2wd to 4wd IFS conversion

[WTwarrior]

I am considering swaping my cclb 1 ton to 4wd with a complete donor truck.

I know why didnt i just get a 4wd truck to begin with [got a deal on a 2wd, didnt have to pay 4wd permium] ,
Why dont i just do SAS [have a set of 1 ton danas, but this is a daily and i prefer the IFS] ,
Why dont i lift my 2wd [cant find the good fabtech spindles, or any.for that matter]
ive seen em all, if you wanna knock it dont expect much of a response, this forum like seem like a bad one but most others become ****** matches and im not looking for that.

From what i understand the only difference in the frames are the coil mounts, UCA mounts and the front 6" of a 2wd frame curves upward. I imagine theres holes in the frame to mount the torsion bar xmc, as for the diff i cant remember if thats mounted off its own xmc or the engine cradle.
If anyone has any insight on this please speak up, id like to know if anyones braved this before, and if theres a real major thing that cant be done.

Thanks in advance

 

[Justin S]

Anything can be done, it just depends on if you want to go through all the money and labor to do it, and if it would be worth it to you. If you have a whole donor truck, why not consider swapping bodies on the frames?

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Ate the very least, consider pulling the front clip and just grafting a donor frame onto your's.

4wd's have a huge from crossmember below the steering box, that the suspension partially mounts to.

 

[dave_erald]

Yeah the 2wd frame is so vastly different from the 4wd frame there is no way to convert, you would have to cut and weld on a 4wd frame front, swap frames completely (which is not as terrible as it sounds, you just lose your laneway for a year.........)


Or what may be possible is grafting on Ford 4wd twin I beam suspension.

...try not to laugh to hard

 

[WTwarrior]

I was considering the frame graft, id switch bodies but the donor is a scsb, and the rear frame is bad, so the good body panels will go to my K1500 sclb, and the practically new service bed is going else where. How hard is the frame graft? Where do i need to splice? Like mid front door or farther back or forward? This is going to be a project but im willing to go through the work to have 4wd ifs. the truck is coming from the shop my brother works at restoring historic military vehicles, and his boss may let us use the shop fir the framework, so i should be good on equipment i just need more knowledge on frame grafting so i dont end up going down the road ****-eyed

 

[miles0]

I have a 1 ton CCLB 2wd too so i known the lift struggle. But on a member's crewcab build thread he managed to convert his 3500 8 lug suspension into 1500 5 lug which gives you more options of finding lift spindles that are still in production. well that the lift option im leaning towards if i can figure out how he pulled off the conversion ill do the same to my crewcab


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I was considering the frame graft, id switch bodies but the donor is a scsb, and the rear frame is bad, so the good body panels will go to my K1500 sclb, and the practically new service bed is going else where. How hard is the frame graft? Where do i need to splice? Like mid front door or farther back or forward? This is going to be a project but im willing to go through the work to have 4wd ifs. the truck is coming from the shop my brother works at restoring historic military vehicles, and his boss may let us use the shop fir the framework, so i should be good on equipment i just need more knowledge on frame grafting so i dont end up going down the road ****-eyed

Well, I would say the frame graft is simple, but I've done similar work before.

First, you need a serious welder, 220, something up over 160 amps, not the little HF flux core deal that fixed your lawn mower.

Mid front door does seem like a logical spot to splice at, since the frame is flat and consistent there.

Don't measure from any holes in the frame, production tolerances allow them to vary by up to 1/8". So 1/8 here and 1/8 the other way there, it can add up. Measure from the center of the wheel hub to a spot on flat ground, then back from there. Check it crossways, and get it within 1/16.

 

[WTwarrior]

After doing more research and admiring how clean my cclb frame is Im thinking about scrapping the idea and lowering to the truck to give it a sharp street look and repairing the beat up donor frame and using that as my beater with a heater

 

[Biggershaft96]

That seems like the best idea. I wouldnt want half of a half ton frame and front suspension on at one ton.