Truck vs. Suburban

[Conundrum]

I have a 74 pickup that is currently a 3/4 ton longbed and im wanting to turn it into a 1/2 ton shortbed. I have an 86 1/2 ton suburban for parts and am wanting to use the chassis from the suburban for the pickup. I know that there will be alot of modifications involved in doing this.

My questions are, if the front body/cab mounts (the ones near the firewall) are in the same location or would I need to mock up the cab and front sheetmetal to locate the cab mounts? If they are in the same location even if I have to swap to mounts from the 74, they would at least be in the right place. I know that I will have to get the rear cab mounts/crossmember from the 74, any other differences? Or would I be better off to find another frame from a longbed or shortbed?

I was considering building a frame from scratch, but if I could do this it would save me some time, money and headaches (I think). One of the reasons I am considering using the frame from the suburban is that it runs and drives but doesnt have a title.

Thanks
Freed

[smashingchuck]

why not just swap front susupensions and rear axle, run what ever you want for rear leaf springs, and cut down the frame. It would be way fewer headaches than trying to adapt a body to a frame that it doesn't fit. Cutting down the bed would be enough work for me, why make it more difficult?

[Conundrum]

I have already gave the 3/4 ton chassis to my dad for an old truck he has, to update the suspension on.

Guess i'll find another truck chassis...

And i'm not wanting it to sit at stock height either. I am wanting to build it so that the rockers are only 1/4" off the ground when aired out on 22s or a 22/24 combo. So I do have some work ahead of me anyway, and i'll probably only end up using from the firewall forward eventually. But I don't have a garage, so i'll be doing this at a friends place. Just was wondering if thhis would work so that I won't be in his way for to long of periods of time.

[Shev]

I swear at one time I was told that 1/2 ton burbs had 3/4 ton truck suspension...and 3/4 ton burbs had one ton truck suspension...maybe somebody can either confirm or deny said allegation...

[Conundrum]

1/2 ton burb has 1/2 ton suspension.

I found a solution to my problem, a 74 GMC truck, going to get it this weekend.

[N2TRUX]

It sounds like your going to need to back half it not matter what frame you use. Why not just build the frame from the back of the cab?

[Last Chance Kustoms]

[Conundrum]

That's what i'm going to do, and why I am going to get this other truck (1/2 ton) plus it also has a title and will save me some steps at least for now. Considering the 74 chevy was a 3/4 ton and I gave that chassis to my dad, I thought I might be able to use the 1/2 ton suburban chassis but didn't know how easy it would have been to put a pickup cab on that chassis. So I came across a complete truck for cheap, and am going to build it instead.

[N2TRUX]

Cool. Sounds like a plan...