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Might be able to get the whole truck for $2500, too much? [/quote]

Keep in mind, I'm a cheapskate working with a non-existent budget. What is "expensive" to me probably isn't to anyone else. Add to that the nearly everything I've built started out as a pile of rusty junk, I paid $200 for my complete (except what was rusted away) 48 Plymouth 5 years ago. I'll build things for myself most wouldn't, and most of which I would advise others not to pay me to build. I figure my time doesn't cost me anything, but everyone else pays for my services.

If the whole truck involves a good cab & doors, a decent frame, a title, and all the odds & ends that add up pretty quick when your looking to buy them, and its not far from home, $2500 doesn't sound too bad. However, if everything is wore out, or every area needs some kind of attention, or its across the country, $2500 may be on the high side. A point to consider, several years ago, it cost $1.25 per mile (location to location) to haul a car/truck that could be rolled onto the trailer. I suspect that number is low these days. How far away something is has a huge impact on somethings value.

One of the neat things about Dodge was that other then the number of leafs in the spring pack, a 1/2 ton axle will bolt up to where a 1 ton axle used to be, so you have some options with that 3/4 ton.

You want to determine what you want the final product to look like. There is a huge difference between a slammed on the ground pickup, and a converted to 4x4 pickup. There are a lot of options between those two ends, and there are even more extremes on both ends of that story. Different parts, and different sources for parts are required for each project. How much of the original truck can be used will be dependent on what the final vision looks like. Any of them can make nice drivers. The nice driver is a state of what conditions make a nice driver in your mind, and what you will build it to. What I call a nice driver might be a pile of junk to you, or vice a versa.

Probably not very helpful, but this is the reality. Its your truck, build what you want. I suggest that have that vision before you start, then don't change the vision once you start acquiring parts. Built that truck through completion, it costs a lot to change directions. If your vision changes, save those thoughts for the next truck! They used to say you have to build 3 to get the one you want, but I suspect that meant all 3 were similar to each other. The 3 count doesn't start until you build a 2nd one almost like the first. LOL
Gene