this is going to be a long winded post asking some specific questions about the frames on the 99-03 bodies.

the frame appears to be multi sectioned and has a front section which ends right in front fo the front leaf spring rear hanger. then it is one piece all the way to the rear. is this correct?

could you conceivably seperate the two peices and joint the back half fo the frame to a different front.

IE: i have an extended cab, but want a crew cab so i buy a crew cab truck frame and body (say with bad engine) and then separate the frame and mate my front end to the quad cab rear frame and then transfer over the cab and bed?

i ask this because I am stupid, bored and in order to get a quad cab would be a royal PITA as i would need to run through the entire import, gas testing etc for japan. whereas if I grabbed say a quadcab and shipped it over, and grafted its rear frame to my front frame i would not have to do any of the importation BS as the official frame numbers for imported trucks is stamped in at the fornt of the frame, jsut forward of the front leaf springs front hanger.

why is this important? my truck was imported when the rules were different, and as such is grandfathered in in several very important ways that are not longer available to me (or anyboey else for that matter) and the costs to import it now would exceed the cost of a newer truck in many ways (just the exhasut gas tests, brake tests, and whatnot would exceed 30K USD. if I could bring one over and not finish the importation paperwork i could swap the back half fo the frame and corresponding body parts and by law it is the same vehicle... nifty huh?

so what are the thoughts on the partial fram swap? has anybody pulle dthe frame apart there for say repair purposes? any info?

Ken

 

I watch a lot of YouTube channels of guys who do frame resections.

so the answer is yes, if you have the ability to carry it out.

to shorten a frame, they just dice it in two places, and then put a thick patch over the length of the frame to ensure that the stresses will be the same or better than before it was sectioned.

Paul *** is super good Fabricator, search his list and watch what he does.
He put an old '49 Dodge cab on a Ford frame, replaced the inline six engine with a 5.9 Cummins.

Interesting build.

https://www.youtube.com/@FabRats

He is just finishing up a Jeep for his wife, it is ready to paint.
what he did to that Jeep is just astounding, swapped frame and re-sectioned lots of parts.

 

more super fabricators

https://www.youtube.com/@RobbyLayton


https://www.youtube.com/@MattsOffRoadRecovery

 

So you can import a frame w/o having to deal w/ the paperwork? Or is there a frame locally?

 

Forget using a factory style frame. Weld up a chromoly tube spaceframe.

 

 

I think that's the purpose in the factory. They can "print" the front section for all superduties and the back part is application specific. I've also been told this is for repair purposes, but sort of doubt that. Ford wants you to buy a new truck, not a new frame. Regardless, I think this would be a great project, but you'll need a lot of $$$, time and room to work.

 

Man, grafting together two frames of the same make is a lot of work as-is. I couldn't imagine trying to put Dodge and Chevy pieces on a Ford!

: poking with a stick:

 

if you viewed the specific videos relative to the Dodge Cab, that was placed on the Ford SD frame, and stuffed with a 5.9 Cummins.

you would see that all of the Cross Members were moved.
The motor mounts were cut off, and the frames ground smooth as glass.

Special hand created motor mounts designed, using Cardboard CAD

the Radiator is hand crafted, meaning the nipples were moved.
the air intake for the Turbo was hand crafted inch by inch to get it to pass over the radiator and down a bit.

Special cardboard alternator brackets cut and thrown away, more cut, sliced and diced... it took months to get it done.

the firewall of the Dodge cab was moved back and widened, the tunnel opened to carry back behind the seats.... and the manual transmission shifters ( Transfer Case and 2-to-1 box ) are where they should be, for your hand to just fall on the shifter *****.

it is beauty of love, and it looks great.

the Patina of the Dodge cab was retained as is, and sprayed with a special "will last forever clear coat" so the patina does not change.

This is the finished truck, he made it into a rollback

 

Here you can see under the hood

 

I can import the entire truck and it is nothing until it gets its frame stamped. as my frame is stamped if I can take the front section from my truck, and the rear section from and unstamped truck and join them then it is for all purposes my truck. this would include swapping the cab and rear bed of course, but thats easy if the fram can be sections at the front joint and then re-joined.

mind you I do not need any of this, it is more of a thought exercise and then deciding if I want to go through with al of the work. in reality, i would probably get one of the slightly newer bodies with the coil spring front end and do a coil spring swap at the same time.

to put this in perspective: I am an old school hot rodder and nothing stock is good enough. i do not need this i have no actual use for it... i just want it... without needing to homulagate a new body. 95% of what I do with cars is unnecessary... but i do it anyways. looking at building a 4" lift for my wifes subaru... of course I have nto said anythign to her about this yet...hmmm 31's on a forester

 

i have a purpose built shop... and am getting too old for 180 MPH race cars... still i get the itch all the time.

edit, i just bought a 6 ton 2 post lift to swap out with my 3 ton lift so I can lift the truck... it is a sickness

 

You and I are kindred spirits on this.

This is where we diverge. I plan to die at 180mph.

 

Nope, I didn't watch any linked videos. Youtube isn't important to me and I don't care.

My comment (the sarcastic stick-poking part) was because of my "nomenclature ****-ism". Ford never made "extended cabs" (GM), "quad cabs" (Dodge), "X-cabs", "Double cabs", "Club cabs", et al. Chevy never really made a "Crew Cab" and stole that name because GM buyers weren't smart enough to realize what "3+3" meant so they adopted Ford's term. In other words, they couldn't put 2 and 2 together for the 3+3 name.

 

I had an '98 Quad cab Dodge, hated it, but that 5.9 was a stump puller.

we now have a '99 Quad Dodge 1 ton flatbed, courtesy of my sister who lives with us now.... it might get started twice a year, which is a shame.
We have too much rolling stock around her now with her stuff brought here from her farm.... hubby passed 8/22

I am going to make a point of getting it unhookd from the horse trailer so that I can drive it once in a while, it is an Auto tranny.... it has to idle for a couple minutes before it will move.... my '98 was the same way.

We also have 2010 Ford Raptor which is a joy to drive, and the rear doors open up wide, making it a 2+2.... the 6 ft shortbed is surprisingly good enough, for 99% of what we use it for, a Grocery getter when we have to go 40 miles one way and fill it up with shopping "bargains"

my daughter is a shopper.... the Raptor is from my sister's farm, her husband bought it for a "retirement gift" to himself.

there is a 40ft diesel pusher motorhome in my driveway, it has not been started since we moved it here from Utah last March a year ago. It sips 240 AC keeping the batteries up to snuff.... but that diesel needs to be exercised...