Astro van subframe on a 48-52 ford f1 frame?

Hello fellas.
As the title states,has it been done??
Have you seen or know of someone that did it???
This is for my f1 ford coe.
Thanks

 

Interesting idea,but i can't help you but there is help here. I have seen you on the FTE forums i believe.Been watching to see what you are going to do with the coe. You will see me there under my real name Jim Collins. I'm on about 10 different forums,all different avatars . Hope you get some help here. JIM

 

Hey Jim.I posted the same question on FTE and only a friend answered.
He told me to measure it.The thing is that the donor van is in the middle of the desert and with my f1 being so low I dont wanting to risk getting stuck.
Plus my son is with me all the time.
Plus I thought I would ask before wasting my time thinking about the subject if it cant be done.
thanks.

 

Yeah,i see your problem,sorry i can't help . Hang around,i believe somebody will be on here with the information. Lots of help here , I come here a lot for the information and i get to show my projects here i can't on FTE. JIM

 

I would think the Astro would be too wide. Never measured. Just thinking about the space they take up in the garage. Have worked on both at one time or another.

 

Take a look at a '76 thru '79 Cadillac Seville subframe. Very similar to Nova/Camaro concept but MUCH stouter construction. Plus, the later versions had 12" discs. If you can find one it will probably be very affordable as I doubt there is much demand. Front track (stock) is listed at 61.2".

Ray

 

There is a guy around here that has one.What i think he did was change the whole frame his is diesle power now and the other day he must have been hauling a least a 20 trailer.See if i can find out more info.

 

i do no that the astro van, motor, trans, and rear are all offset, not in the middle for sure.

 

I did see a coe with a complete deville or seville swap in the coe thread.
I am looking at the astro because it has the right angle for the steering and its almost free.will keep you in mind tho thanks

I will appreciate it very much if you find out thanks.

Thank you for the info.

 

Haven't done it. I did a lot of research when considering a frame swap for my 55 F600 to a 1 ton dually. What I came to realize is that the challenge of swapping frames is about a 9.5 on the scale of difficulty. I ended up deciding to just swap axles and relocate and save myself years of work and what would probably amount to a pile of precious steel rusting away because I wouldn't have the balls to finish it.

For the expense and time to get it right, why not just buy a new frame with a 9" and disc brake front anyway? The time alone in making stuff fit that isn't designed that way is enough to justify the expense unless you are already an amazing fabricator. I am guessing since you are asking the question, that answer is probably no (with all due respect, not trying to insult, just stating a fact).

Your mileage may vary...

 

Astro is about 5 inches wider traack width per side. Mounting flange to mounting flange. It would have to be narrowed alot to fit and look righ. Unless you wanted to run front wheel drive wheels with a full offset. Try a S-10 pu. They are narrower than a Camaro and have disk brake. Still pretty cheap too.

 

So you are saying a astro van is 10 inches wider (outer disk to disk) than a S10?or camaro?

You may already know that for sure but I honestly find it hard to believe,
Even so I would find it hard to believe the Astro would have a 10 inch wider track width than the COE truck.

Not tryin to hack on ya, just sayin thats hard for me to see, Ive been wrong before..........sorry

 

What do you mean buy a new frame?
I can get things done as far as fabrication.

I would like to know this also.
I think I know where there is an abandoned s10 around here.

 

I find hard to believe that a chevy astro is wider than a 49? coe or than an S10.
Those things are tiny (in american car standards). and i know cause theres one that i see all the time.

 

Yeah, they are really wide.....I tried to put one on a tow dolly once, didn't fit. Too wide.

 

Put a s-10 complete frame under it

 

i would relly hate to mess with steering.
But I might go that route or settle with a dually frame

 

Better start believing because the Astro has a track width of 65.1 inches and a 2wd S10 has a track width of 54 inches. There is not that big of a difference between a heavy Ford or a half ton in track width. The F-2 uses the same fenders as the F-6. I had a 1950 F6, that thing was narrow. I looked into putting it on a 77 F150 frame. The track width on the 77 is 64 inches which is actually narrower than the Astro. It was way too wide for the F6.

 

you might want to look into a dodge dakota frame, a bit wider than an S10, but narrower than an astro van. Plus I believe you can find one in a dually

 

so im guessin the astro has a front wheel drive type of wheel up front w/ tons of positive offset?
really weird to do so, arent they rear wheel drive still?

 

The Astro van uses a "normal" Chevy PU 5 lug type wheel.At least the 86 model I had did.

 

not fwd type of wheels for sure, 15 x 8 and a 4" back spacing fit like a glove.
this one has 15 x 8 truck rallys.

 

An S-10 is almost as 'extreme' narrow as an Astro Van is 'extreme' wide.....and why do you find any of this so hard to believe. Have you done no independent research?

I really enjoy reading HAMB posts because the breadth and depth of knowledge on here is so amazing. That said, I am equally confounded by how many questions are posed by people apparently too lazy to take a tape measure in hand, or to read a reference book, where their questions would quickly be answered and they would have gained some first hand insight.

There certainly are obscure facts, not so easily researched, that the HAMB members answer with amazing speed and accuracy, but come on newbies, do some homework once in awhile!

Ray

 

A good possibility, but as for the dually version......there ain't no such animal...factory made, that is.

Ray

 

My original question was:have somebody done it? or Do you know anybody that has?
If someone told me they did I would have asked them if it was worth doing or if I should look into something else,
and yes I am lazy too

 

The biggest problem with COE's is the steering box/shaft angle. All these suggestions about passenger car or truck frames don't take that into account.
It is why many have used Step Van, Motorhome, and Other types of van set ups.
Mine had a 3/4 Chevy front clip - it had to be narrowed and the steering box angle was not good, U Joints were on the verge of binding. I was told that a Chevy Van Box would adapt to the truck frame fairly easily but never tried it before I ended up selling it. This is the COE that I am referring to.

 

That is exactly I am looking at the astro front end.
It has the steering angle in the right place.
I have an f1 frame and I can use the whole van for pa.rts for 100 buks.
I have a 1 ton chevy dually but I dont want to go through what you did.
Moparron suggested the astro set up.
If I cant use this set up I will look in to a step van or a dakota like suggested by 48fordcoe or screw it and i will use the dually like suggested by another coe owner and hamb member.

 

For steering, take a look at how the gear box is mounted in a late-model GM van. The shaft points almost straight up, with the sector shaft pointing toward the back of the vehicle, and the pitman arm straight down.

I know that the center link on those would be too wide for most applications (I think), but there may be other possibilities out there. You might be able to heat and twist the center link from the donor vehicle, and rotate the box to a better position.

In other words, use an S-10 clip, and "adjust" the center link to look like the Astro's, moving the box to a position like the Astro's, as well.

 

OK fellas I did get the astro van sub and I am going to draft it to my f1 frame.
I want to try something crazy too:I want to use a chevy 3/4 ton dually axle (8 lug)and I will try to swap the 8 lug discs to the astro HUB.
IF this doesnt work then I will use the stock 5 lug and a 5 lug rear axle out an other chevy van.
I am using the other chevy van for the rest of my drivetrain.
I will need lots of help.
Thanks for your input.

 

The newer Astro/Safari Vans (late 2000's) have a Chevy 6 bolt truck pattern but I think the hubs are the integral type with sealed wheel bearings. Don't know how much load they will take. Hope this info helps.