I have a 1995 Ram 1500 regular cab long bed that has some serious rust issues. In order for it to be in what i would consider solid enough shape to tote the family around in i would have to replace just about all the sheet metal including the cab.
My question is since my truck is a long bed would it be possible to replace the regular cab with a club cab (extra room for the kids) And replace the long bed with a short bed?
From what i have seen the are pretty much the same length and im sure that the mounts have to be along the same, i cant see Dodge having to different frames when the trucks are vertually the same length.
Any ideas or past knowledge would be very helpful.

 

I cant beleive that someone doesnt have an opinion or suggestion or something to say about this. Come on guys lets see those years of experience shine through for a man and his Mopar truck!

 

yes you could, but you're talking about a ton of work, plus buying a cab and a bed. unless the rest of your 95 is just perfect, i think it'd be a heck of a lot easier to sell one and buy another. then fix up the new one.

 

Awsome thats what i wanted to hear. The rest of the truck is pretty solid, it belonged to my brother who was killed this past January and i dont ever plan on getting rid of it so i thought id try and do him proud with it.
I have actually found a couple of donor trucks for around $1000 that in considering. Ive got a 14 year old son who wants to be a mechanic so i figured it would make for a great father son project.
Thanks again for the info!

 

You could make it a project truck or a family truck ... I really doubt you could do both. The logistics of a cab/bed swap are enormous ... but not impossible ... and time consuming if you're going to teach along the way. I'd say do it but don't expect to be hopping in it every weekend to zip off to the mountains.

 

i dont know about this one. manufacturers do use different frame lengths for different cab/box configurations. most trucks use (for lack of better words) a "two-peice" frame, a front half and back half. if you look, almost every truck has a spot on the frame (usually on the lower part under the cab) where you can see the two halves slipped into each other and welded. long wheelbases get alot of frame, and the shortwheelbases slide into each other more, and the extra cut off.

by some coincidence, they could use the same frame. find a doner truck and measure the distances and locations of all the cab mounts and box mounts (cab mounts are insulated, box mounts are solid). also check out the location of the fuel tank, in my truck most of it is under the box, but the front part dipps down to go under the cab.

 

Im going to really do some measuring this weekend and get under my truck and under a club cab and see what i come up with. Ill check the mounts and see if there is a difference. I hadnt even thought about the fuel tank ducking under the cab. Ive got the big 35 Gallon tank and really would hate to lose it for a smaller one. I do know that my parts truck will be as complete as possible so i have as many extra parts as possible. I thank you guys for the input and suggestions.

 

My main concerns would be the mounting bolt for the cab and bed. making sure there secure so that when I press the brakes hard, the body doesn't come apart from the chassis like a cartoon. I'd go for it though. First because it was your brothers (sorry to hear about your brother) and second, because it would benefit your son more then anything. Teaching him how to improvise is a great lesson to learn. I had to learn it only because I grew up in a somewhat poor family and we really didn't have much.

 

why dont you just swap out the type of cab you have?

 

Regular cab trucks don't make good family vehicles.