just curious, what is you ultimate goal with your truck? best would be to find a wrecked truck, all ull need is engine/tranny/d. shaft/rear end (9.75 if you can) hopefully it will have brakes, your wheels will swap over, gears, engine harness and everything so everything will be plug n play you can have your PCM flashed to fit the v8, but if you can just get the other one from the donor then you wont have to do anything but drop it in/ bleed the brakes, throttle linkage and bolt up the column shifter to tranny and drive away. then ull have the power to roll on 37s with my lift oh ull either need to swap the tanks/ fuel lines/fuel pump or just the lines and fuel pump. but shoot if your going to do a full swap...throw a blower on it and some forged internals to make it bulletproof.
I stand corrected, he is combining the cages together and welding them all the way around which is goood, a lot dont and it fails. notched the frame....not super necessary with leaves...but may need longer shackles and move em back a tad for more travel. could get some Giant 64" leafs and do a leaf under application for less axle wrap.
My goal. Well i really dont know. Im just kind of winging it. But as for wanting to swap out the motor, i'd just love more power. Granted the 4.2 gets good gas mileage but really not that much more than a v8. Plus it just seems theres a whole lot more options for a getting power out of a v8. And what guy dosn't love more power. haha I told the idea to my dad, and he said what he always says, just save your money, sell the truck you got and get a different one. I just find it hard to even think about gettin rid of. haha Maybe i should though....
so they can weld the top of the cage. 1/2 welding it is scary that people actually do it...from below it looks fully welded...but you cant see the top what they did was cut holes in the floor for the tube to run thru to weld to the frame....however it looks like they made it wider and welded a tube running parallel to the frame...and I guess welded that to the frame.....I would have gone straight to the frame...but first fully plated the frame and reienforced the crossmembers and made the frame/cage/body (minus the fenders) all one piece so when you roll it will all hold together and you dont F up your frame/drivetrain etc..
