Swapping Cabs?

[WiMiMc]

I came across a Sonoma for sale for parts (no title). Its a 98-04 4.3 Auto 2WD

My initial thought was to buy it, take the headlights and grille, and part out the rest. I'm looking at it more and The cab has the newer interior, clean and complete, and the corners are not rusted out (mine are, and i was quoted $200 fixed and painted). Plus the 3rd door would be kind of cool.

So has anyone done something like this? swap the cabs and the VIN?

[redsoxsstink]

me and my friend are in the process of swapping a 98 1500 ram onto a 2500 cummins frame. its alllllootttttt of work, hard to keep track of all the wires and whatnot

[V]

Originally Posted by redsoxsstink

me and my friend are in the process of swapping a 98 1500 ram onto a 2500 cummins frame. its alllllootttttt of work, hard to keep track of all the wires and whatnot

got any extra parts for sale? lol

[trashman01]

Originally Posted by WiMiMc

I came across a Sonoma for sale for parts (no title). Its a 98-04 4.3 Auto 2WD

My initial thought was to buy it, take the headlights and grille, and part out the rest. I'm looking at it more and The cab has the newer interior, clean and complete, and the corners are not rusted out (mine are, and i was quoted $200 fixed and painted). Plus the 3rd door would be kind of cool.

So has anyone done something like this? swap the cabs and the VIN?

a body guy i knew was doing this, like said before theres alot of wiring that goes with it, but if you tag it all and can remove the whole cab and wiring harness with out having to strip it down fully, i think you be ok, need to see if the cab mounts will line up and what other things might not be compatable

[WiMiMc]

Originally Posted by trashman01

a body guy i knew was doing this, like said before theres alot of wiring that goes with it, but if you tag it all and can remove the whole cab and wiring harness with out having to strip it down fully, i think you be ok, need to see if the cab mounts will line up and what other things might not be compatable

They would line it, they're both 2nd gen extended cab S10s. The wiring however may be a little different.

I'm getting a fair amount of flack on the S10 forum, which is ironic lol. i see people swapping beds, frames, fenders and hoods so its technically not the same truck..

[Featherburner]

The only shady part is swapping the vin but people do it all the time.

[WildBillyT]

You will get flak here too. Swapping VINs is a big no-no, and if you are swapping to a lost title VIN how do you plan on getting it registered? With the old VIN? If you do that, pray you don't ever get in to an accident.

[WiMiMc]

I've thought about it and here's where i'm at right now. I'm waiting for the guy to get back the year of the truck to me.

If it is an 01+ AND it runs I'll do whats needed to acquire a new title, swap transmissions and call it a day. or get a new title and just clean it up then sell.

If its pre-01 I'll take what i want and part out the rest.

[mandinggo01]

i have done a 86 ford frame with a 87 ford cab front clip and bed it took me over a month to do and it was alot of work

[91chevywt]

My experience with working on S10s tells me that doing a cab swap would probably be miserable. Things are really tight on those trucks, and I'm sure getting the wiring right would be a total nightmare. You'd be much better off taking off the parts you want/need, selling the good stuff, and scrapping the thing.

Repairing cab corners is much much easier than swapping cabs in this case. Plus if you have the CPI 4.3 in your '95 you have the most powerful naturally aspirated 4.3 put in a S-truck rated at 200 HP and 260 ft-lbs torque, even with its troublesome injector system. The later trucks went to 190 HP

[WiMiMc]

Yeah i do have the CPI and that thing can move lol. Originally thats why i wanted to just swap cabs, I like my engine and trans, my engine and trans work well, i don't know the history of the engine and trans in the Sonoma

I may grab it and part it out

[V]

to deal with the VIN issue properly, you need both titles. Youd then take them to DMV and get an inspection done on the vehicle. At that point I believe they would issue you a new title, with a new custom VIN, basically a 2012 "kit car". That way whenever the fact comes up that the VINs on the frame and cab don't match, its all easily explained and documented.

Now if the new truck has no title, thats an issue. You can try to contact the last registered owners to have them get a duplicate title for you, and give them a few bucks for their trouble. Also, have local law enforcement run the VIN to be sure the truck isn't stolen or had been declared a loss. Even if the truck has a salvage title you can get, thats good enough, since you'll only be using the cab off it.

Worse case scenario, you buy it for parts, use what you can and cut the cab corners off to fix your truck.