New Donor Truck Today (maybe)

[Branman1971]

So I have a 61 swb with bad cancer all around the roof area and where the dash meets the glass and such and I have found a 63 LWB for a good price. Its just the frame and body, no motor or tranny but has a great inner and outer roof with drip rails, dashboard, and the body is good so what I dont use I can sell off, if I dont just swap the whole cab. I am going to see it in a little bit but before i do i wanted to ask if there was any reason why i couldnt use the 63 for parts as i heard somewhere that the 63 is different then the 60-62, i just dont remember how. Torsion bars suspension not used in 63? Maybe thats what I heard...And the width of the frame? I dont remember.

[66Submarine]

The '60-62 are x-frame trucks, and IIRC the cab mounts are in a different location.

[KTSK10]

My 61 has a lot of similar cancer around the windshield. I found a 62 donor to replace it with. 60-62 seems to be the magical matching years for a lot of the body. Not sure, but I think they changed the doors somewhat also. I'm still learning a lot about the trucks in that time frame. I'm still looking around to see if the hood on mine is correct. All the pics I see of 61's seem to have the hood that matches the contour of the dash. Mine doesn't have that one..... It fits just fine, but doesn't seem to be correct.

[61K10]

KTS--here is my 61 hood

[Branman1971]

So I am looking at this 63 right now. One noticeable difference is that they did not use the torsion bar suspension. My question is if I want to put this crossmember in my 61 could I easily install Power brakes? Or maybe even disc brakes? I know that most people use a 73 to 87 to do the disc brake conversion.

[KTSK10]

Originally Posted by 61K10

KTS--here is my 61 hood

That's the hood I see most on the 61's. Mine has the turn signals in the hood but is straight across.

[Clyde65]

Your hood is a 62-66 my friend.

[Branman1971]

Will this 63 crossmember bolt up to my 61 frame? That is my main question cause I got the truck.

[KTSK10]

Originally Posted by Branman1971

Will this 63 crossmember bolt up to my 61 frame? That is my main question cause I got the truck.

One of the things I did to help me with the interchangeability issues is I invested in an interchange manual. You can find them on line pretty cheap. I am working with a K10 so I can't help you much with the "C" truck. The manual has been a great help, as well as some of the senior members of this site.

[KTSK10]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

Your hood is a 62-66 my friend.

Well Dag Nab It....... Another part to hunt down. Looks like I'll have some extra parts, for a swap meet, in the future.

[Captainfab]

If you want to get away from the torsion bar front suspension and upgrade to disc brakes, I would just find a '71-'87 front suspension and use that. The '63 front suspension and crossmember could be used, but that just seems like more work than necessary.

The '60-'62 cabs will work on a '63-'72 frame, you will just have to drill the holes in the cab for the front cab mount bolts. And if you want, the cups can be moved to the new location. However then you get into the possible legal issue of having a frame and a cab with different VIN numbers.

[tincan1966]

Originally Posted by Branman1971

So I am looking at this 63 right now. One noticeable difference is that they did not use the torsion bar suspension. My question is if I want to put this crossmember in my 61 could I easily install Power brakes? Or maybe even disc brakes? I know that most people use a 73 to 87 to do the disc brake conversion.

You do not have to ditch the torsion bar FE to have power disc brakes.