Transplant truck chassis

[Lynn]

Now that the house remodel is almost complete (granite install slated for April 1), I had to start looking for another idiotic project.

I have done some pretty odd swaps back in the day. Helped a buddy put a 392 Hemi in a 57 Chevy, put a SBC in a 240Z before it was popular, and installed a tall deck 427 in a church bus (we called it the Magic Bus) with a 780 Holley on it. Only church bus around that could do 70 to 80 on the highway fully loaded, even in the mountains. Great for ski trips.

Anyway, I have posted pics of my 2R16 Studebaker farm truck before. I love the way it looks. I plan to make a car hauler out of it, modifying the dump bed and adding ramps. I have no doubt I can pull that off.... but at the very least I will have to do an engine swap. The stock flat head six had 95 horses WHEN IT WAS NEW, and I am thinking that at least 50 of them are now AWOL. I mean, I have to downshift to get it up the drive way. On top of that the 6.56:1 rear axle gear means that on a GOOD day, top speed is 52 mph. Now, I could just swap a SBC. I have plenty of spare parts. But then I have to worry about this trans, which is rated to handle “up to” 150 lb/ft. of torque. Then, I still have the rear gear issue. Pretty sure I am not finding any gears for this thing. The last straw is the brake set up on the Studebaker. With newly relined shoes and rebuilt cylinders, it is STILL a bit scary with a load. Would be nice to have more modern disc brakes.


So.... I am thinking of putting the cab and dump bed on a later model chassis. My wheelbase is 131 inches. A 1990 Chevy 3500 has a wheelbase of 131.5. Promising. I found a 3500 local to me with manual trans and factory A/C. Throttle body 454 with 385 lb./ft. torque. More modern brakes, power steering and A/C. Even Sherri would be willing to drive it. Right now, the Studebaker is the only vehicle we have that she refuses to drive, and I can’t say as I blamer her. It is primitive.

Here are pics of the potential donor (along with one of the Studebaker). It is a running, driving vehicle. I would go through the engine just because, but it already has a new clutch. Go through the brakes, get the A/C working and transplant my Studebaker cab and the dump bed (looks like a stake bed or flat bed). I have plenty of fab skills (after all I have a chop saw and two mig welders, which makes me a fabricator, right?) I know I will need to fab up some brackets and adapters to get the Studebaker stuff on the Chevy chassis.

I can get the “new” truck cheap enough. After cannibalizing the chassis, I can sell the bed and cab.

I have a couple questions for you truck guys. As you can see, this truck has the 8 lug wheels, but not dually wheels. If I am hauling a car, I would feel better with dually wheels in back. Can I just buy a set of 4 wheels and use this full floating rear? Fender clearance won’t be an issue, because I am going flat bed. I would rather not go looking for a complete rear end.

One last question: am I missing something else that would make this near impossible to do?

[Kurt S]

How are you gonna mount those Studebaker wheels on the pickup? 8 lug vs 5 lug. I mean that's the look you need. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

Otherwise, looks doable. Some old truck frames are completely level, newer ones often have drops in the frame. You've looked at and measured the cab mounting points?

I saw the same thing being done to an old PowerWagon - had a Cummins under the hood.

[SS427]

I hope the swap does work and you post your progress on here. I would love to watch it from start to finish as some day it would be neat to do the same thing here for a shop truck/hauler.

[MosportGreen66]

I offer literally no knowledge nor insight but I (along with a host of other members) would adore seeing this be done...

[Lynn]

Kurt:
You are correct, in that I just don't think that part is doable. Best I can do is paint the 8 lug wheels red, as that is the factory color on the original Studebaker wheels according to the trim tag.

Oddly, it is the wheels that got us started on this discussion. Someone told Sherri (after I had wrestled all six split rim wheels mounting tires and tubes) that they were nicknamed &quot;widowmakers&quot;. If not inflated properly after a tire change those old split rims can fly apart and cause serious bodily injury.

I may have to do some photo shopping.

Anyone know if dual rear wheels from the 90's will fit the standard floating rear on the Chevy?

I may have to track one down and take it with me when I go check out the Chevy truck.

[Lynn]

This looks like a fit to me.
I found a set of 5 here in town on CL.
Will take some really good measurements when I go look at the truck.
If I pull the trigger on this deal, I will update regularly, good, bad, and ugly, regardless.

[Lynn]

OOPS. Forgot the link.

I believe these will fit the back with no adapters, and will work on the front with adapters.

Seems 8 lug 6.5 inch pattern is standard for quite a few years.

Ebay link

[marxjunk]

theres 2 &quot;dually&quot; widths from what ive been told by a few yards..years ago i needed a rear..

the true truck dually and a cab and chassis dually..the cab and chassis rear is more narrow...

i dont know for sure..thats what they told me when i needed a rear...the 1 ton dually rear is wide..from what i was told..the widest rear GM made for a medium duty truck..and around here they where impossible to find

If was going to do a rear swap..id look at dodge duallys..they are dana 70s and 3.54 gears are very common in cummins powered trucks,,i had 3 of those and all 3 where 3.54 posi

matter of fact..id look at a whole dodge chassis with a cummins...they made long bed extended cabs trucks...pretty common and pretty cheap for the mid 90s trucks now..i bought 2 of those trucks for under 2 grand for the cummins swap in a GM chassis...now looking back..i should have put the chevy cab on the dodge chassis and been done with it...but then again...thats too easy and no fun...

[Lynn]

Don't know if I could go with a Dodge.
Definitely don't want a diesel.

[Kurt S]

IIRC, the axles are the same on a dually/non-dually pickup, just the wheels change. You can just bolt the wheels on and add the flares and you'd have a dually. Ford didn't sell a 4WD dually for a few years (92 or so??) and that's what you did to make one.

And I think Mark is correct that there were two widths of dually axles, pickup and cab&amp;chassis.