I was interested in doing the whole crossmember swap for a few reasons:
1. If I do go and pull the whole crossmember, I can rebuild it prior to instillation and have it all set up before I have to even touch my truck.
2. Having the whole crossmember of just 1 vehicle would make replacement and finding parts numbers that much easier, instead of having to hunt for disc brakes from one year and power steering components from another, etc. Also, having the whole crossmember from the later vehicle, I have read, is supposed to be stronger than the earlier OEM stuff.
'66father/son-
I have a 3 speed non-O.D., which I believe has a 1:1 final (3rd) gear. This could be totally incorrect, though. My rear-end, I have read, is most likely a 3.73 (all i know for sure is it's a 10 bolt, non- posi, and leaks at the gasket). I have some tall rear tires on what could be stock rims? BTW, how do you know what a split rim looks like, or did my truck even have those stock?
LONGBOX55-
Thanks for the info, that's very helpful too. If I do anything to the rear, I feel like it would be much cheaper in the long run to find a junkyard axle with appropriate gears and a limited-slip that's a 5 lug. I know 12 bolts are getting harder to find, but there has to be something that meets my criterion that is roughly the correct size that can be modified to accept coil spring perches. (This was something else that would be nice about swapping frames, but it sounds like it might be over my head...)
Thanks again for all the help and info.
