>oletrucks-digest Monday, December 2 2002 Volume 02 : Number 1797
>
>At least one of the articles I've seen about doing this type of swap showed
>narrowing the crossmember. You might consider that approach too.
>
There's only about 1-1/2" difference in the frame widths, so you can
recover only about 3/4" per side by narrowing the crossmember. Not
nearly enough, IMO, to make it worth the trouble. For me, the answer
is in the wheels--see below.
>
>- ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Brad Kahler" <brad.kahler@141.com>
>
>Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 5:56 AM
>Subject: [oletrucks] questions on a mid 70's 3/4 ton IFS swap into 1 ton
>
>
>> Ok, we've made the decision to go with a 3/4 ton mid 70's
>> IFS in our 1 ton panel. After we picked up the assembly over
>> the weekend I started taking closer dimension checks and
>> am a little stumped on a couple of things.
>>
>> The one article I read on the internet about someone
>> swapping in a 3/4 ton IFS into a 3/4 AD truck mentioned that
>> the wheel spacing was 2" wider per side that stock. As near
>> as I can tell from my measurements its more like 3.5" wider
>> per side than stock. Its a little tough to get accurate
>> measurements and what makes it even more confusing for
>> me is the fact that our truck came with 8-lug ford rims
>> (around 1992 vintage). I came up with about 58" from face of
>> brake drum to face of brake drum on our 1-ton, where as on
>> the 3/4 IFS I came up with about 65" from face of hub to face
>> of hub.
>>
>> Am I missing something here?!
>>
>> If these numbers really are correct are there replacement
>> wheels out there (16") that have more offset to help tuck the
>> wheels back under the fenders some? If so, who sells them?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Brad
>> 1953 1-ton panel school bus
==============
I'm putting a '76 GMC 3/4 ton suspension in my '52 3/4 ton. I come up
with all the same dimensions, give or take a quarter inch, so I'd say,
no, you aren't missing anything.
I found that plain steel wheels from 2000-2002 (and possibly 2003)
Dodge 3/4 ton trucks bolt onto the later Chevy/GMC hubs and have a
full 6" of backset. My measurements indicate that they will just fit
inside the front fenders and will fit well inside the rear fenders on
the differential from the same donor truck, with LT245/75R16 tires
mounted. There's an LT215 tire available that would fit inside even
better. The really neat thing about these wheels, at least for me, is
that I can install clips and mount original hubcaps after a slight
modification to the inner rim of the caps. I'm going for as stock a
look as I can get. After these wheels are painted black and the caps
mounted, you'll have to get pretty close to tell they aren't original.
This is going to put the center of the contact patch about 1-1/4"
inside of the spindle centerline compared to the stock '76 wheels that
have about 3-1/2" backset, which will affect tire wear and handling on
curves. I don't think the effects will be significant, but only time
will tell.
Hollander Interchange Number for the wheels I got is #2123. They're a
little pricy in the yards around Sacramento CA (the metropolitan area
closest to me), and a little hard to find. I paid $280 for five
wheels--got them from two different yards and had to call 7 yards to
find them. Still, a lot cheaper than custom-built wheels from a wheel
house. If you don't care about original hubcaps and want spiffier
wheels, the aftermarket should have a bunch to fit those years of
Dodge.
Hope this helps.
Joe
--
Heather & Joe Way
Sierra Specialty Automotive
Brake cylinders sleeved with brass
Gus Wilson Stories
http://www.brakecylinder.com
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