Schwartz Chassis Under a Pickup - Question

[Damn True]

A buddy of mine is considering putting an old Ford Pickup body on a "modern" chassis. The idea's hes knocking around are:



a) Finding a rollover new truck and using that chassis.
b) Using something like a Schwartz chassis.

If the latter, does anyone have any idea what the towing capacity might be?

[dontlifttoshift]

How old of a Truck? If we are talking 48-56 then Total Cost Involved. Their chassis has an 8" tall main rail and they are really stout. Towing capacity? Like haul a car trailer? That may be dicey, I think the frame could handle it but I'm not sure about the rear suspension.

I had a 48 Chevy pickup that I setup with truck arms and air bags and that thing was awesome. It rode fantastic, was the best vehicle I have ever owned in the snow, and I could go to the home depot and load it with lumber until it sat on the bumpstops and then air it up and drive home. I would think that setup could be replicated and setup to tow pretty well with an open aluminum trailer.

So what year truck?

[TCI Engineering]

We have built chassis's for older tow rigs hauling some pretty hefty loads(roughly 10K lbs). Like dontlift already mentioned the frame won't be the limiting factor. Suspension wise anything from extra stack overload or helper bag leaf springs to good old 4-links with heavy progressive coil springs would all be great upgrades to handle it. We've even installed a few Duramax engines for customers.

If it were me building something like this and I have put a lot of thought into this exact situation. I would go with a leaf spring rear with a helper bag to keep the ride comfortable for when I am not towing and just hauling the family around. I would upgrade to an 8" dual diaphragm booster instead of the standard 7" dual. I would upgrade the standard 11" disc/drum brakes to a Wilwood 12" front and back to make sure I can bring it to a stop while loaded. I would run the Mustang II front end because it has thicker control arms, has dropped or stock spindles available and it won't break the bank. It's a toss up for what engine but it would be either a LQ4/4L80 with a small-ish turbo or a Duramax/Allison. I'd probably lean towards the gas engine solely based on saving money. The chassis comes standard with a 1" front anti-sway bar which I would upgrade to the 1.25" and maybe even throw some 35 spline axles in there just because there isn't much cost difference over the 31 spline axles. I would also add some gusseting to the rear suspension mounts for safe keep with the heavy tongue weight. Something with all those upgrades would run around $10K complete as shown below(less powdercoating).



-J

[Damn True]

Not sure of the year. It's a late '60's, early '70's "Sport Custom" long bed.

[TCI Engineering]

The newest Ford chassis I make is for a '56. I don't think Schwartz does truck frames and No Limit has a year cut off @ 1960. I can't think of anybody else that will make a direct replacment. Being a long bed it will create some challenges with trying to adapt a direct fit since most are based on SWB trucks. You can certainly cut the rails and extend them but I think I'd rather try to find a late model truck chassis with the proper wheelbase to start with in his case.

-J

[6'9"Witha69]

AME? Last time I browsed their catalog IIRC they had 60s truck frames.

[6'9"Witha69]

http://www.artmorrison.com/2006cat/22.pdf