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Hack-job crew cab CUCV?

Kfgk14

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New Hampshire
Hey guys, I'm sorta new here, and I haven't found anything on here (or anywhere) pertinent to this concept, so I'll just toss it out to you guys and see where it leads:
I need a crew cab truck on the cheap. Seating for at least 5, potentially 6, and I must have 4wd. It needs to get places off road (meaning, I want solid axles) and that also eliminates dually trucks. Finally, I need a diesel, WVO and such is in my future. My current truck (2500 chevy 6.5td, 1994, 4wd) is slowly falling apart around me, and lacks true second row seating (extended cab). So, while the current chevy limps along, I thought, why not buy a M1008/M1028, then find a dead crew cab square-body chevy, remove my bed and put the crew cab on? Then, flat bed on the back, and we're all set. I think.

I know, I'll need to add body mounts, I know, it will be more expensive than I think it will be. But, are there any glaring issues with the M1008/M1028 frame that will make this somehow impossible? Aside from the body mounts for the rear end of the cab, is this going to require massive fabrication that I'm not thinking of? Will my dashboard out of the CUCV be impossible to retrofit into the crew cab of my choice?

I'll be driving this daily for the time being, and eventually I'm gonna put a banks Turbo kit on it. 700R4 too, as it needs to make highway speed comfortably.
Ultimately, it'll be a dedicated off-road truck, but for now, I want a crew cab I can drive the family around in and make incremental modifications to. Am I crazy for trying this, would I be better off restoring a crew cab truck instead?

Thanks.
 

dependable

Well-known member
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Location
Tisbury, Massachusetts
Is this another one of those threads? If you want a crew cab with a little flat bed behind, just get an old 4x4 suburban and hack that up. Some came w 6.2s. The CUCV frame is stamped for a single cab & 8 ft bed. Any changes from that will take some skill and work. No need to involve a nice CUCV. Also not practical in my opinion to be incrementally upgrading daily driver.

1032e started w a quad cad frame didn't it?
 
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ODdave

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lansing michigan
honestly a mechanical diesel dodge would be your best bet. solid axles, wmo capable, can seat up to 6 (extended cab)......Just sayin....
 

Kfgk14

New member
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Location
New Hampshire
@ODdave, the drop center isn't long enough to accommodate the crew cab? ****...Guess I'll just find/restore a crew cab...
One last idea, clinging to the idea of a crew cab'd CUCV...could I stretch the frame at the drop center section to accommodate the cab? I've done a frame stretch, and a frame shortening before, so I (theoretically) know how to do it. It'd require a new drive shaft, of course, but that would be more manageable than a whole new drive train like I know I'd end up building if I did a rebuild of a dead crew cab...I have a habit of doing that sort of thing.
 

Kfgk14

New member
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Location
New Hampshire
I may just go the burb route...they're just so **** rare in the northeast...I can get the CUCV and the crew cab donor in my county...hmm...
 

Skinny

Well-known member
2,130
488
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Location
Portsmouth, NH
If you are looking for a diesel crew cab that is like a CUCV, why not a pre-94' W350 Dodge, pre-92' K30, or pre-98' Ford F350? All can be had with full crew cabs and diesels. All have D60 front axles and are pretty stout out of the box. You would be time and money ahead just buying one of these instead of building a crew CUCV.

If you really want to keep it Chevy and with the CUCV style of rig, look for the unicorn. That would be a 91' K30 6.2 with a 4L80E transmission. I think Chevy made negative 4,000 of them because you cannot find them. They really are some of the best rigs ever put together.
 
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