So I had this random idea last night that kept me up all night of taking a 2nd gen Dakota quad cab and a long bed off a club cab, and putting them on a 2nd gen ram 1500 or 2500 frame. In my head this would be a fun project to do, but is also probably not possible because of the size differences. But for the kick in the shorts I was hoping someone could help me by getting me frame dimensions of both a 2nd gen quad cab frame and a 2nd gen ram 1500 or 2500 frame. Also maybe a schematic of where the body mounts are located on the ram frame. Thanks for the help and please no replies just to hate on this idea.

 

I was kicking this idea around also with converting my quad cab to a long bed, but, i finally realized you cant ( without tons of body work! ) the body wont mach with the bed, go take a closer look at the quadcab bed, it partially wraps around the cab, were all others ( standard and extended cab) the beds are all strait cut like a normal bed, so it defiantly wont look like it belongs there...

 

I know about the cab to bed differences. I’m more worried about the frames of the trucks.

 

I would start with the factory service manuals for each vehicle as they have dimensions. (the 2000 Dakota FSM contains frame and body specs )

 

Strangely enough, the full sized truck frame is going to be dimensionally larger than the dakota frame. My guess would be NONE of the body/bed mounts will line up.

 

thank you captain obvious. If everything lined up then I wouldn’t be asking for help.

 

That would be MAJOR Obvious, thankyouverymuch.

So what did you have in mind? The frame is going to be both longer, and wider, than the Dak. Mixing/matching cabs/beds can likely alleviate the length issues..... but, you will have to move body/bed mounts on either the frame, or the body, to account for the difference in width. (I suspect moving them on the frame would be easier than on the body......)

Full size (2nd gen, at least...) frame dimensions are actually in the service manual. You can download them from here. I would imagine the same information is available for the Dak's in their respective FSM's, but, can't tell ya where to find those. (I *think* some are available around here somewhere..... I haven't looked.) That would give you an idea of how much stuff would have to move, and how far.

Personally, I think a 3/4 ton Dak would be kinda neat.

 

Ill definitely be doing body work and relocating body mounts to make all this work. Maybe even some frame modifications.

 

Something else to consider is going to be the distance from the radiator support to the firewall. Its a pretty good bet that it is longer on the full sized trucks, than the daks...... So, need to figure out how far you are going to have to move the radiator support back.... probably have to lose the mechanical cooling fan, and go electric...... or, stretch the fenders??

 

I found a 1997 dodge ram 2500 for sale for $400. After looking at service manuals for both the 2500 and my Dakota; I found out the Dakota frame was wider.