I picked up this 47 Dodge truck cab, hood, nose pieces, and box side a few years ago at a swap meet. The plan was to set it on a modern chassis, do a little sheet metal work, and cruise it. Maybe even open wheel! Quick, cheap, and fun.

The build was put off last year because my wife & I went on our 1st vacation in 20 years.

Towards the end of last year, I collected a couple of Dakotas to be chassis donators. One was a standard cab, long box, the other was an extended cab, short box. Both turned out to be 2wd, V6, 5 speeds. My wife will drive this truck occasionally, so the 5 speed won't work, and I don't want a V6 with an auto in a hot rod, (the V6, 5 speed is just OK) so the search is on for either a 5.2 or a 5.9 Magnum, a Hemi is out of my price range, unless I stumble across a real deal.

The original plan was to do a 2wd, V8, auto, EFI. Most of the affordable drive train donors I'm finding are 4x4. I'm not opposed to the 47 being a 4x4, but then neither chassis I have will work, and finding a v8 auto 4x4 donor at an affordable price looks to be better odds of a full size Ram rather then a Dakota. The Ram is much much bigger then this 47 is, even a Dakota is quite a bit larger. A Durango appears to be another option I've just started looking into. I know 1st gen Dakotas, the rest, not so well.

This is suppose to be a quick and fairly cheap project once I get to start on it, but its growing more complex before I can even begin. I know and understand the OBD1, and I believe I can adapt the OBD2, but when you get past 96 in the full size Rams, the wiring gets pretty complex, pretty quickly and an aftermarket wiring harness would delay the project at least a year.

Then there is the cab size. A 47 cab is pretty small. I did a quick measure against the standard cab of the 91 chassis donor. The 47 is about 8" more narrow at the center of the doors (the front of the doors are 2" per side even more narrow), and the 47 cab is 8" shorter then the Dakota at the center of the cab. The width isn't much of an issue, most the time only 2 of us will be in the truck, the length may be a different story. There are no seats, floors, or steering column, and the doors are screwed shut, so I can't give it a test fit. I suspect the seat back will be pretty upright and against the back of the cab. That's how they were on my 50 and my 54 trucks, and they were bigger then this one is.

I'm a welder by trade, and I do a lot of rust repair, so this morning I thought maybe I could extend the cab. The cab is currently braced (because there are no floors) and I could add a couple more braces and cut across the roof and just behind the doors, and lop off the back of the cab. I could extend the inside braces, and add a section of new sheet metal between the doors and the back of the cab, and make a 47 Dodge extended cab truck. After looking it over pretty good, there really isn't much support holding the back of the cab onto the front (or any other part of the cab, for that matter). Simply extending the cab really doesn't look like a big deal, I'm getting pretty good at forming metal.

This has created another dilemma. If I extend the cab, how much do I add, and do I need to put a quarter window in? I could just add 4" and make the seating a lot more comfortable. If I added 8" or 10" I could have some inside storage behind the cab for those day trips when you need someplace to put a coat or something. If I added 18"-20", I could put a jump seat back there, and maybe someone could ride along, but then, would I want to add at least 1 rear 1/2 door? If I'm adding a door, why not make it long enough to add a full door and make it a crew cab? NO, That won't happen, no crew cab for me. I could do the 8"-10" on the standard cab, long box frame, I believe, more then that would need to go on the extended cab, short box frame.

Here is the deal, both the Dakota donors are sitting in my side yard, both can currently move under their own power, if they are not stuck in a snow bank. If we gets as warm as they are predicting this week, I will be able to move either one onto my driveway. The stripping process will have to be done outside on the driveway, we can get pretty nasty weather in Feb & March around here, but maybe I can get a start on one. I really would like to set the cab on the Dakota frame and get a look at it before I hack up the cab, but I'm leaning towards at least a 6"-8" extension.

The cab is already on the driveway, on a rolling cart. I can roll that in and out of the garage as need be, unless we get snow, then its stuck where ever it is, and it needs to be out of the garage unless I'm working on it, I have 1 work bay. These last 2 months of just enough winter to ruin everything is driving me crazy, I'm ready for spring, I can work outside in 40 degrees (yea, I'm a wimp) if its not raining! The snow we got in Nov is pretty much gone and if it drys up enough, I can move stuff around the yard again. Here is a picture of the cab, the other parts are squirreled away.

What do you guys think? extend the cab? How much? Gene

Here is a '47 Rat, pix # 4 shows not bad seat clearance?
pix

nice parts truck;
parts truck

crappy extnd cab 4 x 4 on a f1
crappy 4x4

, what the hell do I know, section / narrow the dakota extnd cab portion and put it on your old cab.

Old Ray,
The picture of the interior is about what I expected. The seats are against the back of the cab, and the steering wheel is almost straight up and down. I'm betting the guy doesn't have a very big belly, unfortunately, that's not my story. I suspect I could fit OK, but it would get uncomfortable driving long distances. I intend to put some miles on this truck, my comfort is a pretty high priority.

That parts truck is much nicer then what I have, but I will be driving for less then 1/2 of that asking price.

There are so many things wrong with that cab extension, its really sad. For starters, he put square windows in a round truck, and the height doesn't match up with the other side windows. Then he placed the extension too far behind the door, so there isn't a nice smooth transaction between the extension and the back of the cab. It also looks like he just cut around the rear window, then tried to make the addition do the compound curves at the top.
My cut line will be within an inch of the back edge of the door, and the roof cut will be about the center of the roof. What that will do for me is have the extension at the most flat portion of the cab, with gentile curves on both edges. If I put in quarter windows, they will have rounded corners and will line up with the windows in the doors and at the back of the cab. It would be easier for me to start with new steel then to modify the existing Dakota extension.
I've seen it done before, and I believe I can pull it off, or it will look like crap and another old rusty Dodge cab will be ruined. LOL! Gene

I've pondered doing something like this, but you have a LOT more experience than I, so this is just a wacky suggestion...
Mock up the old cab so you can see if you can fit comfortably (seat, mock column and wheel, blocks for pedals). This will answer whether extending is a luxury or a necessity. I bought a std. cab Dakota figuring it wasn't THAT tight, but found I just wasn't comfortable and if the seat moved back couple more inches it would be a huge difference.

I wondered if cutting out the early cab floor and firewall, then cutting the Dakota donor windshield, roof and rear of cab, leaving essentially the firewall and floor and marrying the two would allow for the modern mechanical bits to stay in position easier. I can see even before you mentioned the measurements that the firewall would need to be narrower, but some careful measuring and maybe moving some things might be an answer. The big things would be where the steering wheel and pedals fall in relation to the door and where you sit. Moving wiring and HVAC is simple compared to making the steering column move 2-3" toward the engine!

RodStRace, This cab already has no floors, so cutting them out won't be an issue, rust and someone else beat me to it.

I did the Dakota floor and firewall on my 48 Plymouth coupe. I was able to use the HVAC box after I cut off and re positioned the recirculating door & duct work on the extreme right end of the box, but the Dakota donor I'm using for the truck cab has rust holes in the floor pan, and I do not believe the truck cab is as wide as the coupe body was. It might be easier just to fab up a new floor for the truck.

The steering column will be the issue. I can mock up a seat in the cab, but I still won't know where the steering wheel will end up, especially when I'm not sure how the cab is going to sit on the frame. I suppose this will be something that will wait until I can rip the Dakota apart.

Oh well, winter is suppose to return and be here until the end of Jan, at least. Wife tells me we are getting a rain and snow mix right now. Gene

what would happen if the cab was extended at the front [windshield forward] instead of the back ? the dash area would be tunneled under the windshield area, with the firewall and toe boards moved 6,8,10" forward for more leg room. the only obstacle would be the steering wheel and your hand room needed to avoid the area of the windshield. i don't know if this would be easier to accomplish than extending the back of the cab, nor do i know what the visual outcome would be with the fenders and hood forward of the original location. if i recall, doesn't the original steering column and wheel extend roughly 8" or so rearward of the dash face ? just tossing this out there as an alternative idea. i know your metal working ability was amazing to me when your coupe project was completed, as the rust damage was extensive, and the work involved in the cowl area for the wiper tray was ingenious.

Moparx, Thank you for the compliments, and for the thought of moving the firewall forward, its something I never would have thought of.

Any firewall modification would be under the hood, so unless there is a length problem with the motor, that is a real possibility! The truck was designed for an inline 6, so installing a V8 should give me at least a couple of inches to play with. if need be, I can probably add a couple inches between the grill pieces and the hood. A few inches extra inside that cab would make a huge improvement in the comfort zone.

I could set the cab back on the frame a few inches, that would effectively move the steering wheel forward inside of the cab. I have big truck fenders with large wheel openings, so if I use the fenders, I will need to fill some of the wheel openings anyway, shifting the wheel opening towards the front of the fender shouldn't be too big of an issue, as long as I don't get carried away. I've done that on several cars & trucks in the past.

Great food for thought. Keep those thoughts coming, everything is in the planning stages right now. Everything is open to modification, at least until I actually have to transfer those ideas to steel, and have to stuff all that stuff into the limited space under the sheet metal. Eh, its only metal, I have a welder and cutting tools, I can put anything any place I want. Some things may be more difficult, and some things might be ugly, but by golly, I can put it there! LOL! Gene