Where to find a RCSB frame?

[mruta1]

Hi everyone,
First time poster here. I am a high school auto shop teacher trying to get a student project off the ground. I have a '96 regular cab long bed that I would like to turn into a short bed. The truck has a zillion miles and we plan to basically rebuild the entire thing.

I did some research into shortening the frame and came to the conclusion that it would be much easier to swap frames rather than shorten a LWB.

I've been looking on Craigslist for what seems like forever with no luck. It just seems like no one ever parts these trucks out in my neck of the woods (Illinois).

Can anyone give me some pointers on where to find a shortbed frame?

Many thanks!

[BigBlocksRule]

If you don't mind a bit of welding, find an extended cab shortbed. You'll need to cut the factory weld just below your feet, shorten the back part of the frame and reweld it. It's a lot easier than it sounds. I torch 'em just behind the weld, then clean up the weld and saw the frame square at the right point. Realign them and pull the halves together with come-alongs on both sides and reweld. The benefit is a thicker, stronger frame. Factory RCSB trucks have the thinnest and smallest (dimensionally) frame of the bunch.

[mruta1]

BBR- you are the man! I found a few ECSB frames near me, but for some reason the thought of shortening one of those never crossed my mind. Gonna get after it and let you know what I find.

Thanks again!

[BigBlocksRule]

No sweat.
I've never done it to shorten a frame, but I graft 1-ton 4WD front ends onto old 2WD frames this way. I know guys that have cut off all the 4WD stuff and tried to reweld it onto the other frame but all they ended up with was a cobbled together piece of junk. Using the front stub swap like I described, everything retains original geometry and after a bit of rust has set it on the welded area, nobody can tell it wasn't 4WD from the factory.