1957 Chevy 3100, meet 1994 Dodge Ram 1500

[Purcell69]

Well after taking the winter off (no shop complete yet), I am slowly starting back at it again. I am about to level the frame and square it up, then make a plywood template of the 1957 Chevy cab floor to locate the mounting points and get my mounts set-up on the Dodge frame. There is a little over 7" of drop from the rear section of the frame where the bed mounts, to the step where the cab will mount. At the front, the drop is only a bit over 4 1/2"

I have decided to cut the ears off the Dodge frame and reuse them to mount the Chevy cab, since they are the right size for the Dodge cab isolators. The isolators that go between the cab and the ear on the frame are 1 1/2" thick, which will help take up some of the 7"+ of drop in the frame under the cab. The rest will be 11ga rectangular tube or square tube, as needed. The isolators at the front are only 1" thick, so some 3" 11ga

Once everything is matched to the template, I will pull the cab from the Chevy frame, weld in replacement panels for the passenger floor between the seat riser and toe board, both steps with rockers (why is it the rockers always got crushed by some clown with a jack?!), and the rear cab corners.

My goal this year is to get the cab mated to the Dodge frame, and the engine in and running before winter sets in again. If I can get all of that done, I can finish up the body work next spring and prep for paint.

-Joe