounted between the rails in the very stern.

 

ok here is todays accomplishments, I got the front cab mounts fabed up useing the ranger mount brackets, 96 dodge body bushings and 3x3x3/8" angle. I have temp blocks near the rear of cab and will fab the mounts after I cut and reweld the frame, I fabed up and installed the bed mounts so that everything is in its place when I go to line the frame back up. after double checking everything over and over again I think I will onlyhave to cut about 15" out of the frame, I can always cut more if needed later. I also cut the frame on the 60 about 8" from the front bumper and welded frame horns to front of ranger frame,It looks good and saved me a lot of fab work. I have my wife try to load some pics but she ran into some kind of problem so that will have to wait till later, as to the fuel tank problem the ranger only had 1 tank and it being too long I see no other way to fix my problem than fab my own, I have built manny desiel tanks in the past and I build crude oil storage tanks for a living so I dont have fear of any steel fabrication, anyone have sugestions on anything I would appreciate the input!