Will a 56 f100 body fit on a 71 F100 Shortbed Frame? Have a 71 f100 with a great running gear and a rusted out body. Would like to put a body of a 53-56 f100 on it. Is it possible? If so, do they sell any kits to make it easier or can anyone give me some advise? How do the cab mounts line up to the newer frame?

 

Based on how you have phrased your questions I would say that this endeavor exceeds your current skill level. I don't want to discourage you but some questions are just a little to general to be answered in a forum like this.

 

I'm not too familiar with the 71 F-100's but I used a 72 Chev C10 frame for my 56 panel. What you are going to have to do is a lot of measuring. You will likely run into a problem with the tracking width if your plans are to lower the stance, if it's going to be left with a higher stance then it won't be as bad. With a pickup you will also loose some deepth to the bed because of the kickup at the back of the frame if the 71 F-100 is anything like the same vintage of the Chevy frame I used, so modifications will have to be done there as well as your cab mounts and radiator crossmember. The frame width should be the same, you may and likely will have to adjust your wheel base as well. I had to cut my frame in half and remove 15" for correct wheelbase. It is more work than using an original but if your not in a hurry it doesn't matter. It's been said on here that it is the journey that counts. Think about it before you jump in.

 

I have to agree with Charlie, that by the tone of the question, you'll be in over your head in no time. That's not to say it can't be done, but the level of fabrication necessary is that of a highly skilled and experienced fabricator/custom bodyman. I knew a guy that put a 55 body on a mid 70's 4x4 chassis. He had pretty good knowledge of what he was doing, and he still spent 2 years constructing it. It required cutting and sectioning the frame and custom floor pan mods, not to mention building all the body mounts from scratch. There is no short cuts or kit for a project like this, and no easy way out. My advice would be don't do it, or you could end up with 2 piles of scrap, instead of just one. If the newer truck has a good drive train, it's a lot easier to swap that into your old truck and have a good running 56 than to try do do what you're thinking. There are kits for that.

 

Measure, Measure, Measure. That's the biggest thing. Putting the bed on should be no problem as they have used the same stepside box all the way up to '72. Three things that will kink you up in this endeavor...

1. Your wheelbase. I'm not so sure the '71 SWB matches that of a 53-56 wheelbase. Now you may be talking frame grafting or sectioning. Need good skill to safely accomplish this task.

2. Cab mounts are nowhere near comparable, especially the rear cab mounts. Here you WILL have to fab up cab mounts. Could be as simple as slicing the mounts off of a '53-'56 (corresponding to the cab of choice) and mounting them to the '71 frame. Dunno. I'm thinking the '71 frame is the same width as the 53-56 F100s, but not 100% sure. If nothing else they are damn close as you can direct swap the rear axle assemblies from a '67-'72 into the '53-'56 without any mods to the spring perches.

3. Core support mounting. Completely different between these two generations of trucks. Will certainly take some fabrication to complete this.

Bottom line, can this be done? Sure. I'm confident I could do it, but I consider myself pretty skilled. Would i do it? No. It's not worth the titleing/paperwork nightmare you may be creating. And it will certainly make it hard to sell if there is questionable paperwork issues. Now if I wanted to create a 4wd '53-'56.... then i may consider it as it could possibly be alot less work than modifying the '53-'56 frame. (at least in my opinion)

in the end.... Drivetrain (engine, trans, rear axle) swap would be waaaaaaaaay easier. Like '52 Merc said, kits redily available for that. In a nut shell, that's exactly what I did, I dumped the engine (an FE 390), the trans (C6) and the 9" rear axle all out of a '67-'72 F100 into my '56. Trans Dapt makes the engine swap mounts for most all engine/trans swaps into these trucks.

 

Hello Rusty71swb, Just curious if you've made a decision with the answers you got?
Hope you haven't been scared off, we are friendly.