project advice
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project advice
Ok guys, heres the situation. Ive a '77 F150 supercab with a longbox that I picked up a back in june. Since then Ive pretty much finished all the body work and am ready to put it back onto a frame. The frame that came with the truck is in good shape and ready to go.
This week, I picked up a '88 F350 with a 7.3 and a C6 as a donor. Dually wheels too.
I'd like to put my '77 on the '88 frame for many reasons, but I'm gonna have trouble with the bed. The wheel wells wont line up with the '88 rear tires as it sits, so I thought about getting a shortbox, which is a pain to find anyway, and using that, but it still sounds like it would have fitment issues.
So heres the dilema: I can put the '77 body on the '88 frame and possibly shorten my longbox to fit. I dont really kow how hard this would be, since I havent taken a close look at how this thing is put together. Or, I can move all of the F350 suspension stuff onto the F150 frame, if its possible.
Any advice/tips/ or anything would be great to help me sort this mess out.
This week, I picked up a '88 F350 with a 7.3 and a C6 as a donor. Dually wheels too.
I'd like to put my '77 on the '88 frame for many reasons, but I'm gonna have trouble with the bed. The wheel wells wont line up with the '88 rear tires as it sits, so I thought about getting a shortbox, which is a pain to find anyway, and using that, but it still sounds like it would have fitment issues.
So heres the dilema: I can put the '77 body on the '88 frame and possibly shorten my longbox to fit. I dont really kow how hard this would be, since I havent taken a close look at how this thing is put together. Or, I can move all of the F350 suspension stuff onto the F150 frame, if its possible.
Any advice/tips/ or anything would be great to help me sort this mess out.
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Ive been following that thread, it gave me the idea to start my swap. I figured if he can do it with a '97, an '88 should be doable. Only issue with that is that both of his trucks were the same wheelbase( crew cab and long bed) so it made the fender to wheel alignment a little closer than mine.
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I figured moving the suspension over would be a hassle after I started to look closely at it. I'm not sure what the wheel base of the '88 is, but I know its ~20" shorter than the '77. I can measure it again tomorrow. So I'm leaning toward moving the '77 body over, and using the '88 frame, motor, tranny and wiring, as well as the cluster and dash lights making them all fit into the '77 dash. Damn, just writing that makes me tired...
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I could I guess. If I did i would likely need new driveshafts, unless the '77 driveshafts would work. Fuel lines and some wiring. Anything else? Then theres the extending the frame; could I use a chunk out of the '77 frame, would it be strong enough? Also, what do you guys estimate it would cost to have the frame professionally welded, thats not something i would shadtree
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I could I guess. If I did i would likely need new driveshafts, unless the '77 driveshafts would work. Fuel lines and some wiring. Anything else? Then theres the extending the frame; could I use a chunk out of the '77 frame, would it be strong enough? Also, what do you guys estimate it would cost to have the frame professionally welded, thats not something i would shadtree
Its been around 7 years since I had my 86 F250 so I dont know if you could use a piece of the chassis from the 77 you have or not. You would have to break out the tape measure. And I dont think the drive shafts from the 77 will work on the 88 you have.
If you bring the chassis to a qualified shop they should be able to bend up a channel in the length needed to stretch your chassis. You could also have the local salvage yard cut you a chassis rail if you wanted to go that way. Obviously you will be paying a premium for the shop to do it for you, so you will want to make it as easy as possible for them. Strip the chassis, remove all wires, fuel/brake lines etc. The less they have to work around the more you will save in labor charges.
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