[86regal]

My brother has a 2001 chevy 1500 2wd that he wants to convert to a four wheel drive. Ive heard that the frames in that generation of truck are weak

so would it be best(safer,easier) to swap the framefrom a 85 k3500 he has sitting around? I do know we would have to either make new body mounts, or cut the old mounts off the frame

Or would it be easier to just weld some leaf spring mounts on the stock frame?

[crussell85]

option one: put the new body on the old truck.
best option: sell both trucks and buy a 4 wheel drive truck

[joe_padavano]

Originally Posted by 86regal

My brother has a 2001 chevy 1500 2wd that he wants to convert to a four wheel drive. Ive heard that the frames in that generation of truck are weak

so would it be best(safer,easier) to swap the framefrom a 85 k3500 he has sitting around? I do know we would have to either make new body mounts, or cut the old mounts off the frame

Or would it be easier to just weld some leaf spring mounts on the stock frame?

Well, aside from the fact that the frames are completely different, the 2001 truck uses IFS, the transfer case front driveshaft is on different sides, the frames are different shapes and widths, and probably even the track width is different, you still need to deal with the fact that the computer and software is different for 2wd and 4wd. You'll also spend waaaaay more money doing this than just buying a 4wd truck to start with. As for the frame being "weak", I'd suggest that a few million Chevy/GMC trucks on the road would suggest otherwise.

[matt167]

in my neck of the woods, Chevy/ gmc 1500 4x4s are less than 10k, and it will cost that for the conversion