The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Chassis swap on a '37... has anyone done one?

Yes but can you sit still on dry concrete at a dead stop and easily turn the wheel all the way to the left and right without being in motion Joe?

I keep hearing about those 41-46 gear boxes and have to wonder how they differ so much for the '37 version that they make a truck easy to steer... is anyone aware of the differences and why one would work so much dramatically better? Just curious...

~Trev

No I can not steer it left to right at a dead stop with out a lot of effort! But in the ten years I have been driving it, I never needed to. Once the truck is rolling, even just a bit, it will turn with little effort.

The 41-46 gear box uses totally different internal parts. The 37 gear box is straight gear to gear with bronze bushings. The 41-46 gear box uses a worm gear with 60 ball bearings inside a cage that is geared to the sector gear. The 37 steering ratio is 16:1 were as the 46 has a 20:1 ratio.

Joe

Ahhh that makes sense but still doesn't solve the problem if you were jammed in a tiny parking spot and wanted to get out like power steering would...

I will keep it in mind as one of the options to make it 'slightly easier' though... thanks Joe!

~Trev

Trev,
I saw your gallery posting of your truck and based on what I saw you really don't want to do a chassis swap. If you do, your truck will be out of commission for a pretty good while. I would suggest doing one of the power steering options mentioned in the previous posts. I have swapped my frame on my truck and granted I am slower than most because of time, money, and raising children, but I have been working on it for more than 6 years. You may have more resources available than I. The way I see it now, it is always better to keep the old truck drivable, it keeps you motivated. Good luck.

I am new to this site, so my thoughts may not mean much, but I did a S-10 frame swap on a 48 Panel truck, and found it pretty simple. I had to shorten the frame because I used the wrong frame (standard cab, long bed is what I needed, extended cab, short bed is what I had), but overall I found it to be pretty easy. S-10's are dirt cheap, in fact if you buy one and keep the frame, you can part out the rest of the truck and get your money back. Just my thoughts

This transition must be different for everyone... as the last two entries on this indicate, some find it easy and some find it a long and difficult job...

dsmith... you're right I wouldn't want my '37 out of commission that long... if it was I'd probably just stick with the bel air and sell the '37...

big ragu... your thoughts mean as much as any other member here and I'm glad you threw in your two cents... my thing is I personally can't shorten a frame as I don't have the skills and equipment to take on such a job and can see going that route getting pricey...

In my perfect world though I'd be able to find some newer truck with exactly the same wheel base, strip it down to the frame, strip panels off the '37 and put them right on the new chassis but I suppose that would be too easy to do so it must be an impossibilty huh?

All this (chassis swaps, front end clips, new steering boxes out of 41-46 trucks etc) sounds much more complex than just trying to track down and mount an MR2 (or equivalent) EPS unit though and with my experience/skill level the less work it needs, the better...

~Trev