8’ bed

[Lukeott]

What would be needed to change a short bed to a 8’ bed? Is that possible? Has anyone done that before? I have a 2018 Big Horn with a short bed and I love the truck but hate the short bed. Does anyone make a kit to extend the frame? Probably cost too much to do it. My guess is that the rear end would have too be moved back some which means that the need for a longer drive shaft and of course an 8’ bed.

 

[Jeepwalker]

The typical process would be something along the lines of

1) Go to a salvage yard and compare a long bed frame and box to a short bed frame & box paying attention to the differences in lenghts of the mounts, the fuel filler tube mounting differences and best place to cut and add in new metal. That will give you an idea what will be involved. I've personally seen long wheel base trucks which were shortened. I've participated in sectioning in replacement front frame sections before ..years ago in my street rod days.

2) Remove your truck's box so you can see and measure things. And Acquire an 8' box. If you found one that matched your truck's color, that would be a bonus.

3) Cut the frame (Z-notch is often used) after the front box mount, and add in the appropriate length of new frame. (Presumably cut from another dodge ram). Re-weld making sure everything is lined up properly. I'm not going to get into frame strength. I'm sure others will quickly point that out.

4) There's a chance you might have to cut the center box mounts off the frame and re-weld in the appropriate location.

5) Extend the brake & fuel lines, exhaust and take the drive shaft to a driveshaft shop to get lengthened the amount needed (and balanced).

6) You may need to replace the rear spring with heavier springs if you plan to haul heavier loads.

7) Get the box painted if needed

I'm not advocating the OP or anyone do this...but conceptually, those would be the approximate steps.

 

[rzr6-4]

You will also need pretty good fab skills to do this. You will need an alignment afterward regardless, but chopping things off with a torch and booger welding things back together will not give you good enough accuracy or rigidity in your final product.

 

[Jeepwalker]

This may not help you (OP) ....but I stumbled across a facebook marketplace 'Ad' a couple months ago: A facebook member, I believe, in Western Iowa or Eastern Nebraska (possibly N Missouri)... was converting long-bed pickups to short box pickups. That's a service he was offering..for a certain amt of money. He had pictures of his work. I tried to find his ad tonight ..but maybe you can find him.

Do a search...cast a wide net. If you can find the guy and get ahold of him, he could probably give you a lot of good feedback and tips. Maybe there's someone in your area doing it. Esp look at GM Square-Body and OBS trucks (esp square body). I think he was focusing on square-body truck conversion. Those yrs of short box trucks have gone way up in value. Good luck

 

[Jeepwalker]

Usually there's a segment on the frame ...in the straight area between the fuel tank mount and the rear trailing arm mounts...where a fabricator would cut and extend the frame.

Yeah, a guy would need to have good welding/fabricating skills. But it's not rocket surgery either. Once you take the box off your truck, everything is right there easy to work on. In some states...they might have laws against frame modifications.

 

[Lukeott]

I didn’t figure on many of the things that you guys mentioned. With the long list of stuff that needs to be done I would honestly say that it’s probably not a job that I could accomplish. Thanks for your knowledge and wisdom

 

[mrack]

Take a trip to stretchmytruck.com in Utah. They do a lot of mega cab 8’ bed trucks and the like

 

[Jeepwalker]

It's one of those jobs where you factor in what you "think" it's going to take ...and then quadruple-it!!! Things always take longer than ya imagine up front.