1972 4x4 lwb extended cab project, or that boy must be nuts!

[72extendedcab]

Ok, I was told to start this thread here. Please be patient of slow progress, life has a funny habit of insisting on getting its way. I am turning my 2x4 72 lwb into a 4x4 extended cab lwb, so here are some starter photos:
this is the 72 I bought for $40.

this is the 68 I bought for $31. I removed the fenders and grill.

this is what's left of the 79 Bronco I bought for $100, then sold the topper, doors and hood, etc. for $1500.

[forrestbump]

Your aspirations are high and your dreams are grand. Dreams are what give us all life, hope yours come true.

You've got some good parts to start with...

Thank You for sharing.

Great Luck and Godspeed...

[mlheppl]

Looks like a great project! really looking forward to seeing more pics.

[red403]

I will be fallowing this one, great project to much for me but I look forward to see what you can do. My hat goes off to you.

[ford4x4fun]

Wow! Looking good thus far! I will be following this one too although, I don't believe I could ever do a project like this! My expertise are not in patience and getting things squared up!

[72extendedcab]

Thank you all.
LOL hazelnut. I just got lucky, right place, right time. The red $31 truck actually ran at that price, just not well.
Here's some frame work shots for now:
The front portion of the Bronco frame.

The rear portion of the '72 lwb frame with the Bronco 9" axle under it. The spring perches and shock mounts all had to be moved inboard 1 1/2".

The two frame sections matching, er..... not matching up. LOL. Yes, I did expect this, the Bronco is a spread frame.

For any who might not have known, this shows the kick out in the Bronco frame; for any who knew, sorry for this photo. Sorry it's a little fuzzy, It's probably me. LOL.

[72extendedcab]

Still trying to figure out how to show the actual photos here, but no success. Some have tried to help me, but the site continues to reject them saying they're too large for it. If I ever get it figured out, I'll go back and change them all to show.
Here's a few more:
A quick shot of the left side axle tube after clean up and relocation of the mounts. Notice the divot left under the spring perch from the factory weld; this will be filled before final assembly.

The frame splice being test fit. I would have run it longer, but there wasn't enough straight run on the 2x2 frame in the mating area. with the reinforcement and boxing the area will recieve, it will be plenty strong enough.

This view shows the right frame rail in the foreground and the left in the rear. The bottom welds, reinforcement and boxing will take place when I disassemble the whole truck again after all the cutting, welding and fitting of the body.

After much measuring, jacking, shimming and clamping, the frame measured and trammeled out to less than 1/256" variance in any direction; closer than they were before i cut them up. Sometimes I just get lucky. LOL.
CAUTION: To any beginning builders out there, this frame is plenty strong enough to move around and work on, but is in no way strong enough to be driven on. The extra reinforcement required to make it streetable will be covered in a later phase of the construction

[72extendedcab]

Ok, here are some with the body on, or at least parts of it.
Maybe I should have just stretched the front end sheet metal and drop a 16 cyl. Allison in it?

This one give some idea of the stretch before cutting the cab.

It's getting too long for a complete side shot. LOL.

Here's the money shot (I wish) of the stretch.

At this point, I have about 85 hours in the project including stripping the donor trucks down.
The truck goes into my recently aquired shop as soon as I replace the shop doors.

[averagef250]

Looks good. Several ways to splice frames, yours looks nice and fishplating/boxing is not necessarily required.

Can't wait to see the rest of the cab work, that stuff fascinates me.

[Fordnatic]

Nice Project!!!

[rjewkes]

Don't look like the cab will be barely shorter than a crew cab. Lookin good.

[bnl44]

Any updates?
I’m excited to see this come together.

[1972hiboy]

whoa....thanks for taking pictures along the way and sharing! its looking good anything new on it? Im really interested to see the cab work thats going to be done on it.

[68sportcustom]

Great Project! I've been thinking about building a 67-72 SWB Exended cab 4x4 for a couple years now so I'm very excited to watch this progress.

[72extendedcab]

I realize this thread is a little old ( ok, very old ), but the project is back on. I was pulled away without a moments notice and have just now gotten back to the real world. Every attempt will be made to keep this current, so I will log in and respond to anyone who might still be interested at least once per week, more often where I am able. This project will now receive my refocused attention through to its completion. To anyone still interested, thank you for your patience.