1977f150xlt is restoring a truck that he bought that was converted to SWB. the PO cut the box, but did a terrible job on it so they're fixing it and all of the body work. if I had questions I think I would maybe be talking to him about some stuff. good luck!

 

There is no problem with stretching or shortening a frame, I have done many semi's and if a knowledgeable welder does the repair you will not have a problem with it. A 90m degree cut and butt weld is not the best way either, even with a sleeve. Should cut with an angle from top to bottom the welded together, smoothed up. The diamond plate works well but is usually used when the frame is already broken and there is no choice on the angle. One of the better methods would be to use a larger oval shaped piece that was several inches on each side of the weld and then if you wanted you could box the frame about the same distance as the oval patch or a bit longer. A truck frame is easy to sleeve as they are straight, but a pickup isn't so this method is simpler and quite strong also. If ypou have a straight place to do this, patch the outside and sleeve the inside for 3' or so, bolt the sleeve with good grade 8's, paint it and be done.. lots of ways but this is a good strong method..

 

i dont know if it was said.... but if you comb over the show (trucks!) on spike when stacy was on there.. hehe did a segment on doing that ill try and find it

 

thanks Dr.Dirt for the mention,

well luckily i didn't have to chop frames, i hit the jack pot lottery! i found a 1977 F-150 SWB 4x4 frame, the best part was it was taken off the road 14 years ago, and put in a barn, it only had surface rust on it, then we sand blasted it, and then coated it 6x with Black epoxy primer (that stuff works great), you can click the link in my signature for the youtube video of the truck, also i will be putting a update video up on youtube soon,

with my truck the previous owner started with a long box truck, he must have found a 75 F-100 SWB 2x4 frame, and then got a southern styleside long box, then he chopped it down to match the frame, he did a horrible job, he cut between the front of the box, and front of the rear wheels, thus leaving a seam in the center, he should have cut the box from the front then re attached the front wall to the box,

first start out with a long box (unless you can find a nice rare short box) now this is how you chop down a box, not the frame, also this is a random dentside picture, i don't know whos truck it is, but it had the profile i needed to describe what i am talking about, i used this awhile back to help another user out,



the picture below is wrong way to cut a box! the previous owner cut my box like this! and the previous owner was not good at body work or metal work, we had to get box quarter panels to try and correct his screw up! so i repeat do not do it this way!



you see once you reattach the 2 pieces you are left with a seam to hide, which can be a pain to hide,



the picture below is the correct way, as you can see you have to bend the sides over the front wall just like the factory did, then spot weld it, thus you have no side body work, well unless the box isn't perfect obviously,



then you get a nice short box once done,



now frame wise, i would follow some advice already posted on here, like Z cuts, personally i would box the whole frame from the firewall to the back bumper, and make a thick plate bracket for the out side of the cut, triangle cut bracket could be stronger? not sure, but any thing is better than just butt welds! but yeah, box the whole frame, when you start messing with frames like chopping you want to make darn sure its tough! also if you box the frame you will also gain lots of frame strength, and stop frame flexing, i know a lot of extreme 4x4s like less flexing! it also gives the truck a better ride, and handling

here is a link, i know its a chevy, but its all i could find,

1971 Chevrolet C20 Longbed - Shortbed Conversion - Sport Truck Magazine

they also did this on Spike Tv's powerblock on trucks, and they did it back when Stacy was on there, he is actually on Gearz on Speed TV,

i am sure someone can dig up some video clips from the Trucks TV show, but i can't seem to find either of the clips?

good luck with your truck, i know its easier to chop a box (if you do it right) then chopping a frame safely, but anything can be done with the right tools and materials and of course experience in welding and metal work is a must! if you don't have the greatest welding skills, i suggest prepping all the work, then have a professional welder finish it off, or if you have more money, get a metal shop to mod your frame, but expect that route to cost more than doing it yourself or doing all the prep work,

i hope all my info helped, and i am sure you have enough info so far, so good luck, anything can be done, so GIT R DONE! its best to over kill everything, because like Murphy's law says "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

-Brent

 

dang, double post!

 

Unfortunatly the project was put on a perminate hold and sold to someone who can finish it because my wife wants to add an additonal member to the family. however i will still be driving a ford truck ill just be fixing it up

 

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