a new truck in my future

[original balzer]

well in my little world im the odd man out. my friends all have much newer trucks. extended cabs & 4 doors mostly short beds mostly diesels. they been givin me **** and tellin me i should go buy a new one. i do want a new truck too. i want a brand new 1977 1 ton 4 door short bed 4x4 chevy with a 12 valve cummins and a 6 speed. why they wanna tell me its almost 2006 and chevy never made a 4 door short bed 1 ton is beyond me. i figure i could build this truck for around 10-15k ground up? my best freind bought a 2006 f-350 4 door short bed powerjoke last month and has so far dumped an additional $8000 into a $46k truck. $54,000 is more than i paid for my house and its 6 bed 2 bath and a nice house not ghetto trash. soooo has anyone built a short bed 4 door 73-87 chevy?
whats the best way to go about it shorten the rear frame to fit the bed and center the axle in the well? anyone have a 4x4 frame and cab to donate? ha ha ha < evil retard laugh anywho thats my next project it will be more geared twards good looks and daily duty than trail abuse. there is a suburban in town for sale with the roof cut behind the rear doors and a rear cab wall fab'd in like a 1986 avalanche but i dont like the way it looks.
on a serious note. how hard is it to change the 2wd to 4x4 on the frame i have found 2 cheap (exelent condition) 2wd crew cabs i could pick up for 500 bengi's for the pair (1 is $200 the other is $300) neither has engines or trans but i have all that

balzer

 

[resurrected_jimmy]

There was a post a couple of days ago talking about 2wd to 4wd conversions and how the 4wd front end assembly was fairly modular and not too difficult to fab into a 2wd frame. IMO if your going to build your dream vehicle and go all out with the cummins and a 6 speed, 2wd to 4wd should be on the easy side of the fab work your looking at doing.

As far as bobing the bed, I would cut the box in front of the wheel wells and graft the front of the box back on once the amount of length you want is removed. I think this would make the cleanest look for your shortbed.

 

[rjfguitar]

I'd just save the trouble and go buy a newer used Ram Cummins with a few miles on it for $20K off sticker.

There has been a few crew cabs with shortbeds for sale lately on the boards. I can't blame you for wanting a CC 80's GM, they are cool, but if you are running with buddies that have late model diesels....you'll probably be happier with a late model truck too. You probably will wind up with more money into a custom GM CC 3+3 than a late Ram or Ford with leather, heated seats, power everything, potential of tons of power at the push of a button, better brakes, better ride, everything that a newer truck brings. Not to mention not having to do any labor.

 

[BigCountryx]

What's the fun in that? lol. I say do it, but I'm the type that's glutton for punishment.