My '78 F250 4x4 is my daily driver right now, but it's in pretty rough shape. It's left me high and dry three times so far, but I figure hey, it's runnin strong, and each time I put a new part on, that's one less thing to go wrong later. Anyway, the rust belt has given it a pretty good whippin'. It's probably 200lbs or more lighter now than it was when it rolled off the line, even with the mud n' crud buildup it's accumulated over the years. The frame is pretty solid in the front, but behind the cab it gets worse the farther you go back, til one of the rear crossmembers is about gone. Let's just say I wouldn't try to tow anything with it. Once I can get something else for a daily driver, I'm going to tear this baby down and do it up right. One of the things I was thinking about doing was just fabbing up a complete frame from scratch. Has anyone had any experience with this? My uncle built his t-bucket and started with tubing and a chop saw, but I'd want something a little bit more HD than his bucket. One of the issues I can foresee is that the vin is stamped on the frame on these trucks, so I'd have to figure out a way around that.

Any thoughts?

 

if you do fab up your own frame make it fully boxed...

and as for the VIN on the frame just cut it out of the old frame and weld it into the new frame.

 

Yeah, I would absolutely do it fully boxed. No doubt. I always figure if you're gonna do it, do it all the way. Yeah, I suppose just welding on the original vin from the frame would work, I didn't think of that. My grandpa always said if you wanna know the easy way to do something, ask a lazy man. Well, I usually know the easy way, but I figured there'd be a few other lazy people here who might have some suggestions.

 

A lot of custom lowered truck have custom made frames. I've seen a a lot that the only part of a stock frame that's left is the front suspension. So it's definitely doable.

 

The frame rail from the fire wall back is the same from 95' back .

 

This is a surefire way to get your truck impounded. If you are going to go to the trouble of fabbing a new frame, go through the hassle of contacting your local Department of Motor Vehicles and find out how they want you to handle the situation. Most likely they will require and inspection once the truck is completed and assign the truck a new VIN. The new VIN will either be attached by a Police Officer or DMV employee.

 

18 USCS § 2321

TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I. CRIMES
CHAPTER 113. STOLEN PROPERTY

18 USCS § 2321 (2003)

§ 2321. Trafficking in certain motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts

(a) Whoever buys, receives, possesses, or obtains control of, with intent to sell or otherwise dispose of, a motor vehicle or motor vehicle part, knowing that an identification number for such motor vehicle or part has been removed, obliterated, tampered with, or altered, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

 

If the frame VIN is re-welded onto a new frame none of the above applies: it wasn't removed (it's still with the truck) isn't obliterated, the the VIN numbers and letters aren't tampered with or altered.

If that was REALLY the case, then it would apply to driver's side doors. You can't REMOVE the old VIN plate then if you swap doors. What if someone mistakingly ran something into the door and scratched the vin plate? I guess they are breaking the law as well, it's obliterated.

What about JWStrand's Monster truck with the completely new frame? Heck that truck has had several frames.

What about desert trucks with full tube frames?

In all seriousness, nobody is going to care except whoever buys the truck when you decide to sell it. If you're planning on keeping it, then do whatever. If you planning to sell it at some point in the future then the above scenarios are definately to be taken into consideration.

Josh

 

Bullit,
Sorry but that is exactly tampering with a VIN. I know, I impounded a lot of cars with altered/tampered VINs. The plate on the door of a dent is not a VIN plate, it is a trim plate . The VIN is not attached to a readily removable part like a door. The "public VIN" on the Dents are located on the top frame. If a police office saw that one was cut out and re-welded, you are going to have a problem. You may not be charged with a crime, but I guarantee it will at least ruin your day and probably alot more than that. Much cheaper in the long run to just do it by the book.

 

Tube frame trucks, race vehicles, exhibition trucks are an entirely different matter. You are talking about something that will not be titled for use on the street. When you transfer one of these, you are not going to transfer with a title, you are going to transfer with a bill of sale.