http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=415791&highlight=dakota+frame has a scan of the Dakota's dimensions right from the factory service manual. I've already printed a set!!! I'm swapping a 49-ish cab & front clip onto a 95 Dakota frame, but am keeping the Dakota firewall and floorpan so that all of the heater, steering column, etc. stay in the stock location (my 49's floorpans were pretty rough too, so it's an easier way to fix the floorpans and to minimize the fabrication on the heater / AC box, etc...). By the way, if you are making templates for motor mounts and all that, I've found that using Coroplast (the sheets of 'plastic corugated cardboard" that they make the big election signs out of) works really well. It is more sturdy than regular cardboard and is just as easy to cut & shape. Besides, it is my "payment" for having to listen to their stupid campaign ads for weeks and months. It's also a great way to recycle the plastic and to clean up the landscape the day after the election!!!
I've been thinking about doing a frame swap on my '55 Dodge Royal sedan. I was thinking about the Dakota frame so I could keep everything Mopar, plus I would have disc brakes and an updated driveshaft and rear end to hook up to the 383 and 727 I'm putting into it. From what I could find, the wheelbase on the Royal is 120" (from allpar.com) and the 1st and 2nd gen regular cab long box Dakota frame is 123.9" (from wikipedia). Anybody have any ideas on whether this would work, or am I just crazy?
Here is a link to the AD truckers social group. It has my build using a dakota chassis. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=12769
here's my 55 1/2 ton on a 90 dak ext frame...will have a 440 / 727 combo, the rear cab mounts are just off enough to have to do a bit of work on, the front cab mounts are way off, i'll make some new ones up from some rectangle tubing.... just placed the cab and clip on for fit, and to get the sheet metal off of the floor : ) Had to nip the front frame rails back a tad to allow the front fascia to move back about 3 inches.....now the fenders can bolt on nicely here's a link to my build..... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=513096
Can anyone give me some advice? I have a 74 Dodge d100, step side. If anyone remembers the little red express, this is the truck. What frame can i use to swap this body onto? I wont be lowering it. Would a dakota work? Or would a ranger be a better choice? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Neither. stick with the stock frame. You have a huge selection of potential donor parts to choose from, all the way up to 1992 full size dodge trucks. A lot of it will interchange.
Do an intro, also as much as I like the dodge uglys 72 to 79.....this is the wrong forum for your truck.
ok, Thanks. Wanted to find a "easy swap",lol. My truck came with a 3 speed, slant 6 engine. I want to go with a 8cyl, automatic trans. Any suggestions? Thanks
Why would you want to change out the frame? Just get new motor mounts from schumacher creative services. They have motor mounts to convert from slant six to V8. For the rear with disk brakes, get a newer rear ford 9 inch from a Lincoln Navigator.
Boy it's amazing how people overthink things sometimes, why you would need a frame swap to go from a six/3-spd to V8/auto for a vehicle that could be had with a V8/auto when it was new, is utterly beyond me, especially a truck that they made for about 20 odd years running and there are tons of in junkyards yet. A few years ago I bought a running '89 Ramcharger with a 360 for all of $50 and drove it for about 3 months before I stumbled over another crazy deal and bought that. That's all you need, it would have everything in it you need to swap yours over.
Your year could be had with a /6, a small block or even a 400/440 depending on the package.....all you have to do is find a donor to swap out mounts brackets linkages, etc. google 1974 dodge truck parts or forum or clubs.
A word of advice on the swap- do not keep ANYTHING electrical that came with the donor vehicle. The wife's daily driver is a 2001 Durango, and the electrical problems qualify it as the worst vehicle I have ever owned. Mechanically, it's been pretty damned good, though.
I'm researching a similar swap for my '56 Plymouth, but I'm using a B-body rear end with the stock frame. Up front, I want to mate a Dakota frame stub with the stock frame. I created TurboCad drawings for both a '92 Dakota and '56 Plymouth frames, and overlaid them to see how they would line up. It looks like a fairly uncomplicated project...if you can call cutting and welding frames uncomplicated! The two frames match nearly perfectly about 10" in front of the foremost '56 body mount, and the width of the Dakota appears to be just enough narrower to insert into the Plymouth frame. That said, trying to create precision drawings from .JPG photos is a challenge, and there might be tolerance issues that can't be seen using this method. However, everything looks close enough to be encouraging. It also appears that a 2" drop spindle would put the Plymouth ride height almost exactly the same as stock, and the wheels should be located in the wheel wells within a half-inch of stock. If anyone else has done research into a Dakota frame swap to '55-'56 Plymouths, I'd like to hear from you. I'd also like to find a link to FSM scans from 1st and 3rd generation Dakotas so I can compare dimensions.
GaryS, skip the cad drawings, get a dakota and start measuring cutting and welding. A CAD drawing made from photographs instead of actual measurements is pretty much useless except for convincing yourself that it is totally possible to theoretically maybe put the two frames together in an imaginary precise computerized scenario. many people have done similar projects. just start doing it ! When you gather real, accurate measurements, then make the drawing.
I guess my post might have been confusing, as some folks think of all cad drawings as being extremely detailed and accurate. I should have said I made dimensional sketches and approximations from the FSM's to get an idea how closely the frames match, and in what area they might be joined. For that purpose, the sketches are extremely helpful. Unfortunately, just getting a Dakota to measure, cut and weld is not possible in my case. I have neither the facilities nor the equipment to undertake a frame swap, so I have to farm out that portion of the project and I'm not about to haul a junk Dakota and my Plymouth into the fab shop with a blank check and no information. From what I can find, it also appears that there are at least three different frames for the Dakota, so before I start buying donor trucks I'd like to learn which model years would be the best candidate for my particular application.
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