i've been seriously considering swapping a 47-55 chevy 3100 1/2 ton shortbed truck body onto my '69 chevy c10 shortbed chassis. i've done some research and it seems like it should be fairly straight forward, being the older 3100 chassis are wider than the later c10 chassis. the biggest issue i have run across is that the 47-55 chassis has a wheelbase of 116" while the 67-72 c10 chassis has a wheelbase of 115". since i would most likely be making new body mounts for the '69 frame, I would think while im at it why not shorten the front of the bed 1" to center the wheel in the wheel well. Any comments or advice would be very much appreciated!
The front suspension is going to put your front tires right at the fender edge. Depending on the wheels you could end up with them outside the fender opening. Making body mounts sto get everything right can be time consuming also. jerry
I've heard of that problem happening with this swap and am not sure of how to correct it. shallow offset front wheels? or something more drastic as pinching the front of the frame? as for the body mounts im not too worried about that because at this point in life i have more time than money. lol
No good way to narrow that front end. It's just massive. for the amount of work involved, it may be as easy to do the dreaded S-10 frame swap. Just a personal thing with me. Had a mustangII done on mine. Stock frame so no mods such as radiator mount, front clip mounting, bumper mount,etc. jerry
Yeah, you might want to look at the S-10 frame swap thread; it looks like the track width on these is well suited for the Advance Design trucks. There is a "search this thread" bar at the top of the page that might help. I have a '57 Task Force 1/2 ton that I've been thinking about putting on a late model '85 - '05 or so frame. My frame is kind of butchered, and what I really want for a truck is old sheet metal with a reliable frame and driveline. The TF trucks have a wider track width than your AD truck, so the later Chevy frames look like a better bet for mine. Later, Kinky6
I'd think it'd be a poor choice. As above WAY to wide a track, unless you're stuck in the 70's, tires hanging outside the fenders is a big No No. Having said that, I will say that a front frame stub might work out for you. You'll want a late 70's-mid 80's GM midsize (Cutlass, Malibu, Grand Prix, Regal) frame stub which shouldn't be too hard to find. It's still a LOT of work, and you have the issue of the front mount steering box, but it'd be a fairly inexpensive way to get disk brakes, independant suspension, power steering in one fell swoop. I used one under a '41 Chevy convert, it worked out well. I have a G20 '93 Chev van crossmember under my '48 Diamond T. Even narrowed 3" I had to widen the fenders 3" per side to get the tires under. I THINK that era truck crossmembers are narrower than the vans, but can't swear to that. Under my '48 Pontiac 'convert and '51 Pontiac Woody I used GM "B" body frame stubs (Impala, Caprice, Roadmaster, Fleetwood) but I think they'd be too wide for your truck. The beauty of the truck/van front suspension is that it's a complete, bolt in deal. Weekend warrior project. To my eye, the S-10 track is too narrow, unless you use a different offset wheel, which leads to bearing trouble in front. Brian
Paul Horton makes a "Welder Series" Mustang 2 front crossmember kit for your truck. The Trucks TV show did an install on a project truck and it came out very nice and fairly cheap. It would be a lot less expensive both time and money than doing a frame swap.
Thanks for all of the input guys. I think i might just end up trying to find a rust free 67-72 cab to replace my rusted out '69. this c10 chassis to 3100 body seems like a good way to sink alot of time money into something that could have been done far more simpler with an s10 frame swap. thanks for all of the responses!
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