Anybody ever cut / shorten a Bullnose frame before?

[Rembrant]

Odd question I suppose, but has anybody ever turned a long wheel base truck into a short wheel base truck? What is it, 133" to 117"? Would it be as simple as cutting a 16" section out and then welding it back together? I haven't had an opportunity to look at both frames side by side.

I guess there's people swapping in Crown Vic front ends, so they must be welding a section of the car frame to the truck frame no?

Any comments from the been there, done that crowd?

[Gary Lewis]

Cory is chopping a section out of his frame, as explained here, and Jonathan/FordF834 has done it but, if I remember correctly, on a Supercab.

On the Crown Vics front ends, I did some Googling and found threads on various other forums where people have done this, and the names of those following the work include our FuzzFace2, so maybe Dave can comment?

[Rembrant]

Cory is chopping a section out of his frame, as explained here, and Jonathan/FordF834 has done it but, if I remember correctly, on a Supercab.

Excellent. Thanks for the link Gary, I hadn't seen that one in a while. What I was curious about, and I guess that threads confirmed it, is if there is a nice straight section on the frames of the 133" wheel base trucks where the 16" can be removed, and then the two halves match up perfectly square for welding.

Going to go look at an '86 tomorrow...long bed of course, and was wondering how much work it would be to shorten it so that I could make use of the spare Flareside bed I have;).

Doesn't seem like too big a deal. As long as the difference is all between the back of the cab and the rear axle, then maybe it won't be too bad to remove and still keep it square.

Of course it all depends on how rusty this 133" truck is...

 

[Gary Lewis]

Cory is chopping a section out of his frame, as explained here, and Jonathan/FordF834 has done it but, if I remember correctly, on a Supercab.

Excellent. Thanks for the link Gary, I hadn't seen that one in a while. What I was curious about, and I guess that threads confirmed it, is if there is a nice straight section on the frames of the 133" wheel base trucks where the 16" can be removed, and then the two halves match up perfectly square for welding.

Going to go look at an '86 tomorrow...long bed of course, and was wondering how much work it would be to shorten it so that I could make use of the spare Flareside bed I have;).

Doesn't seem like too big a deal. As long as the difference is all between the back of the cab and the rear axle, then maybe it won't be too bad to remove and still keep it square.

Of course it all depends on how rusty this 133" truck is...

Make sure you don't miss Cory's note that he should have started 1" or so one way or the other to make it match perfectly.

[Ford F834]

I chopped my crew cab frame from a long bed down to a factory short bed length. I deleted exactly 16.0” just aft of the forward bed mounting holes. A regular cab or supercab should work equally well. There is a description of how I did it with pictures in my old build thread on FTE (look at post #7):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1451357-short-bed-4-door-diesel-project.html#post16549720

The part that I did not cover in that thread is the fish plate reinforcement of the welds. I have not done that yet. I asked Scott Miller about it at the 2017 show, and he recommended oblong plates with a hyperbolic shaped ends to diffuse the stress points as much as possible. The fish plates will be even more important on a 1/8” F150 frame compared to my 1/4” one-ton frame.

I may eventually do the same thing to my ‘81, but not any time soon since I am using it daily. It is also a Swiss cheese frame and will be more challenging if I decide to attempt it.

[Ford F834]

I chopped my crew cab frame from a long bed down to a factory short bed length. I deleted exactly 16.0” just aft of the forward bed mounting holes. A regular cab or supercab should work equally well. There is a description of how I did it with pictures in my old build thread on FTE (look at post #7):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1451357-short-bed-4-door-diesel-project.html#post16549720

The part that I did not cover in that thread is the fish plate reinforcement of the welds. I have not done that yet. I asked Scott Miller about it at the 2017 show, and he recommended oblong plates with a hyperbolic shaped ends to diffuse the stress points as much as possible. The fish plates will be even more important on a 1/8” F150 frame compared to my 1/4” one-ton frame.

I may eventually do the same thing to my ‘81, but not any time soon since I am using it daily. It is also a Swiss cheese frame and will be more challenging if I decide to attempt it.

[Rembrant]

I chopped my crew cab frame from a long bed down to a factory short bed length. I deleted exactly 16.0” just aft of the forward bed mounting holes. A regular cab or supercab should work equally well. There is a description of how I did it with pictures in my old build thread on FTE (look at post #7):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1451357-short-bed-4-door-diesel-project.html#post16549720

I actually found your thread when I went looking after I posted the question here.

I saved the link for later viewing.

There's no reason a regular cab long box wouldn't be exactly the same. It looks like your cuts were so well placed that the stepside box dropped right on in the holes in the frame. That's cool.

I have no problem making the nice straight cuts, but something I thought of after the fact was, how did you make sure the cuts were in the exact same spots on both sides of the frame? Did you measure from a specific spot on each side? If you mentioned it in that thread, I missed it.

It may be a total wash in the end anyway if this truck is too rusty. Going to check it out tomorrow sometime, and if the frame is decent, I might grab it for shortening;).

Thanks guys!

 

[Gary Lewis]

I chopped my crew cab frame from a long bed down to a factory short bed length. I deleted exactly 16.0” just aft of the forward bed mounting holes. A regular cab or supercab should work equally well. There is a description of how I did it with pictures in my old build thread on FTE (look at post #7):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1451357-short-bed-4-door-diesel-project.html#post16549720

I actually found your thread when I went looking after I posted the question here.

I saved the link for later viewing.

There's no reason a regular cab long box wouldn't be exactly the same. It looks like your cuts were so well placed that the stepside box dropped right on in the holes in the frame. That's cool.

I have no problem making the nice straight cuts, but something I thought of after the fact was, how did you make sure the cuts were in the exact same spots on both sides of the frame? Did you measure from a specific spot on each side? If you mentioned it in that thread, I missed it.

It may be a total wash in the end anyway if this truck is too rusty. Going to check it out tomorrow sometime, and if the frame is decent, I might grab it for shortening;).

Thanks guys!

Let us know what you decide.

[Rembrant]

Let us know what you decide.

I'm deciding to not buy the truck, unless it becomes a whole lot cheaper, and even then...I doubt it.

I drove a little ways to see this thing, only to find out that the picture in the online ad was (I believe) from when the seller had purchased the truck several years before. Oh well.

Nothing fancy. 86 F150 2wd lwb, 300/6, NP435, and 3.08 open diff. It was pretty rough though.

Interesting side note, if Jonathan is still watching along, this truck did indeed have the factory EGR delete plate under the carb. This is the first truck I've found with one of these installed. Not sure if it has to do with the year, the region, or the truck (GVWR?). I looked at an 81 Bullnose with the 300/6, and it had a full EGR system, but that truck was an F100 Flareside.

Also, I thought the Bullnoses were all EFI in 86? Or was it only the 302? Or none at all and I'm out of my mind? This 86 was a non-catalyst, old school single carb, and DSII ignition.

[1986F150Six]

Let us know what you decide.

I'm deciding to not buy the truck, unless it becomes a whole lot cheaper, and even then...I doubt it.

I drove a little ways to see this thing, only to find out that the picture in the online ad was (I believe) from when the seller had purchased the truck several years before. Oh well.

Nothing fancy. 86 F150 2wd lwb, 300/6, NP435, and 3.08 open diff. It was pretty rough though.

Interesting side note, if Jonathan is still watching along, this truck did indeed have the factory EGR delete plate under the carb. This is the first truck I've found with one of these installed. Not sure if it has to do with the year, the region, or the truck (GVWR?). I looked at an 81 Bullnose with the 300/6, and it had a full EGR system, but that truck was an F100 Flareside.

Also, I thought the Bullnoses were all EFI in 86? Or was it only the 302? Or none at all and I'm out of my mind? This 86 was a non-catalyst, old school single carb, and DSII ignition.

For the 49 state versions, F.I. came in 1987 for the 4.9L. I am not sure regarding the California trucks.