The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Where Can I buy a brand new one ton frame?

HEY GUYS,
Thanks for the info so far-My idea is to buy a brand new one ton chevy frame from somewhere. I thought about the chevy dealer, but are there other places to buy an unused one ton frame by chevy and what do they cost? :confused:


Merle Haggard for president and God Bless Johnny cash!

How about one that has been totaled, but just rolled or something where the frame and drivetrain are good.
Strip the crushed stuff off and put your old body on it. No warranty, and would probably use the title from the old truck.
Should be a few thousand $ for a really low mile one, not free, but better than 20,000 to $40,000 or so.

Not sure why it would be important that it not come from a dealer. I don't know where else you could get one, but probably lots of parts suppliers would have a source.

I would expect a band new frame to cost a pretty penny.

The advantage of buying a used one could be all the small parts and accessories that would come with it for very little money.

I recently bought a used 1-ton frame for $4600. It came complete with a running 454, four-wheel-drive, a nice interior and lots of shinny black paint.

I've been driving it almost every day since. I do expect that someday it will be a parts donor for some project, but not until its covered a few more miles.

if you buy a frame from a dealer you will pay out the a** becouse it will go through parts and you will pay full price for every nut and bolt one by one if you want to buy it any way let me know my buddy at chevy would love to sell it to you as all parts people work on comision o fthere sales

How about http://www.workhorse.com/

P-chassis is a bit different than a pickup.

The the workhorse site is for rec vehicles, but thanks any way. You guys are right again, too much money to start from scratch. No need to go too far in debt if I can help it. Guess I will shop around for a one ton 4wd that i can bolt my parts on and go from there.
I did look at sublime's truck and he e-mailed me some stuff as well. He did do a great job. He bought an army pickup and swapped the stuff out. I know from driving thosse trucks that they are pretty tuff. This truck and my plan are going to be long in the makings, but i will get there. I appreciate the information.

Grigg-

Do you know where you can scare up an insurance rig like that. A search on the net brings up nothing but "Buy cars and trucks for $500!" scams and so on.

I have never bought one, but if I were to start looking for one I would look at auto auctions. I would also ask body shops and dealers because they probably know where to get one. Body shop is perhaps the best bet, and tell them to keep you in mind if they see the model you are looking for. Yoy could even talk to local insurance companys and have them call you if somebody wrecks one like you are looking for.
Good luck
Grigg

I knew a guy who was big into building Hummer replicas, set on full size Suburban frames from the late 90's.

He'd buy insurance wrecks, usually ones that had been rolled, where the frame was straight but the body was just too jacked up to fix reasonably.

Seems like the nicest one he ever bought didn't cost more than $2,000.. and he made more than his $2,000 back selling the seats, factory radio, and other interior things on eBay (that he wasn't going to use, anyway)

So if you want old school look with modern day drivetrain and convenience, buy alater model insurance wreck, strip the wrecked body off, and sell all the decent parts off the body and interior on eBay.

For sure it isn't a quick process, but if you do the work yourself, i'll bet you could get it done within a few months, and your final cost wouldn't be a whole lot.. hell, you might even MAKE money on the deal!

You can talk your local dealer into ordering one for you up to and including full rollong chassis with engine and tranny.friend of mine just did that and put it under a 48 COE to use for a hauler

Is it possible on the newer 350s to remove the injection, electronics, and emissions and go back to basically a crate 350? I like the simplicity of no electronics and have heard that the electronics cost more than the mechanical part at rebuild time.

I assume it is because I've seen information on how to do exactly that with a Cadillac Northstar. But why start with an EFI 350 when you can buy a crate 350 with a carburator?

You can order the P-chassis as a complete assembly minus body from GM. Find a Chevy or GMC dealer that does commercial orders. You can specify the length of the wheelbase, chassis, engine/transmission, axle and ratio, and GVW of the unit you order. It's not as much $$$ as a complete, ready-to-drive truck, but it can be driven, since there is a seat and all of the controls present. It's designed specifically for customers that want a custom body put on their chassis. The Grumman aluminum-bodied vans are a perfect example, as are the UPS trucks.

I've always wanted to do this, if I could find a nearly-perfect COE Chevy/GMC or Dodge cab to build as a hauler.

OldSub-

I was thinking of using a late model light wreck/roll for a chassis swap.

there are some companies that build old type jeep frames, classic truck frames, hot rod frames, either to the original specs or stronger than... sometime with original specs, but with custom tweaks for whatever the application is.

If ya poke around the classic trucks magazines websites you can find links to them.

-W

you can remove the injection and replace with after market intake/carb and distributor

Just a thought, I would think that there should be many huricane damaged vehicles to pick from for a parts vehicle. That is if you want locate one here in the U.S. after you return (not in Korea).

Yeah well I will be doing all of the work there in the states.
I do like the idea of a rolled pickup being tore down and changed to a 1946 chevy. The chassis minus body parts isnt a bad idea, as long as the price is reasonable, but from what ive heard its a bear of a price.