FShorty frame question...

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by CGerow

Does anyone know if a 4x4 frame and a 2wd frame are essentially the same?
The reason I ask is I know where there is a decent deal on a shorty 4x4, and just wondering how hard it would be to convert it to a 2WD....and one more thing I assume a Step and a Fleet mount differently, but is it hard to adapt a fleet box on an original stepside frame? Thanks in advance for all replies!

The 2wd crossmembers can be put into the 4x4 frame to convert the front. You would have the 4x4 shackle mounts & front spring buckets still in place plus the parking brake boss location on the 4x4 frame is different than the 2wd but I don't think any of these get in the way of the 2wd suspension. You could easily swap out the 4x4 front spring bucket/core support brackets for a set of 2wd core support only brackets to clean things up.

The leaf spring mount brackets are different on the 4x4 than the 2wd leaf spring frames but you can put a square body 4x4 or 2wd rear end in there and get either 6-lug or 5-lug out of the deal. Do an axle over spring swap to drop it down about 5" in the back.

Converting a 4x4 frame to trailing arm will require quite a bit of work as the trailing arm spring mount crossmember is wider than the 4x4 frame.

You wold need an entire trailing arm frame to get all the crossmembers & parts from anyway so you would be better off just cutting a common long bed trailing arm frame down to the right length to make it a short bed 2wd frame.