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I believe the 'integrated' cab pickups have a frame. The Econoline's are uni body until 1975.
Shoulda researched it a bit. I always "thought" 61-63 unibody trucks were true unibodies. I was wrong, they sit on a frame. Learned something new today.
Actually, "unibody" is a term misused by enthusiasts to describe the fact that the cab and bed on some '61-'63 styleside trucks was a single unit. As you say, a true unibody would not have a frame per se. Ford called them "unitized" and "integrated pickup" models. So there was a frame and LMC offers cab bushings for those years but does so w/o differentiating cab types. Thus, I guess that the cab mounts are the same for all the cabs available during those three years. I found no mention of bed bushings so guess that the bed is bolted directly to the frame as our dentside pickups are. Here's an image that gets the idea across pretty well:
Shoulda researched it a bit. I always "thought" 61-63 unibody trucks were true unibodies. I was wrong, they sit on a frame. Learned something new today.
As long as we keep learning is a good thing. Guy down the road had a integrated cab and my parents had a early and later Econoline.
I had posted a similar question to the '61-'66' forum but haven't gotten a response yet. FYI, the reason I'm curious about this is that I was pretty well into a thought experiment on how to render a dent side truck as a unified cab and bed. One of the often cited complaints about the '61-'63 "unibody" trucks is that frame flexing transmitted to the body caused doors to stick or fly open. I suspect that you don't hear this as much about Broncos, Rancheros and the like because those models have bushings for the bed and cab. They probably have better frame structure as well. The Bronco is 4WD and generally gets a whole lot more stress in that role.
As they say, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." I am stuck in Florida and have been away from my truck in Georgia for more than a year now. So this "unibody" dent side truck might follow my current dent side project if ... I ever get settled in one place or the other.
The body flexing would probably be as evident as it is on a suburban, expedition or excursion. As long as you had enough structural integrity of the underbody and uprights, it probably would never be an issue. Though those other vehicles have upper body integrity as opposed to a pickup i still think that, if done right, you would not notice body flex. Unless you built it on a 4wd.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalyptic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.
