I have the opportunity to trade a chevy 350 motor for a rolling '55 F100 Body. The only down side is I'm moving from Oklahoma to Delaware and it will be one more thing to move. I'm wondering if the truck body would fit on an early Bronco running gear to make it a 4x4?

 

frame swaps come up all the time here , and as luck would have it for you this one has been asked before . maybe try a search on it . either way ........... i have done a swap of my 55 onto a modified 74 ford 1/2 ton frame , and it is a time consuming , work intensive , headache inducing pain in the a-- . if you are not up to it don't do it you are just going to end up with two piles of parts that you aren't gonna know what in the hell to do with . mine was almost done , in final mockup , when it got moved by an impatient spouse to make room for her freakin' yard sale , by wrecker to my unk's place and it got bent to hades and was unrepairable . i'd say from an ease of working , parts availibility , if you are inexperienced , just modify the factory frame to accomodate whatever it is you are wanting , and take the desired parts from the bronco and divest yourself of it . our old girls were available in 4x4 , by marmon herrington and a couple other factory approved installers . maybe find a pic of one in detail and go from there ????? by the way i'm not trying to talk you out of it , just trying to prevent you from getting neck deep in a pile 'o' ***** and end up discouraged if your not ready for it !!!! if you are go for it by all means !!!!!!!!!!!!! p.s. there is a build thread in the projects forum of one of our members putting his 55 on a mid 70's 1/2 ton frame there ............................. look and read , and get a wild hair up yer backside if prepared for it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for your 2 cents. If I do the swap and haul the 55 across country I wasn't sure if I wanted to build a sleeper or do the 4x4. But, since even a 55 F100 4x4 won't cure my need for another Bronco...I think I'll just have to have get both eventually. I will check into the other projects you were mentioning.

 

one needs more than one project to be happy you know !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so a bronco , a 55 effie , and some sort of street machine for a daily , and .................

 

I've come across it done a few times, not sure of all the problems involved. The pre-79 broncos look like they would work best, the first gen however have too short a wheel base and would make for one funky looking truck.