69 wagoneer on a 76 frame?

[FrankenNova]

I was wondering if anyone has done this kind of swap or if it is even possible. I have a 1969 Wagoneer but the frame has some serious rust and is not structurally sound . I also have a friend who wants to get rid of his 76 Wagoneer that he rolled while wheeling. If possible I would like to put my good body on his frame if the body mounts are in the same location. This would be ideal for me as I was wanting to swap to a Dana 44 front and upgrade my front brakes to discs. Also the 6 lug wheels seem to be more common here then the old 5 lugs. Right now I am in the process of refreshing a 69 Cadillac 472 to go in place of the currently worn out Buick 350 and doing a twin stick conversion on my D20. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Lennie

[77JEEPJ20]

I'm not sure about the wags but the j trucks front cab mounts were in different spots.

[jaber]

Welcome to the land of empty pockets and unfinished projects...

I do believe they are different. There are several guys here that are familiar with the older ones. They will chime in.

[FrankenNova]

I am no stranger to the empty pocket crowd. I have too many projects but this one has been sitting way too long and I really needed a break from my nova for awhile. I am addicted to projects and always have plenty of them to do it seems.

[Tad]

I'm sure it's doable but yes, slightly different location at front of cab and completely different mounting system between those years.
If the '76 frame is still true and useable after the roll I would prefer to use that: ie more common/cheaper used suspension components, then just fab new mounts for the older body.
Motor mount towers are different between those years but since you are looking at a caddy swap you'll be fabbing there anyway (as will I for a 425 shortly).

[fulsizjeep]

We had an offer of a free 67 Wagoneer body for Phoebe Too. After studying the body mount differences, it made more sense to find a body that fit the 77 frame. Even the 78 Wagoneer donor we picked up had one key difference in the driver's floor that caused the tranny linkage to be mounted differently to the frame. So the resurrection has the 78 linkage.

I am not saying you can't do it. It would take some fab work to make a 69 and 76 go together.

[lkmarsh]

Now I'm curious. How hard is it to move the frame's body mounts? Also, is the 76 Dana 44 passenger drop?

[fulsizjeep]

That depends on which mounts you want/need to move.

Yes, a 76 would have RH offset on both D44 axles.

[newtojeeps]

If you can weld there should be no problem. You are removing the bodies and the frame will be open for mounting or relocating new mounting tabs.
And yes there is quite a difference. Placement and number are different to both years. Take off and scrap the body from the 76 then take the body of the 67 and measure the mounting holes and note locations on the frame. remove and replace if possible ( they may be to rusted to keep). you may want to modify as JEEP used the infamous capture nuts to hold the frame to the body. You'll see what I mean when you go to remove the bolts. Any way remember this is supposed to be fun!!!!

[FrankenNova]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will be putting the frame swap off for a while to gather parts and come up with a plan as to what I want to accomplish with this project. I know it will get my caddy engine in it as I want it to be my tow rig and workhorse vehicle. To accomplish this I will put a body lift on to clear the power break booster and heater box. As of now I have not come up with a full plan as to what i want.

[Tad]

Originally Posted by FrankenNova

...I know it will get my caddy engine in it as I want it to be my tow rig and workhorse vehicle. To accomplish this I will put a body lift on to clear the power break booster and heater box. As of now I have not come up with a full plan as to what i want.

Good deal, I'm wrist deep doing a 425 swap now, it's gonna be a slow trip.
I have a 2" BL already and looks like it will clear the heater box fine, might have to flip my hydro-boost unit. I'll also be trying to push the engine back about 2" if possible to get a better front shaft angle for when I lift the front a hair more.
This will come in handy: http://www.carnut.com/specs/engdim.html
Slow Build: http://fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=63

[k e lake]

not hard at all depending on what you think you can do.i have a 1966 ford truck on a 1989 chevy 4x4 frame, 454,tubro400,np205. a above ground lift makes the job a lot easlier to do.

[men in black]

Here's a 64 Wagoneer on a 87 Cherokee frame

http://www.steamwhistle.ca/ourbeer/grandeverde.php

[addicted]

Originally Posted by men in black

Here's a 64 Wagoneer on a 87 Cherokee frame

http://www.steamwhistle.ca/ourbeer/grandeverde.php

Something tells me it's an '87 GW chassis not a Cherokee. Mostly because the Cherokees after '83 were all unibody, no actual frame to speak of..

[joe]

It won't be a direct bolt-on but doable. Al Metzler(?), on the old FSJ email list dropped a 64 body on an early 80's wag . Yeah he had some fudging to do with the mounts but his biggest issue was getting the early steering column shaft to mate with the later box. IIRC he had a custom u-jointed shaft built.

[fulsizjeep]

I remember some discussion from the Steam Whistle owner of the hybrid Wagoneer. It is a 64 Wag body on a 87 GW frame. Yes, it can be done. Just requires some metal work to fit it all together.

[geologyjeep]

I put a '79 body on a '69 frame and found that while the body mounted in different places on the '79 frame all the '69 mounting points were still in place on the body. Not sure how the reverse would work so this may not be much help. Mr. Ed

[fulsizjeep]

look here:
http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=131069