I finally got my frame donor truck

[soopernaut]

Maybe it's not going to be as bad as I originally thought. Since the body is still on the 70 I haven't been able to compare the frames real closely. I mainly concentrated on the area above the axle and the front of the bed. Today I did a little more looking at the Sweptline frame and noticed a few things. The frame starts going up for the bed further back. The 77 frame goes up under the seat portion of the cab. The whole cab probably will have to sit up in order to fit. The frame in front of the rear axle and behind the rear axle is the same height. On the 77 frame it is higher behind the axle. This leads me to believe that the frame isn't necessarily higher above the rear axle but the center of the frame is actually lower than the Sweptline frame. Things will still have to be put on blocks to get the height worked out but the truck may not sit like a 4x4.

I think I'm going to go ahead and use the frame I have. If it doesn't turn out I can pull it apart again. Once it is a running, driving truck I probably won't want to tear it apart again. I might cut the bed floor if I have to. Even though it is nearly perfect it is just a floor. I probably won't have to though.

[Cageman]

why not just stub it, leave the back part alone? best thing I ever did to my truck. I wouldnt even attempt a whole frame swap, the back part does the same thing, no improvement at all, except it has to be hacked. The 78 stub I have you can not tell I was even in there, everything looks good, i have to physically point out to people I did it.

[Hobcobble]

There you go.... If you can find someone
with a welder and pay to have it done at your garage.... a good
fabricator could probably knock that off in a weekend for you.
Perhaps you could check out some local body shops or some
light fabricating companies.... There ought to be some
guys looking for a bit of extra pocket money in Des Moines.
John

[soopernaut]

I thought about splicing the 2 frames together but that is going to take more space. I'll either have to move 2 vehicles to another location or start tearing the sweptline down and hope it can be done in my garage. The way I'm doing it now I can get the 77 frame prepped and then swap the body over when I'm ready. I know a guy who can do it but I don't know if he wants to do it.