65 body on a 61 chassis.....doable?

[Eagletucky]

Guys,

I just bought a 65 GMC 3 weeks ago. Its a long bed. The body is in pretty good condition, not perfect. leaf spring rear suspension.

I just bought a 61 Chevy last week. Its a short bed frame (no bed, cab and front sheet metal are bad), which is the chassis I want, along with the truck arm suspension. This frame is also set up for a 235, which I have a brand new one ready to go.

My question is, will the 65 GMC bodywork fit on the 61 chassis? I know the bed will have to be cut down, but I was curious about the cab, fenders, bumpers etc. Has anyone else dealt with this?

BTW, I did a search, but could not find any info specific to this question.

Thanks in advance

[forestb]

Not to sound rude but why would you want to put a 65 cab on a 61 frame? Doesn't the front have a torsion bar set up. I would stick with the 65 frame you are much better off finding parts for it. I have a 62 and I cant find anything for them. I would say you are better off with coils in the font. But I don't know how bad leaf spring in the rear are it seams like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

[Eagletucky]

Well, I dont care for the GMC 305 (no offense GMC guys, I just have a new 235), I dont like the leaf spring suspension, It limits my ability to change ride height. I was under the impression that I could swap out the front suspension on the 61 Chevy fairly easy, perhaps I am mistaken. The Chevy is a short bed frame, which is the chassis I am looking for. Cutting down a longbed to fit a shotrie frame is easy. Also, the a pillars and roof of the chevy cab are really rusty, the GMC cab is in much better shape.

Would the front crossmember from the GMC swap into the Chevy?

Its not the end of the world either way, I could just keep the entire chevy together, add the bed from the GMC and call it a day. But that involves a ton of rust repair......

[jonzcustomshop]

It might be easier to swap the truck arm rear onto your 65 frame...
to do a 65 cab and bed to a 61, there willbe alot of body mount rearranging...
the 60-62 had a wider X frame, so most of the cab and bed mounts are in different locations...

[beefshreadder116]

i kinda did the opposite of what you are doing. the front cab mount is wider on a 61 and the bed mounts are wider aswell. you could probably find some stock rear crossmembers from a coil truck on this site. shortening the frame is pretty easy, id rather do frame work than switch body mounts. plus if u just take the motor mounts from the chev and put them into a gmc they should work. i cant imagine GM would change the mount holes in the front frame.

[Captainfab]

You could swap the '65 GMC suspension to the '61 Chevy frame, but if you're going to do a swap why not go to a later model disc brake suspension. It's not much more work and you get much better stopping capabilities. Either way, if you swap front suspensions you'll have to transfer the bracket on the crossmember for the 235 front motor mount.

[Eagletucky]

Thanks for the comments guys, lots to think about. I'll take a few days, weigh my options, and come up with a plan.

I'll start a build thread when I decide.

Thanks again.

[Eagletucky]

One more question, can the 67-87 front crossmember be swapped into the 61? I was under the impression it could. If that is a poosibility, I'll swap the front crossmember and just build the 61.

[Captainfab]

Originally Posted by Eagletucky

One more question, can the 67-87 front crossmember be swapped into the 61? I was under the impression it could. If that is a poosibility, I'll swap the front crossmember and just build the 61.

Yes it can.......