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4Elatemodel
12-17-2014, 04:07 PM
Hey everyone I've come across a few c10s for sale in the body style I'm looking for but are in 4WD what would be involved in swapping to RWD. Now keep in mind should i buy the truck i plan on stripping it down and rebuidling it in a pro touring style. Any info you guys have and can bring to my attention would be great and appreciated.

chevymike
12-18-2014, 08:12 AM
It could depend on what year the truck is. Likely the biggest difference is in the front frame area. Some you can swap in a 2WD suspension crossmember and others have a different bend in them and you would have to do a frame swap.

brawls43
12-18-2014, 10:28 AM
But if you're planning to cut out the stock suspension and do something like No Limit Wide Ride or somebody's IFS in front, I don't see why 4WD would matter. But I'm a Ford guy, not a Chevy guy. But presumably, you're cutting out all the suspension and front cross-members to swap to something new.

What are your engine and transmission plans? You'd end up with an extra axle and transfer case that you could maybe sell to offset other part costs.

4Elatemodel
12-18-2014, 11:59 AM
The truck is a 1968 short bed stepside if that would clear anything up. I was originally planning to do a full ride tech kit but the application i was looking for was a street/race truck something i could do a bit of it all in but mostly just terrorizing my neighbor hood and taking it to a road course to run around.I am open to other suggestions though. As for engine and trans i thought about it but havent nailed it down because of not actually possesing the truck. Some intial thoughts were ls of somekind, 383 carb,383 fuel injected but really my goal is a hp window of about 500-600 hp. Thanks again your being super helpful!

mitch_04
12-18-2014, 12:30 PM
Technically, a 4wd is a K10 not a C10, but I know what you're saying.

I'd look into a Porterbuilt front crossmember. Should be able to remove the 4WD stuff and bolt in the Porterbuilt in the front. You could call them as well, super helpful people.

If doing a stock crossmember, many people do the 73-87 crossmember in the 67-72 pickups for the 5 wheel bolt pattern. Shouldn't be hard to find one.

4Elatemodel
12-21-2014, 06:59 AM
I thought about it and at first it didn't seem like that big a deal since i was going to strip the truck way down, but I'm kind of freaking out a little i haven't seen anyone do this or another thread on it. Ive been going back and forth on buying the truck also its relatively nice (about what i expected to see for a truck of this age) but the 4x4 is really scaring me. I come from a mechanical background having grown up around a racecar but body and frame modification isnt anything I've done before. I'm 21 so a big budget is out off the question its a paycheck build but something I've really wanted to do for a long time.

mitch_04
12-21-2014, 09:12 AM
I wouldn't fear it if I were you. In my mind there are 2 routes for doing this.

1. Purchase an aftermarket crossmember, probably $1000 or more depending on options. You would then unbolt your leaf springs, get your old axle out of the way, and after a little back and forth you could easily see how it will bolt in. Afterwards, remove any 4wd components that remained, like leaf spring mounts and such. Don't get hooked on the money, these crossmembers almost always offer much better handling characteristics as well as multiple engine configurations. No custom mounts needed. Also, I'm sure most companies will explain all that is needed to be done to swap their crossmember in. You are not the first to do this, it's probably been done since the 70's, just with stock parts like option 2...

2. Get a stock 2wd crossmember/frame. You may purchase one already off (just saw one here in South Dakota for 350, probably could be had for 200) or find a rust bucket or wrecked vehicle and purchase whole, selling the remains to the scrapper to recoupe dough. The beauty of this is you can just swap components (if whole frame is used) or just take the front crossmember (if you have the wrong length frame or just bought the crossmember). If you frequent a few C10 specific forums (c10forum.com, 67-72chevytrucks.com) I'm sure you could find used crossmembers from those going to aftermarket crossmembers. Could probably find a few hundred of them in junkyards as well, of course if PA is like SD right now, it'd be cold. The nice thing here is that you can just look at the 2wd set up and see right where it goes in. It's pretty obvious, set the crossmember where the old one was and voila, holes will generally line up. The main frame is identical between the 2, hence the insane amounts of holes in the frame for varying options. The downside is that later on should you decide you want more performance and better suspension geometry, you will basically be buying new arms and such that would have came with an aftermarket crossmember in the first place.

My advice? Save your pennies, sell the 4wd pieces, and purchase an aftermarket crossmember. I did a ton of mods to my stock arms and frame and wish I would have just went with the crossmember. Now I'm snowballing into building a custom frame...but that's another thread!