Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

Just organizing my thoughts kinda, I was up for hours last night riddling this around in my brain because my 6 month old would NOT stay asleep.

I've always had this crack pot idea to put a classic body I love on a modern chassis. With the growing family my original idea of a 67-72 on a 3/4 ton reg cab 00-06 chevy frame with the 6.0 gas motor has grown to realize I need a crew cab. Crew cabs with the added weight I feel like a 6.0 gas won't cut it anymore for my mpg and towing needs, so I was thinking 73-91 or 95-99 crew cab on a duramax chassis. Problem is the duramax I can afford would be an lb7, maybe an lly, but any under 150,000 mile crew cab duramax is still expensive. The 90s 12 valve and 24 valve dodges would be a good candidate, but they ride like crap and dodge autos are garbage, and I need an auto for my wife to be able to drive it while on vacation if we are somewhere that nobody else brought a car. I've been looking into the 6.0 diesel fords, and it seems that if you do the EGR delete and head studs, as well as the bullet proof diesel air to oil cooler, they can go 400,000 miles easy, with a B50 of 350,000 miles. The duramax only has a B50 of 200,000 miles, and if you just go on autotrader you see very few duramaxs with over 250,000 miles, yet tons of powerstrokes with over 350,000. Dodge has the cummins and we all know it can go 500,000 miles easy, but the rest of the truck falls apart around the motor. Other thing I like about the 05-07 6.0s is the live front axle with coil springs, and the 11,000lb gvwr.

99-07 ford wheelbases
Ext cab short bed 141.8"
Crew cab short bed 156.2"
Extended cab long bed 158"
Crew cab long bed 172.4

01-06 chevy wheelbases
Crew cab short bed 153"
Ext cab long bed 157.5"
Crew cab long bed 167"

95-99 chevy wheelbases
Crew cab short bed 154.5 (subtracting short bed from long bed)
Ext cab long bed 155.5
Crew cab long bed 168.5"

73-91 chevy wheelbases
Crew cab short bed 146.5 (subtracting short bed from long bed)
Crew cab long bed 164.5"

94-02 dodge wheelbase
Ext cab long bed 154.7"

02-06 dodge wheelbase
Crew cab long bed 154.7"

From these numbers, you can see a 95-99 chevy crew cab short bed would fit perfectly over the dodge long bed frame from both generations.
The 95-99 chevy ext cab long bed fits perfectly over ford ext cab long bed.

Everything else requires either modifying the frame or the position of the wheel wells in the bed, since I still want to put a cap on it. To get my crew cab, the dodge is the best choice, but they ride so harsh and I'd need to rebuild the tranny, which in all honestly costs as much as injectors on an lb7 or the bulletproof kit on the 6.0, about $3000. I could in theory do a 73-91 on a ford ext cab long bed frame if I cut down the long bed sections before and after the wheel wells on a long bed, which in my mind is easier than cutting the frame, parking brake cable, brake lines and driveshaft.

I'm just throwing ideas around and organizing them now. A 94-02 cummins can be had for $6-10,000, 6.0 ford from $8-12,000, lb7 for $10-14,000, 02-06 ram for $12-15,000. 7.3s are cheaper but I don't want a leaf sprung front axle for the ride and turning radius.

Any input? The purpose of this truck would be vacations, towing my Camaro to tracks as far as 1000 miles away through the mountains (VA to bowling green, KY), towing my boat, and DD duty in winter on 70 mile round trip.

Pros of the duramax: smooth ride with independent front suspension, quiet, Allison trans
Cons of duramax: dont seem to last much past 250,000 miles, and the ones I can afford already have 150-200,000 miles, injector issues on LB7, head gaskets and bigger cooling system needed on LLY

Pros of the 6.0 ford: high GVWR, live front axle easy to lift in future
Cons of 6.0 ford: needs head studs, BPD oil cooler, and still can have problems

Pros of 94-02 dodge: Cummins motor, great fuel economy, cheaper initial buy in
Cons of 94-02 doge: great motor wrapped in a crappy box, trans would need rebuilt, rides like crap

Pros of 02-06 dodge: Cummins motor, great fuel economy, better ride
Cons of 02-06 dodge: still a crappy box, still a crappy trans, high initial buy in

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

In my opinion, The fords ride just as bad as the dodges. Anything with a solid front axle is going to be a little harsh over bumps. Too much unsprung weight.

Here's something else to consider:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=526664

I really like what he did with that truck.

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

So find a 79-91 k30 crew slap a Cummins in it with an ORD front coilover set up or something similiar and your auto trans of choice and your done. Or better yet but not in the spirit of built not bought find one that's already done. I am seeing swapped square crews with Cummins for sale all the time now in the 8-10k range. You didn't specify if 4wd is a must have but have seen plenty of both. The crew body on a ford frame doesn't compute with me, and I know Cummins swaps are done on 95-99 Chevy's and from what I understand can work with their 4l80e trans. As far as a modern chassis and suspension goes all those use leaf spring rears Chevy is the only one with independent front which is supposed to ride best according to them since 88 (ex91)on all 2/4wd trucks, dodge and ford both use straight live/dead axles on 2/4 WD and both used leaves and now coils. I pipeline for a living and fords/dodges dominate the row because they have solid axles front rear and tow 16-20k fifth wheels. As far as gvwr those vary by chassis configuration with duallies being highest but again you didn't say if you want a drw or srw truck. Only other thing I can think of now is the fact that newer vehicles have matching vins all over so a Chevy on dodge frame will have two different vins to deal with. A motor swap is probably easier to get around. Really depends on your state but if you move could be an issue and smog laws could come up.......

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

Are those your only choices? If not look at Toyota as well.

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

I like that chummins build, there's a 4x4 dually ext cab 95 chevy roller near me for $1100 now, would be a great candidate for a swap. I really like the idea of using a chassis designed for that drivetrain, using all the chassis wiring, brake lines, fuel lines, make it easier. Only would need to fab body mounts, and mount the ford or dodge cluster in the GM dash. Worst case would be moving the bed wheel wells back a few inches, but plenty of people have shortened 8' beds i dont think it would be too bad. I have zero bias or brand loyalty, a good design is a good design, I am most familiar with sbcs because they are a good design in my eyes. The dodge frame issues are scary, but can be reinforced. 4x4 is mandatory for OBX and New England winters. Still tossing around ideas, its probably gonna come down to what's on Craigslist when I'm ready to start.

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

On some of the swaps I've been reading guys are getting wrecked trucks to pull the drivetrain from, where do you guys get access to these salvage trucks and how do you buy them? I've found copart.com and salvagetruckauction.com but you need a dealers license. Do you just go to a local used car dealer and try to work a deal where you pay them X% of your price and have them bid for you or are there other insurance auctions you can use? I've been just looking for a base trim like an XL F350 with some little body damage or a dodge with rust and was going to use one of those, but they are still $5000-7000, and if the body is rusted or beaten I'm afraid of what the rest will be like. I'm starting to weigh the option of a 88-98 chevy 4x4 1 ton chassis and just buying the aftermarket cummins mounts for the motor, but still wanted a coil sprung live front axle for a future lift, and don't want to fab a coil front end on a chevy, and don't want a leaf sprung front axle for the tighter turning radius and smoother ride. My dream truck would be a 05-10 ford F350 chassis on 35" tires, 03-06 5.9 with all emissions removed, an Allison trans and a 73-91 chevy crew body with a short bed, (or preferably an already converted 4 door 67-72 crew cab) and king ranch dark brown heated leather, but that's just a dream at this point. I saw this exact swap done with still the ford body in diesel power magazine once, I just really like the look of a 2 tone classic chevy body.

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

Can't edit my numbers up top, but different sites show different wheelbases, and I think this is the corrections.

73-91 chevy wheelbases
crew cab short bed 150.5
Crew cab long bed 164.5

03-06 ram wheelbases
Quad cab short bed 140.5
Quad cab long bed 160.5

67-72 ford wheelbases
Crew cab long bed 164.5
Crew cab short bed 148.5

Can anyone verify what a 73-91 crew cab short bed wheelbase is?

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

Really leaning towards a 94-97 12 valve cummins ext cab long bed with the nv4500 5 speed and a 92-98 crew cab short bed chevy body for this project, wheelbases are the same so no body or frame mods other than body mounts. I've found a ton of rusty body 12 valves for $4000-6000, will be a good first project like this, then later maybe I can try the more extensive 73-91 body on a ford chassis. I just won't turn up the 12 valve much so I don't break the nv4500. I found one already done but on a reg cab 12 valve frame, but he has a tiny flat bed behind the chevy crew cab, if I was gonna do this today if buy it and swap in a ext cab frame and put a bed on it, but this won't happen for at least a couple months.

Re: Chevy classic body on ford, chevy or dodge diesel frame question
 

I'm putting a cummins in a 86 K30 to get the best of both worlds, the better chevy body and a frame that won't crack, and a great and efficient engine. That said, my 6.0 gas chevy crew cab is beckoning for cam/tune/headers to make 450/450 and be more efficent under light loads. Maybe after that I will regret doing the cummins in the other truck, but just doing the cummins conversion is half the fun for me.

Have you checked out the diesel conversion section of the forum here yet? The preferred method seems to be cummins in chevy chassis.