# swap 76 cab to an 84



## Knightcrawler (Dec 23, 2001)

I have a 76 c-10 with a rusted cab I am turning into a custom truck, and found an 84 cab with no rust for $150 comes with all interior (dash seats seatbelts) and was wondering if it will bolt up and can i still use the fenders and hood from the 76. I will be buying new doors so not concerned about them but will the 76 doors fit on the 84 cab while i am working on it till i get the new doors any and all info is apreciated and any other things to look for while doing this would be nice to hear.


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## 2401 (Feb 3, 2001)

Actually, then you're swapping the '84 cab onto the '76. Which is the easier swap to do.

I have an '81 cab on my '75, and all the front clip stuff (fender, inner fender, hood) works fine. Doors are the same from '73 to '87 as far as their shape and bolting on goes, there is a difference between the inner door trim panels: '73 to '76 had a smaller trim panel, '77 and up the trim panel covered more of the door sheet metal. Since you're just going to use your '76 doors to keep the weather out they'll work fine.

What you will have to do is unbolt and discard the hood hinges (because the '76 hood hinges bolt to the fender) and cowl piece (the one with the slots that bolts on at the base of the windshield) then transfer your windshield wiper linkage from the '76 cab to the '84 one. The studs the wipers press onto stick out farther on the '84 cab - they are about an inch or so longer than the '76 ones - and the wipers won't clear the back of the hood unless you change to the shorter ones. The whole linkage unbolts and comes out as a unit, it isn't a difficult job to change.

The VIN # tag should be switched over to the new cab as well, unless you intend to register it as an '84. VIN tag on your '76 will be on the cab - driver side rear doorjamb near the bottom - while the '84 one is on the dash, driver side near the windshield base.

Your '76 interior will also bolt in if you prefer to use the older style dash and interior - I did that on mine.


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## chevy (Jan 21, 2002)

Sounds like a good project, but beware of changing vin number tags. In Ct. you mess with vin tags and the almighty MVD will haunt you. Check with your local motor vechile dept. before you go any farther and make sure how to go about this. Get names and dates of who you talked to and have it put in writing before you go down your path of swap madness. Its better to fool around with MVD before your project than after, they just might get a funny idea that the trucks stolen. Have fun and let us know the results.


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## 2401 (Feb 3, 2001)

Forgot to mention in the earlier post - while the wiper drive linkages are similar on both cabs, there are subtle differences: '73 - '80 ones have 2 bolts holding the wiper drive studs in place, '81 - '87 use 3. Simple to modify though.

One of the existing holes in your '84 cab can be used - the one located to the bottom left of the cutout where the wiper drive stud goes. The new hole has to be drilled about midway between the two holes to the right of the cutout, use the '76 wiper linkage as a guide to locating it.

That leaves you with 2 extra holes. If they don't bother you, just leave 'em there. In my case, I filled the bottom one in - red dot in the pic shows where it was (MIG welders are s-o-o-o-o handy!  ) and left the top one there so I can route the windshield washer hose through it - I don't like the '73 - '80 style washer location on the hood, I modified mine so the nozzle is right on the wiper arm (same way the newer trucks have them)


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## Knightcrawler (Dec 23, 2001)

*finished the swap*

I did the cab swap on sat. 4-6-02, had a buddy come over and we had the cabs switched and all parts put on in 3 and a half hours. The info helped alot especialy the wiper it was exactly as you said. thanks for your help. Now how different are the body lines from the bed of a truck from 88-92, found one no rust and a tailgate for $50 was wondering if i will have to do alot of body smoothing to make it look like it belongs there or just keeps looking for an older one. also got both front fenders and a hood for the truck for $125 what luck, thanks for any info.


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## GNelson (May 31, 2002)

What cab mounts were used? I'm putting an 85 chevy cab on a 77frame. Do you use mounts for the 77 or the 85 or a combination of the two? GN


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## Knightcrawler (Dec 23, 2001)

I bought them for the 84 cab from jc whitney they worked great.
the only problem was me mounts on the frame the orignal wholes rusted bigger so i had to fix all of them except up under the radiator, i used 4 inch washers with the rights size hole in the middle and welded them over where the original holes were. if you have the same problem let me know i still have some of the washers they are the perfect size if you pay shipping i will send them to you. I also had to put a washer in as a spacer under the radiaror suppoerts otherwise it would be off(lower) in the front, any questions just ask.


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