Swapping a 79 body onto an 89 frame

[Sitting Bull]

Anyone have any experience with this? We'll be putting a 79 body on a complete 89 frame and drivetrain this coming weekend. I know there will be a few linkage adjustments here and there, but I'm wondering if there are any "project busters" lurking about. Are the body mounts always in the same place? Big stuff like that....

Thanks!

[joe]

They won't be off much if at all. Nothing you won't be able to deal with. Al Metzler on the FSJ-list put a 64 body on an 80's frame/running gear and the only real issue he had was connecting the early Kaiser era steering column to the newer shaft.

[mdill9]

Might have some issues with the size/shape of the
tranny hump shape, it changed in 1980 for the
driver drop t case.

Mike D.

[Sitting Bull]

Thanks Joe.

Didn't know the hump changed. That should be easy enough to get around though.

[trickc]

Brad, put the crack pipe down...LOL! I think the hardest part is gonna be physically lifting the bodies off the frames. Th rest can be fixed with a BFH and a welder.

[Sitting Bull]

Curtis, I found out from Ryan the carpet kits for a 79 and 88 are the same. Since the carpets are molded to fit the hump, and they are the same...no hump changes.

[ July 25, 2005, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: Sitting Bull ]

[Sitting Bull]

Crack-pipe. The new name for my Jeep...LOL!!!

[FSJeeper]

Body mounts line up, no issue there except getting the bolts out sometimes which can be a real headache if they are rusted in.

I just put my choptop body (84 wag) on a 79 frame/drivetrain with zero issue in the last few weeks.

[Sitting Bull]

Muchas Gracias Mr. Pascal. I figure'd you had the most experience with this, and was hoping you would chime in. Do you have any tips regarding removing and tranfering the body?

[FSJeeper]

Originally posted by Sitting Bull:
Do you have any tips regarding removing and tranfering the body?

Easiest is with an overhead lift like a shop would have. However, having done this twice before, I have used 2 engine pullers to do this.
And last time I went low tech cause of where the vehicle was and I had zero room in the shop. No axles in the vehicle, it was low enough to the ground to jack the body off with a floor jack and get 4x4s under the body crossways on jack stands. Drug the frame right out from under it, very simple. Then set the early model wag frame/drivetrain next to the choptop body and used jacks, blocks, and 4x4's as levers to slide the body onto the frame. Both frames had no axles so sitting pretty low.

[79_Limited]

Brad that better be some good BBQ you are making to ask for this kind of help in this heat [img]smile.gif[/img]

See you Saturday.