Welcome to the forum. Glad to hear you haven't lost interest after 20 years of absence from the hobby. All of the sheet metal of a 1/2 ton and 1 ton is the same. However the frames are quite different. 1 ton 9' beds are hard to find and there are people looking for them. The way I would do it if the cab and sheet metal on the 1 ton is a good candidate for resto, I would buy it and then look for a half ton. They are around. If you have room to keep it, keep the 1 ton bed and frame. Someone will probably buy it for what you pay for a 1/2 ton parts truck. And it is always good to have several parts trucks around.
