78 J10 long bed swap to stepside

[Keanu151515]

Call me crazy but im looking to swap my long bed out to a early short bed stepside. Always loved the stepside look better. well, the bed itself is from a newer j series and the fenders are from an early gladiator

Doing some measurements the only thing that i can tell from my infinite knowledge is that the mounts are all the same except for the distance between the center two mounts which is 1ft shorter on the stepside than the long bed.

My plan is to cut the new bed in half and weld in a 1ft section to extend the bed to the correct distance for the mounts.

Has anyone ever done this or know of someone who did it?

[247pia]

I would shorten the frame and put the mounts where you need them. It will look better and be much easier.

[Carnuck]

M715 bed is long bed. Just saying.

[tgreese]

If a '78 is like my '77 (I'm sure it is), the same frame rails are used for the short and long beds. If you look under the truck, you'll see the holes that mount the springs further forward. The extra length is cut off the ends of the frame rails. All the extra length comes off the rear of the frame rails. Take a close look at the frame and you'll see how they did it.

So, if you change to the '78 short bed length, the frame mods will be fairly easy.

[WHSII]

1890 short bed and long bed frame specs



Above are 1980 Jeep J10 long and short bed frame specs.
If the picture is not readable, go to the link below and you
can enlarge the pictures and print.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe these specs hold true from early 70's to 86.

Hope this helps.

https://picasaweb.google.com/BBQ.WartHog/IFSJA#

[robvolz]

I could sure use a clear pic of the frame dimensions for the long bed frame.

help me out??