Quote:
Originally Posted by layinrocker65
First thing you should do is not listen to someone who’s never done it before.
|
That makes no sense at all. You can't get advice on
how to do it from someone who has never done it, but you can get advice from someone who has never done it on how
they did without it.
I never had done a frame swap, but I have done a lot of similar things building cars and trucks and have learned one thing for sure, often you are simply swapping time, money and work from one to another, that is all you are doing.
Secondly, the number one thing to ask yourself "What are my expectations of my truck?" If your expectations is to pull a boat trailer on the weekends out to the lake, a frame swap may be a good way to go. Do you live on windy mountain roads that you drive every single day? Yep, what the heck, that frame swap may be a way to go. Are you driving it around town every few weekends to get togethers at the In and out burger, that frame swap is going to be a terrible waste of time, work and money.
First off, MOST of us would be just fine with a dropped axle from SIDS along with the drag link conversion and dropped springs. Done deal, it's lowered and it rides sweet. Or a Mustang II conversion, done deal, drives sweet. Being the rear of the frame is EXACTLY the same 1950 to 2005 S10, why do the whole frame when the front is all that changes?
There are SOOOOOOO many different ways to upgrade the stock frame, it makes way more sense to me. Now, have I done the S10 "swap", nope. But I have seen all that has to be changed and it just makes more sense to leave the stock frame to me.
This is all my advice, not calling anyone names or saying they are stupid or anything for using an S10 frame. We all see things different. My point is to think about it, what are your expectations, REAL expectations of your truck. I drove mine thousands upon thousands of miles with the stock brakes, axles and what not. Drove it every single day commuting in the SF bay area traffic. Drove it 95 mph in 14:50 seconds at the drags. Pulled a camp trailer occasionally, and it worked fine for me, never had the axle fly off doing down the highway or shake my teeth out of my head, it worked for me. And now on the rebuilt, a nice stock powder coated frame, dropped axle, modern springs, and I can't wait to drive it every single day again.
Brian
