Cab interchangeability?
 

So, my truck is getting on in years, and has the falling apart door problems, and leaking inside the cab. A few years back, I bought a frame, cab and bed from a 90, mostly because I wanted the bed and the doors. I swapped the bed and camper shell on this summer so I could camp out of it, and I started getting ready to swap the doors this month so I can stop the leaks and dry the cab out.

But on closer inspection, I discovered that my leaking wasn't around the doors, like I thought, but through the stupid screw holes in the roof from the visor that was on it when I bought it, and the cab has rusty spots along the top edge of the door openings that I can put my finger through.

So, I went out to the back lot and started looking over this spare cab, thinking I would swap the whole cab on, but then noticed that that cab has rusty drip rails over the windshield. It's more fixable that my existing cab, but I started wondering if it would be possible to get an old mid seventies powerwagon cab and front end and just drop that whole thing onto my existing frame without doing a bunch of complicated mods. I used to have a 1977 Powerwagon that I loved except for the mileage, so I replaced it with the 92 diesel. Seemed like the sheet metal was a lot sturdier back then.

I don't really want to go through the work of fabricating custom mounts and all that to put the Cummins INTO an old Powerwagon, just wondering what's involved in putting a Powerwagon cab and front end sheet metal onto my existing truck. As long as I have to tear everything that far apart and replace the cab anyway...

In the meantime, I'm getting the visor off of there and plugging the holes. Wish I had thought of that a long time ago...

I am learning there is more work to this job than just changing sheetmetal. A lot of stuff interchanges with the original Gen trucks, but plenty doesn't. Passenger floor pan needs adjusted, clutch slave bracket needs installed, firewall needs modified for the bulkhead connector, and the older radiator supports are completely different from an I/C truck. You have a good running donor with an intact wiring harness will make this job less painless, but it will take a lot of time to make it clean. I have some pics in my thread build in this section that may help. Good luck.

IMO, not enough differences to worry about. They can be overcome if you're handy and not OCD about it all being 'correct'. IMO, just find the best condition body pieces you can in the 72-93 range. My searching an collecting has left me with enough spare cabs and pickup boxes I can cut up to patch others.