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The Wife's Dually - '82 K30 dually

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The Butcher said:
For those of you who have done body swaps, can you give me tips/suggestions/order of events in terms of tearing down and reassembly? Can you take the whole cab/hood/fenders/rad support off in one piece, or do you need to take them all apart to remove them? Where do you begin?

I'm going to tear mine down first and then paint the frame. There isn't much that is salvageable on my current body, but I'll take the side mirrors and hang onto the glass that isn't broken (rear and sides). What's the best procedure for removing the rear glass? I'm going to take out the trans hump as well in case I need that.
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Do you have the capability to pick up and move the whole cab/front clip in one piece without doing any damage to it? If you've Gotta do any body work to the panels at all it'll probably save you headache just pulling it apart piece by piece now instead of later.

I don't have much in the way of a play by play so to speak but you'll need to unhook the following- cooling system, brake lines, electrical, clutch linkage or shift linkage if auto, then body mount bolts. Someone will correct me if I missed something.
 
the balance point will be way off on reg pickup cab and front clip . prob best to just pull it off . if few guys around as 1 maybe if you want . NOTE body shim locations and quantity with masking tape around them .

then cab by its self not bad .

also for other searching later . if body is of 73-80 or 81-87 style you cab bolt them on the others frame but just use body mount kit for the year of the frame . ex: I have a few late 70's frames and they have mid 80's bodys on them . I just used body mount kit for the year of the frame and no problems.
 
Rear glass is grommet mounted like the front glass. Just be careful and use plastic tools to peel up the rubber and pry out the glass.
 
I have forklifts with 8' forks on them. I could either lift from the bottom or try and figure out some sort of sling that I could run through the cab and maybe have a couple of guys support the front clip area while we lift it. Is one of those methods better than the other? I think maybe I'll try and lift as one piece when taking the body off mine so I can see how that goes since it doesn't matter if the body gets mangled. If that works well then I will do it that with the donor truck since I didn't want to mess around with trying to shim the body panels, doors, etc. perfectly.

Good to know on the body mount kits. In my case I should be good though since the donor body and the old one are pretty much the same year ('80+).

The steering shaft is obviously going to have to get disconnected too. The new body is from a 2wd, so is there any difference in the shaft from the 2wd vs. the 4wd in terms of how they connect to the steering box? If not, I'll just disconnect and reuse the 2wd shaft instead of the 4wd one. I guess I'll have a 2wd box lying around at that point so I could do crossover hi-steer if I wanted. Right now it has a drop pitman arm I think.
 
Found the Service Parts ID card. Interesting this had a diesel to begin with. I figured the hood that was on it with the diesel badge on the ornament was swapped on from another truck, but turns out this is the original. Also interesting it had a diesel and 4.56 gears in it.

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For those of you that have done body swaps, which VIN do you use when registering the truck? I've come across a couple of bodies for sale with no title, so can you take the VIN tag off your original body and put it on the donor body, or are you supposed to use the donor body VIN? Or does it not matter which you choose?
 
It kinda depends on where you live I think. I would not mention names or specifics when asking about it just so if you go a different route they aren't like "weren't you that guy we talked to". I did a cab swap when I was young in WI and I had both titles so I took both to the DMV and they combined them into one title under the body vin. Anything now days that I have done after that I just go off the body vin since no one even checks the frame vin unless it's a high dollar vehicle that could be stolen. I would see no problem with swapping a vin plate so that your vin and title are good for a body without a vin. I don't see the point in going through the whole lost title/no-title nonsense for just a new cab. Just make sure when you swap a vin plate it looks like you didn't.
 
if scrapping old cab cut whole dash chunk out with tag still in place . keep title for it .

get bill of sale at least for new donor parts and keep this .

my k30 is titled as 79 k30 with my donor 87 cab/front clip on it with its factory c-10 tag in dash .

I have been asked by the cops years ago why vin didn't match . told him I have bill of sale from junk yard with c-10 donor body I purchased . and I titled as original k30 frame .

he ran both to be same and said have a good day .

but I am in the land of RUST and its not common to see body swaps all around on trucks .

our trucks have 2 vins . the dash tag . and the top of frame rail under cab by gas tank if not rusted off. otherwise no hidden stuff.
 
sweetk30 said:
if scrapping old cab cut whole dash chunk out with tag still in place . keep title for it .

get bill of sale at least for new donor parts and keep this .

my k30 is titled as 79 k30 with my donor 87 cab/front clip on it with its factory c-10 tag in dash .

I have been asked by the cops years ago why vin didn't match . told him I have bill of sale from junk yard with c-10 donor body I purchased . and I titled as original k30 frame .

he ran both to be same and said have a good day .

but I am in the land of RUST and its not common to see body swaps all around on trucks .

our trucks have 2 vins . the dash tag . and the top of frame rail under cab by gas tank if not rusted off. otherwise no hidden stuff.
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I'll look for the VIN on the frame once I get the body off. Given the amount of rust on my truck it won't surprise me if it is unreadable, but then again the frame only shows surface rust while the body is completely shot. I think I'll just register the new body VIN. Easier to do that since I have more updated paperwork. It was last titled in 2015. Plus, the cab likely the only place someone will go looking for the VIN 99% of the time.
 
Change of plans on my body swap candidate. Got a great deal on this one (it's an '84), and it has the full body (minus a tailgate) that appears to be in pretty decent shape compared to most that I have seen. I kept finding people that either had a cab or a bed, but not both together. And if it did have both, the fenders on the bed were usually mangled. This one is straight which will save some time and money on the front end.

The best part of this deal is the engine. Old block was cleaned, tested, and then bored 30 over by reputable shop in Austin. It's got a slew of new parts including the following:
  • Edelbrock Victor Jr. Intake Manifold
  • ARP intake manifold bolts
  • Holley HP850 double pumper carb
  • ARP carb studs
  • Comp Cams Extreme Energy Camshaft
  • Torrington roller bearing Comp Cams timing set
  • ARP timing sprocket bolts
  • Fel Pro gaskets all the way around
  • Clevite 77 bearings
  • New Alternator
  • New Power Steering Pump
  • New Starter Motor
  • New Thermostat and elbow
  • WIX racing 4" tall filter
  • Hedman 2" primary headers
  • Tall chrome Valve covers
  • Chrome oil pan
  • Chrome timing cover
  • Melling high pressure oil pump and pickup tube
  • New Spark Plugs, wires, and Distributor
Estimates are 475-500HP. The guy put it all together, started it up for 30 seconds to set the timing, and then changed the oil (he had mixed up a concoction of Royal Purple and some other lubes for the break in). He hadn't hooked up the cooling system, so he never got around to breaking it in, but suggested I set up the cooling system, throw on some mufflers, and then run it for 15-20 minutes at 2000RPM or greater to get it broken in and everything seated. He warned that idling it would likely flat lobe the cam, so it needs that break in time to avoid that issue.

He had it sitting the last couple of months, and lost interest in this project since he has several others he is working on. He had placed a plastic bag over the chrome stuff to protect them, but unfortunately that seemed to trap some moisture which created a little surface rust on the chrome. I imagine that can be cleaned up fairly easy with a little wet sanding and polish though.

On to the pics...

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Man I was really interested in that truck. just hadn't had a chance to go check it out good buy. what's for sale off it?
 
obijuank5 said:
Man I was really interested in that truck. just hadn't had a chance to go check it out good buy. what's for sale off it?
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Yeah, I hadn't seen the listing until Wednesday and then emailed him that I wanted to come see it ASAP. From what I could tell he had listed the truck originally for $4500 a month or so ago, then cut that in half a few days ago just before I saw the listing. I drove out the same day he called me and picked it up. I itemized the prices of the parts on the motor and I paid less for the entire truck with motor than there are just in new parts on the motor. I'm very pleased.

Not sure yet what will be for sale. Probably won't know for sure until I actually get the whole thing swapped over as I think I'm going to have to use most everything on it other than the frame and the rear end. I'd prefer to use the SM465 that's on my current frame, but there is that nice Turbo 400 sitting in the bed with fresh fluid and new oil pan that would be an easy drop in. Especially since this cab is set up for it already. To use the SM465 I'm going to have to swap over pedal assemblies, and do something about the transfer case hump. So, what could potentially be for sale is:
  • 2wd frame
  • Rear end (I assume it is the D70, but honestly haven't looked to see)
  • TH400 OR SM465
  • 454 motor out of my old Dually (has RV cam, but not sure what else. Needs to be gone through and its been sitting for 10 years)
  • Side rear view mirrors (tripod style).
My wife wants the standard trans, and so do I, so likely the TH400 will be up for sale. It's just going to take more effort to keep that with the 2wd auto cab. I'll post more stuff for sale once I get further along.
 
Pretty sure they are the stock heads. I asked him if they had been decked and he said yes, and he estimated the compression around 8.5-9:1. I assumed by the fact that he said they were decked that they were stock heads, not aftermarket, but I didn't ask him specifically.

Looks like I'm using a 2wd auto donor cab after all. Haven't figured out if I'm going to do the 1" body lift like you did, or cut out my old trans case tunnel and use that. You are running an SM465 as well, aren't you? What was required to install the clutch pedal assembly in the 2wd auto cab?
 
Next time you have the covers off take note of the head numbers.
 
I did a 2wd low hump pan and a 2" body lift years ago . it was a 465/205 combo . . . I had room to spare a bit . . I think with tiny big of floor mods a 1" would have worked . maybe it would of just let some of the 4 speed shifter tower stick up threw the floor hole.

as to pedal swap if hydro boost on both = just unbolt and swap . have to drop/remove steering column for best way to worm it out.
 
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