so then what do you do in Mass when you need to change a cab? like i said, if you buy the cab from a salvage yard it comes with no VIN plate or title.

 

I've never bought a cab from a salvage yard, so I don't know how it would come.
The Mass RMV has a long pdf telling what you are supposed to do for different situations when titling a vehicle. I believe if you are reconstructing a vehicle (cab swap), you need to provide documentation of where the major parts from the vehicle come from. The vehicle then gets inspected by an agent of the registrar. In some cases, when VIN numbers are altered, removed, etc... a new state assigned VIN will be issued for the vehicle.

Judging from that, you can't legally swap the numbers.

 

Arizona is the same way... They want you to apply for dismantle titles on both vehicles, the present them along with the finished car for a class III inspection and an application for a state assigned VIN. This renders your vehicle value-less (except to you) and the state VIN is not honored in other states. Major headache and an obvious money mill for the MVD. The class III inspection is not cheap, iirc $350 plus your fees for the new VIN and title.

That said, dealerships have the rivets and are allowed to use them and distribute them to certified shops. I have a friend that used to work at a Chrysler repair center and said they just had to be very particular about who they sold them to. So obviously it is legal to legitimate repair shops. I for one would not like my repaired car returned to me with some funky VIN.

So it may not be legal to DIY a VIN plate swap, but if you legitimately own both vehicles who would ever question it as long as you carefully work the rivets out from underneath without damaging the head? Someone would literally have to suspect tampering and obtain legal permission to take your dash apart to find the JB weld or whatever you used to hold the rivets. Then what proof is there that you did not buy it that way unless you bought it new? Just saying, make it look right and who is going to notice or suspect car theft and VIN tampering on a 20-something year old work truck. I am not a crooked guy, but if dealerships and authorized repair shops can do it, I don't have much problem mounting MY legitimate VIN plate to MY legitimately purchased replacement cab. This is what I had planned to do for my single cab build but I ended up moving and had to abandon it. I did a lot of research and basically learned the true value of a clean title and VIN. I also read enough horror stories about the "legal" way that is one road I will never go down.

 

Let's look at this way you . Just swap the vine without the legal be could equal Grand Theft Auto. There is more than one on the truck. Some are hidden to check to see if has a Vin swap and possible stolen. Speedometer is another area that there are 2 ways to do it. One just put in new odometer could appear to be odometer tamping. The other is to record the miles off the old odometer and install date. On the cab swap sure it would be a PITA and $$$ . The hint of wrong doing is not there. There was a show I think it was shot in Texas about shops would go to junkyard auctions. One shop bought a 60s Mustang that they thought had a clean title. Halfway thru the build the body man noticed something look right about the Vin on the body. They got THE out there to check it. There had been a Vin swap on one part. They lost the money they paid for the car, all parts they had bought and the car. Just my 2$

 

but the VIN plate is not altered . it just had the plate swapped into the new cab that matches the VIN number that is stamped on the frame of the truck.
so there is nothing that can be altered.
like i said, i have done it many time at the body shop.
i have even done it on vehicles that were later inspected by the state police for salvage title recertification, and not once was the VIN plate being swapped ever questioned.

 

It has bean slow going on the truck as of now I have fuel pooring out of everyplace the filter top of the injectors it is a mess

 

Thank you for simplifying what I was trying to say.

 

It took a long time to get this shoulder working but I now have the cad and box off im going to por 15 the frame then start the rebuild

 

So I was looking at my frame today and I did some measuring and it looks to me the frame is out of square by 1" and it has a bow in the middle. What would be involved is making my 2 wd frame into 4 wd frame ? It looks to me that the front hornes are a little different . I'm not in a happy place now

 

The front horns are formed different and don't have the provision for the leaf spring mount.
None of the leaf spring mounts are on a 2wd frame, nor are the holes they would bolt to.
The shock mount holes won't be there either.
Looks like a Dana 60 from the pictures, that makes it easier as you don't need to deal with the TTB brackets. However, the trac bar needs to be moved over, the holes are there, but may need to be enlarged.

This require some fabwork and careful measuring. You might be better off bringing your frame to a shop and getting it straightened. It shouldn't cost much and you'd be hours ahead of your time instead of trying to swap stuff.

 

Thanks I was afraid of that. I'm way over budget on this biuld. But I'm a good welder I was thinking of trading the front 5 feet of the frames .

 

i would make the cuts and welds in the center of the frame near where the cab/bed meet, not in the front.

 

The bend is in the center if you look down the frame it has a bow between the forne bed mount and the front can mount

 

I know the pics are dark but what if I cut it at the core support

 

The other option is to do and RSK, reverse shackle kit. That puts the shackle at the rear of the front spring, instead of at the front. It improves the ride and stiffens up the sloppy job that ford did with the front shackles up in the frame.
The downside is that tends to lift the front of the truck up about 5 inches (depending what your plans are for the truck, that might be a plus...)

If you are comfortable welding, that might be the way to go.

Oh, the 4x4 frame is boxed for a section on both sides in the front. 2wd frames are only boxed on the driver side where the steering gear is. Not sure how vital that part is. I cut it out of a 4x4 when I converted mine, but never bothered to put it on the 2wd frame as I didn't weld that great back then and the access is terrible unless you pull a bunch of stuff I didn't want to touch.