Need body to put on 98 Eddie Bauer 5.4L 4x4 frame

[Tshepp16]

Hey guys new to forum, looking for somebody who knows what bodies I can use to plug and play with a 1998 5.4L 4x4 Eddie Bauer edition. Is it anything 97-02 body style? Or do trims and 2wd vs. 4wd make difference when I got to put a different body on frame? Pretty new to this kind of thing. Have a clean lifted frame but the only clean thing about the body is the shell.. all underneath is pretty damn rotten unfortunately... how big of a headache to put body from different truck onto frame I have now? Thank you

 

[Jim Brown]

Check door sticker. 1997-1998 body may fit if your vehicle was manufactured before 11/29/97. If yours was manufactured after 11/29/97 then 1998 will fit. Look for same suspension, engine, transmission, ideally same trim and under hood stickers. Compare all control modules and wiring harnesses for interchange, there may be unpublished changes mid-year. Car-part.com shows high level interchange options, however, it may require further research comparing parts numbers to confirm.

Another thing, your EB trim may have rear A/C. If the replacement body doesn't you will need A/C hoses for that.

Another option may be find a good expy with bad motor/ trans, but good body/ frame for cheap. You could then use your current vehicle as donor and swap engine trans to get it on the road, then migrate suspension at your leisure. You may find your good engine, trans and suspension have wider interchange options, e.g. '98 engine/ trans swap to '01. You can also use rockauto.com to look up and compare part numbers for different model years, for the parts you contemplate swapping.

Is that yours in the photo? I dig that battleship gray with blackout treatment. Too bad it's rusted out.

 

[Tshepp16]

OkaY lots of info thank you! Ya that’s her she’s huge hahah 6” suspension lift with 4” body. As you can see the shell is all good but drivers floor has a pretty big hole in it which I guess I could half ass fix but it’s the body mounts that I’m scared of... they are pretty rusted and look like they may not last too long. I’m in Canada, I have a 2000 lined up for $1000 but I guess I will Have to check some stuff out first. I don’t think there’s any stickers on my hood from buddy who painted it.. I really like colour to though and the black goes with it well. I think door sticker is in tact. Looking to do full tranny and motor rebuilds and maybe some mods... we will see how far I make it lol

 

[Jim Brown]

If that 2000 is available for a few hours you could park the two side by side and map out the differences with a tape measure. There were some changes between the years, the front ends changed and there was a change to ControlTrac: "The Two High mode for automatic full-time ControlTrac four-wheel drive equipped models was dropped leaving only Auto, Four High (lock) and Four Low (lock) modes." (source: Wikipedia). Also the instrument cluster changed and odometer went digital from mechanical.

You may be able to physically adapt the body without too much trouble; you would face the same challenges as any hot rod chassis/ body swap. One thing comes to mind I didn't think of before - a lot of factory service manuals have dimensions listed for frames that could provide a quick source for comparison. That body lift may work to your advantage since it could eliminate a lot of interference.

If you decide to swap bodies, definitely make a thread here and post pics!

Also, how extensive is the rust? You might make some patch panels with 13ga steel, maybe sandwich above and below, weld or bolt the panels together, also use panel bonding adhesive. Redneck engineering

 

[JohnWayne]

I know this post is old but I really have to know what is the name of the color you used on your exterior paint or paint code ? I’m Planning to do a paint job soon I live in south Florida looking for ideas.