Grafting two cabs together?

[Rockerdog]

Hi,
So I have this spare '70 cab and I'm just wondering if I'd be nuts to cut it off behind the windshield and graft it to the back of my 69. I'm a tech, not a welder/fabricator so I know I'm way out of my sandbox here. Just thought it could be interesting.
Extending the frame and driveline seems simple enough. Anyone done this? Pics?
Heck the back part could even be a sleeper!

[fordman]

the thought has been talked about. but its been quite a while. look at the super cabs from the 73-79 era.

[Rockerdog]

That's kind of what I'm after and it would probably be a lot cheaper to just go find one but I was thinking of the rear portion being slightly higher with a small window like the old Vista Cruiser wagons.

[fordman]

if you do it post pics. you may have to add a section to get one roof higher than the other oen. probably in the pillar section. unless you want to offset the floor. up a little bit to make it go on top.

[BobbyFord]

Maybe shorten the bed the length of the cab addition, sort of like an Explorer Sport Trac....

[1971ford]

I've got the welder/cutter, ill come help
Really that would be interesting, either a sport-trac type deal like BobbyFord mentioned or a crewcab dealio.

[Rockerdog]

if you do it post pics. you may have to add a section to get one roof higher than the other oen. probably in the pillar section. unless you want to offset the floor. up a little bit to make it go on top.

I'm picturing something longer than a 4 door cab. Kind of a 4 door extra cab long bed. It would have a slightly higher floor in the rear, but only 3 or 4 inches, with an equal rise in the roof line. A few quick sketches have shown me I probably wouldn't be able to do it with just the two cabs but would need more material to extend the cab a bit. In fact, since most of the cabs side is comprised of the door, I might only need pieces of the other cab?  Probably have to add a set of dually wheels to handle the extra weight especially when loaded.  

Really just sounding it out.  Like I said, I'm not a fabricator  

[Rockerdog]

I've got the welder/cutter, ill come help
Really that would be interesting, either a sport-trac type deal like BobbyFord mentioned or a crewcab dealio.

Yer on!  If I actually DO it that is LOL

[Rockerdog]

I found a pic on the net and worked with it a bit to get an idea what it would look like.  No cruiser windshield on the roof. Just looked like it would triple the $$ of the project!
What do you all think?    

[fordman]

in photos all bumpside crewcabs look like a freight train to me. and in this photo it looks lik an even larger freight train.  i think if you were going to make one of these longer. the top rear of the roof shoul dbe softer of a looking roll  instead of so squared off looking.

[TheEskimo]

Hmmm....needs a wet bar and a television, maybe a hot tub out back....I could dig that. It would be perfect for camping then, if I could fit it around some of the corners on the trail.

[Rockerdog]

Fordman, you got somethin' against trains?    Seriously though it does look like it should be on rails.  
After your post I played around with trying to round things off a bit but just couldn't come up with anything that fit the rest of the trucks squared off look.  I suppose a real fabricator could do it but hey I'm a tech. Ready willing and able, just not experienced... yet  

Eskimo, ya got me thinkin'  Wet bar, big screen AND a hot tub?  I think we're gonna need more cabs!


Actually, the way this is turning out, I think I would need:
One Crew Cab
The roof & floor from a regular cab
Who knows what else LOL

[FORDification]

I always thought it would be kinda cool on an extended custom truck like that to graft on a vintage Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser roof, the one with the added skylights.





There was a crewcab on E-bay a while back where someone had done just that, and I'd have sworn I saved the pics, but I can't find them now.

[two-bit]

Years ago there was guy up in ParkFalls WI that put two cabs together for his logging truck. He wanted a crew cab to haul more guys around. However he was to cheap to buy an actual crew cab truck, so he made one.
If i remember right it started out as an '48 F-5. He took another '48-'52 cab and connected it to the original cab backwards.
So the rear of the truck (added cab) was backwards. It had suicide doors on the back cab, and his "rear window" was the windshield.
He pulled out the dash and the steering column in the rear cab and mounted a bench as close to the firewall as he could.
I'm not sure how he grafted the two cabs together, but i do know that he cut out the back walls of each cab and between them was an eight to ten inch splice.
I was 14 or 15 at the time and don't remember a lot of the details on how it was done. I do remember it looked pretty darn neat. I have never seen another one like it.
I imagine it could be done with a couple of Bumpside cabs. However, i imagine some major fabrication would be in order to make it happen.  

Two-bit

[Rockerdog]

Thanks Two-bit, I'd forgotten about the side windows on the Vista Cruiser.  I'll do a search to find a side shot and see if I can add it to my pic. Might not be too bad to add the whole thing to the roof line.