The immediate dilemma (well, maybe more of a decision process) is lengthening the wheel base on the truck. To really build the 12' floorspace (+ bunk) that I really want I need to add about 4' to the wheel base, which would require stretching the frame between the cab and the axle. This may stretch (no pun intended!) my fab skills, I'm a decent welder, but I may have reached my confidence level at sawing the truck in half and trusting my welding skills to put it back together and don't really want to drop the coin on sending that job out.
Alternatively, I have enough extra frame behind the axle to move the axle back 25", which also conveniently puts the carrier bearing at the next crossmember back to help ease driveshaft fab issues. Looks like a simple, but pain-in-the-ass job of air chiselling off 58 rivets and redrilling 58 holes in the frame to relocate (I do have access to a mag drill). May have to extend by a foot or so past the factory frame for the hualer bed, but that one doesn't scare me. This puts me at a 10' floorplan, which is the bare minimum I can get away with to put in the features I want, but it will mean every square inch is a premium vs. the luxury of the extra 2' to make it easier to fit in what I want and have a little elbow room.
Any thoughts our there on the difficulty of either proposition and anything I am not thinking of here?
Thanks in advance!
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