I have a 1975 3/4 T Sierra Classic Crew Cab with 454 cid, AT, and AC. I like the truck and it is mechanically quite sound. I use it to pull a camper and bumper pull horse trailer or alternately, a 32 ft gooseneck horse trailer. Unfortunately, there has been quite the crack down weight restrictions and towing/trailering capacity. My 3/4 unfortunately doesn't match the legal standards. I am looking at various options but there are two that I particularly like, I just don't know if they are possible so I was wondering if someone had some answers for me.
I was thinking that maybe I could just buy some of those dually wheel add ons, and then mount a dually wheel bed from a 1 ton dually crew crab. Does anyone know if a 1 ton dually box will fit properly on a 3/4 frame, and if the fender flares are adequate to cover the dually wheel extensions?
Secondly, the other option would be to swap in the box and rear axle from a 1 ton dually but again, I don't know if this is possible or easy. Does the suspension line up and if so, on what years?
Someone told me that it wouldn't be an easy match because the frame on a 1 ton is narrower than on a 3/4 ton which means that if I add the dually wheel extensions to the 3/4 ton, the truck will wind up being wider than a 1 ton dually from the factory.
Any advice??? Maybe I should just sell it and buy a 1 ton dually, but they are hard to come by and cost a fortune. I just test drove one tonight, an '88 1 ton crew cab dually with 454 and AC but it was a piece of crap and they still wanted $7400.00 for it. Besides, I would prefer having a 1970's model, I think they were actually more reliable. Any suggestions?
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