Kick this idea around constantly, and to do it I thought it would be best to buy one new; that is a regular cab long bed LML, try to trade the long bed for a short at a salvage yard, be happy with the interior because GM won't offer a regular cab with full power leather buckets and a center console with nav. Cutting the frame on a brand new truck... why? Because I want something unique and a RCSB works great as my work truck. I drive on home development jobsites almost everyday. Off road quite a bit doing so. I drive up and down 2 to 1 graded slopes with the current LBZ and the short frame makes it so I don't get hung up, approach and departure angles are good. Maybe not worth it to cut up a brand new truck though.
But ideally was thinking of doing an interior swap with something you would consider luxury. Caddi seems wayyyy too hard after taking a look at the 2016 Escalade my Dad bought for my Mom awhile back. So that idea is out. Just not up to tackle that nor do I know if someone else could make everything jive.
So next idea.... say you bought a totaled out/salvage Denali with irreparable cab damage. It would be the cheapest way to get what I want done, regardless of getting into a regular cab for 43-46k..... a crashed/totaled Denali must of cheaper. And don't care about the title anyways because I plan on keeping my current regular cab short bed LBZ forever. Ideally it leaves you with everything you need minus a regular cab, headliner, and b pillar interior moldings. Carpet can be cut down if its in good shape. You can get a 15+ regular cab with doors for $1500. An overstock company is selling them online.
Couple questions:
How does the vin tag work on the overstock reg cab when I mate the regular cab to the denali frame after I shortened it? With it being a diesel I could see issues. I know the guy on here had a problem titling his truck when the vin was for a 5.3 or 4.8 gas truck and he swapped the LLY into the 1500 frame.
Also when we did my regular cab LBZ short bed swap it was extremely easy because I followed Lennart's How-To write up he posted on here years and years ago. That writeup was super detailed.
Suppose I could start by looking and comparing the current CCSB frame to the RCLB frame and see where it would be best to shorten. I remember a member on here made an extended cab short bed into a regular cab short bed but that was a GMT-800.
Just typing this out so I have a line of thought I can go back to.
Opinions welcome.
And for your time, here are a few photoshops I had done of what a RCSB 15+ HD Denali would look like. Both from the factory and with lifts/wheels/tires. The back of the cabs and windows aren't quite right but oh well.
But ideally was thinking of doing an interior swap with something you would consider luxury. Caddi seems wayyyy too hard after taking a look at the 2016 Escalade my Dad bought for my Mom awhile back. So that idea is out. Just not up to tackle that nor do I know if someone else could make everything jive.
So next idea.... say you bought a totaled out/salvage Denali with irreparable cab damage. It would be the cheapest way to get what I want done, regardless of getting into a regular cab for 43-46k..... a crashed/totaled Denali must of cheaper. And don't care about the title anyways because I plan on keeping my current regular cab short bed LBZ forever. Ideally it leaves you with everything you need minus a regular cab, headliner, and b pillar interior moldings. Carpet can be cut down if its in good shape. You can get a 15+ regular cab with doors for $1500. An overstock company is selling them online.
Couple questions:
How does the vin tag work on the overstock reg cab when I mate the regular cab to the denali frame after I shortened it? With it being a diesel I could see issues. I know the guy on here had a problem titling his truck when the vin was for a 5.3 or 4.8 gas truck and he swapped the LLY into the 1500 frame.
Also when we did my regular cab LBZ short bed swap it was extremely easy because I followed Lennart's How-To write up he posted on here years and years ago. That writeup was super detailed.
Suppose I could start by looking and comparing the current CCSB frame to the RCLB frame and see where it would be best to shorten. I remember a member on here made an extended cab short bed into a regular cab short bed but that was a GMT-800.
Just typing this out so I have a line of thought I can go back to.
Opinions welcome.
And for your time, here are a few photoshops I had done of what a RCSB 15+ HD Denali would look like. Both from the factory and with lifts/wheels/tires. The back of the cabs and windows aren't quite right but oh well.
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