Re: Difficulty Level

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

David Nuenke wrote:
> course). My question is what would the difficulty level be on a body
> swap and 4 wheel drive conversion. He said he has a lift of some kind to
> do the body swap. 

It can be done.. a PITA, but doable.  I spent (with some help) about 12
hours swapping a frame on a Scout.. the 12hrs was just getting the old
tub off the frame, rolling the chassis out, pulling the
motor/trans/xfer, then swapping frames and putting it back.

You'll want to strip the front clip if you go this route.  Tear off the
fenders, hood, grille, radiator, etc.  

We used a floor jack and a shop hoist, lots of firewood, and two 4x4s. 
Used the floor jack with log spacers to lift the tub up.  Placed logs
between the tub and frame until we could get the 4x4s through.  We then
lifted each 4x4 up a little at a time until we could set the 4x4s down
on a set of saw horses.  We still had to flatten the two rear tires and
pull the T18's shifter off before we could roll the frame and axles and
motor n' such out.  Swapping motors at that point is easy.  We just
needed to change the frame.  "Installation is the reversal of removal"

Be careful - the tub isn't light, and dropping (the good one) could be a
deal breaker. ;-)  "baby steps" are key.

I have photos of this project.. just need to spend some time with the
scanner.

-Tom