lockgessner

First post here,

so I picked up a 91.5 rclb auto w250 for a song this past dec. Im past the point of reg. cabs in my life as i love to travel and there not very roomy. Well Ive been thinking this swap for a while now; different ways and whether I should keep working on this old girl or just buy a cclb truck. Ive put a good bit of work into her: reseal on ip, reseal vp, rebuild power steering pump, rebuild steering gearbox, new steering hoses, put a new starter solenoid and brushes in, drain plug in tranny pan, already had 4" exhaust, some master power turbo and a little tuning, I installed a auto meter pyro. So needless to say theres a lot of stuff going for this truck ugly or not.

This past week while underway I decided I would cut the bed this weekend; but how and where? Theres lots of different ways. A factory sb is -16" in front of wheel well and -4" behind wheel well. you also need to add 3" to the wheel base to be proper. I tossed around the idea of making a 7' bed but why add 6" of frame etc and not just do a stretch for lb…. so I made the decision to remove 18" from the front of the bed; this way all my mounts, fuel fill, wheel well, number and cab all line up properly.

*note: I already planned and realize I am 2" of factory sb so caps and what not will not work.

also Im not a huge fan of factory ccsb trucks or conversions as they seem to be to front heavy. To me the way I cut I now have 4" more inches behind the axle than intront and this fools the eye making the bed seem longer and the truck less front heavy.

on to pics…

different designs inches converted to mm for scale portion ref. 4 is factor ccsb 1 is factory cclb 2 is the 7' bed I really wanted and 3 is what I ultimately went with.


on to the layout


alittle plumb bob action via spare wire, cinder block and trailer hitch…

lockgessner

and then… sparks flew!

front off… note the 3" stagger in bed side and the bottom… this was done so I missed the second bed crossmember/mount and also didn't cut into my front bed pocket.

getting ready to grind off the front bed mounts on the frame

bed front; note the corners aren't fully removed but the removal stage was easiest (for me) this way.

tacked up



all in a days work. got more welding complete (almost done) just don't have the pics to show. yes the bottom is jogged slightly but I'm not to concerned as its getting a spray in liner and that should make that minor detail well.

standby for more progress...

maybe368

It's a little rough, but here's a cab for you...Mark

lockgessner

Thanks Mark! I should have noted that I already have a cab off a 93 d350... I have all my pieces. Thanks for the pointer!

maybe368

I figured that you did, but ya' never know...Mark

mknittle

Looks pretty good to me. Nice work.

thrashingcows

Mark...you sure are whoring out that new site you found... I actually found a part I've been searching for on that site...signed up and sent an offer. Thanks!

And to lockgessner...Welcome aboard!! And I like the work you've done so far....looks good! Can't wait to see how it all comes together.

maybe368

I think that I am more pimping it than whoring it ...Mark

thrashingcows

I think your right...

mknittle

Are you going to have to change the floor in the back of the cab?

lockgessner

I don't think so... Looking at my cabs the cc pan seems to follow the reg cab then flatten out at the 18" extension... I think I'm going. To body lift an inch and drop the fuel tank an inch... We shall see

mknittle

QUOTE=lockgessner;3251490]I don't think so... Looking at my cabs the cc pan seems to follow the reg cab then flatten out at the 18" extension... I think I'm going. To body lift an inch and drop the fuel tank an inch... We shall see[/QUOTE]
cool. I like the mental picture I get from description.

lockgessner

did a little work today; been running around for the past 3 weeks. after setting the cab on (cabs on 2" blocks, everything else is at stock height right now) I've determined a few things: 2" of lift is bare min. and the fuel tank is the only clearance issue. currently Im liking the thoughts of simply dropping my tank 2" or at the very worst situation 1" or 1.5 of body lift and dropping the tank appropriately (i don't want to deal with all the body lift issues… any ways i hope you guys agree, this girl looks mean!







ran out of daylight today, hopefully tomorrow i can take a little test ride...

mknittle

That is going to look really good once you get it all ironed out.

lockgessner

Well in preperations for the transfer to Juneau this summer I gotta get this old girl ironed out. Been driving it all hacked up for a while so getting busy with body work... Going with a dark charcoal metallic with a flat clear on top.