The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1955 to 1958 Front End Swap

I really like the look of the 1955 thru 1956 3100 truck front ends. Is it possible to swap a 1955 thru 1956 front fenders, hood, grill and bumper with my 1958 Apache? If so, is it a simple bolt-on swap aside from wiring? Has anyone ever done this? Thanks

i have just the opposite and having trouble. i have a 59 and the cab was trashed . Picked up a 55 cab appeared to be the same, know that I'm bolting everything together the lines are a little off.Te doors are off just a little , fenders same, hood is pretty bad . seems to be a 1/4 narrower than the cab on each side, no idea how to make it work!

the 55 thru 59 cabs are identical other than possible variations over the weeks, months, years at any of the different plants they were assembled, any door or front sheet metal from one truck is not guaranteed to fit a different cab, even of the same year - also the firewall stamping was changed slightly for 58/9 with a change in the throttle pedal/linkage arrangement and hood hinge style

the primary difference in the 5-7 and 8-9 is that the later frame is a couple inches longer to accomodate the different fender shape and splash pan below the grill, and the hood hinge mount holes in the firewall are slightly different ... putting the earlier front sheet metal on the later frame requires cutting the frame horns and redrilling the bumper mount holes, switching either way may require fiddling the hood hinge holes to match the firewall

either way can be done, but will involve some adjustments and a bit of bodywork skill ... the pic of the marked frame above is a truck with a 56 cab, a 57 hood, 57 GMC front fenders and doors on a 58 frame - assembled from parts of 9 different trucks

Bill

Thanks for the info Bill. I'm not a body man, so I'll keep her like she was meant to be.