Body Swap, Wheelbases & Other Possible Issues

MBigDaddyM · Post by **MBigDaddyM** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:16 am

Now that my 94 Dodge Ram is totaled I was considering swapping the body from my Sweptline onto the frame of my 94 Ram instead of an engine swap in the 68. So the purposed swap is the body of a 68 Sweptline D100 2WD Standard Cab, Long Bed to the frame of a 94 Dodge Ram 1500 2WD Standard Cab, Long Bed. I would like to leave the 94 318/518 in place. So first can the body swap be done and if so what other problems might I run into, electrical, suspension, various fluid lines, etc.?

Post by **cowboy** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 8:47 am

Can you weld? & have a good hoist ? it sounds like a good project but all the mounts are off a bit ie cab to frame - bed to frame messure & cut then weld it can be done if you can weld & have a good welder , & it woudl make for a real fine ride

slick · Post by **slick** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 2:32 pm

i would ASSume it can be done as long as your not afraid of cutting and some fab work...I'm putting my 67 on a 78 frame and one of my bigger problems was the crossmembers under the bed...they wouldn't sit down properly on the newer frame so I had to cut some crossmembers and the bed of the floor out..also you will most likely have to make some cab mounts...as long as you keep all of the computers and lines in tac with the frame I would think you could mount it all back together...sounds like an awesome project...good luck...

slick

kww · Post by **kww** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:57 pm

It can be done but I think the toughest part is the wheelbase. The newer truck has a longer wheelbase than the old longbed which was 128". I would have done the straight across frame swap to `86 (pretty much the same as slick's `78 except for differences in the front brakes) if it wasn't for the 3" difference in wheelbase. I saw only two ways to solve that problem; extend the bed or cut the frame. So I welded the front frame stub of the `86 onto the rear portion of my `67 Frame. Project is still in process.

Kris

MBigDaddyM · Post by **MBigDaddyM** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:39 am

Were there any models/years that had a 131 inch wheelbase?

Post by **Hobcobble** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:58 am

You could get 300's with 132/133" wheelbase. There
are a lot of body differences though.... do you need
to know what they are??
John

MBigDaddyM · Post by **MBigDaddyM** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:20 pm

No, that's okay. Hell I still haven't picked up that 68 1/2 ton and now I know of a 64 3/4 ton, money is an issue. That's my major problem I have a lot of ideas and not enough money to make them reality.

Post by **Hobcobble** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:47 pm

Uhhh... if you're thinking of swapping the '64 stuff
onto that '94 frame... the '64 wheelbase is 122"...
just so you know

John

MountainMoparRobin · Post by **MountainMoparRobin** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:58 pm

MBigDaddyM,
look real close at the 94 frame and its easy to see that the frame is bigger and heavier, depending on what you want from your truck you'll be adding hundreds of pound to the weight of your 3600 lb D100, you might find it easier to look at the front end of the 94 and the 68 you'll see the difference between the 94 and the 68 is that the frame rails on the 94 are shorter than the 33" width of the 68, but you could use the upper control arm mount and upper control arm, and fabricate the cross member for the lower control arms to mount to. BADEEDs used the C-4 vette as a donor to do that to his 12 second street truck.

then you could tranfer the 94 engine, tans, rearend and computor to the 68

Cageman · Post by **Cageman** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:15 pm

He sold that truck on ebay a week or so ago, sure was nice, wonder what hes up to now?