Cool video. Is that frame galvanized? At that cost, I'd replace the frame with a different truck. I'm assuming most of the dead ones in the yards out west have engine issues. Easier to swap an engine & trans vs. a frame I'd guess.

 

Exactly. Don’t remember if the one in the video is galvanized but you can buy galvanized ones for $5k. Correct that the prudent decision is a new vehicle - that’s why most people don’t do it.

 

The shop I bought some sliders from can do a frame swap in 43 hours, multiply that by his rate of $95 an hour and you're in it over $4,000 just in labor. And considering he's done it a few times, for someone like me who hasn't done it before I'm sure it'd take even longer. I'm actually in Georgia so really no issues with rust on trucks local to here, it's trucks that spent time up north before migrating south like the one I'm working on that are an issue. The frame you showed is in the same condition (just dustier) than the frame a guy was going to sell me for $500. I also talked to some people who've done it, but you can get a frame galvanized for roughly $400, so all in right around $1000 for a galvanized frame vs $5000 is pretty appealing to me. I think I'll end up doing a quarter chassis and calling it a day though.

 

If you put a galvanized frame under a well cared for, healthy sorted D2... mmmmm

I wonder if you’d ever loose your cost in long run.. these trucks are selling here for 10-14k
imagine another 10 years as they continue to become sought after.. nice if money wasn’t an option. (I’d have to go for a newly constructed frame tho, not a hot dipped job - the webbing in the construction of the frame is just not possible to galvanize the whole thing thru)

cheers to taking on the repair- the rust can be intimidating- but Boston is right, it’s no death sentence. You get a good sense of how much integrity is in the full box frame when you start to cut out the rot.

 

Just wanted to comment here for future members. Yes, the transfer case and transmission mounts are slightly off by 3/4”. Doing a 99/04 frame swap.

 

Thanks for that information. (But I hope I’ll never need to use it.)

 

I hope you never need it too! 😂