Body swaps are getting more popular these days and we can’t feature every single one, but this particular Freaky Friday deserves attention. Rather than combining an old-school body and a super-modern electric drivetrain as was the case with our recently featured Volvo Amazon Tesla mashup, this is a classic Jeep J10 pickup truck atop a Dodge Dakota frame and drivetrain.
The owner actually built this entire rig in just four months total, doing a little bit of work every day. Now, it’s a running and driving example that actually serves as his daily driver. Think of it as the pseudo-missing link between the original Jeep Gladiator and the current one. It is, after all, a Dodge under the skin, and those brands fall under the same ownership.
The Autopian recently spoke with the creator, Rick Stewart to find out how this truck came to be, what his biggest challenges were, and what his future plans are. Stick around for that and a picture of Rick’s dog Benny, a Mexican rescue that enjoys the body-swapped Jeep too.
Rick picked the Jeep up last year from a field where it sat abandoned and with basically no hope of ever running again. He then found a 2006 Dodge Dakota R/T with a similar fate ahead. It “was from an insurance company and designated as a dismantle-only vehicle [so it] cannot go back on the road,” he said. Of course, by going with an R/T trim, Stewart ended up with a 5.7-liter 360 cubic inch V8 under the hood good for 260 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque. That’s not too bad of a foundation to build on.
Of course, this sort of a build isn’t as simple as drilling out some welds, lifting one body off of the frame, and then lowering one back onto it. These trucks are separated by more than just a couple of decades. The engine bays and wheelbases don’t line up so Stewart had to make serious modifications to the Jeep body.
“I had to slide the engine and transmission plus the factory, Dakota firewall, and floor back 4 inches on the frame for the front wheels to line up in the centre of the wheel wells and have enough room for a radiator and AC condenser,” he says.
In addition, he cut about five inches out of the frame so that the Jeep’s body would fit appropriately. Then, the bed floor needed a five-inch lift to clear the Dakota drivetrain. Just imagine, the amount of work it took to make this truck look right is dramatically more than most people will do to simply keep a car alive.
After getting the truck running, he widened the wheels and wheel wells so that he could run larger tires. Now, it runs and drives like just about any other 2006 Dakota to the point that Stewart uses it daily. He doesn’t treat it like some fragile car either. He hauls stuff in the bed, uses it for work, and does so with the comforts of a modern truck (we’ll get to that momentarily) and the style of an old one.
Again, all of this went down over the course of about four months and the results are impressive. The exterior looks almost stock aside from ride height. Rick also added a classic Jeep Gladiator grille to really set this truck off. A Dodge RAM hood ornament is like the cherry on top of this body swap.
Keeping the Dakota firewall enabled Stewart to maintain more of the modern conveniences of the Dodge. While the dash is from the Jeep, the gauges are from the Dakota, and all still function normally. This truck also boasts a totally functional driver’s side airbag and factory cruise control. Don’t forget that it still has modern climate control too.
What’s left for this modernized pickup? As it sits, it leverages the original Dakota five-speed automatic gearbox. Stewart wants to swap that out for a six-speed manual. “I have all the parts to swap it to a manual, that’s happening this winter,” he tells The Autopian. We can’t wait to see it. That and some smoky donuts once it’s done. Oh, and finally, as promised, let’s take a look at Benny, Rick’s Mexican rescue pup who might enjoy the Jeep almost as much as Rick does.
Most frame swaps are hacked messes, it’s not easy to do. This truck looks to be better pretty well done. Just no to the Ram hood ornament, its a Kaiser even though it has a Dodge chassis.
If Detroit won’t build the truck you want, build one to suit you. Applaud this.