Newbie FG question- FG running gear in a FE frame

[win0857]

1st of all hello, and thanks for ANY info you can help me with!!

I Just picked up a Mitsubishi FG with very low miles but the frame is rotted out. I can't find any good FG frames here but I see good FE frames. Can I swap the running gear from the FG into the FE? I did read on here about the Fg having a stepped frame.
My goal is just a fun run around flatbed so height of the truck does not bother me.

Thank you in advance for your time!!!!!

Mark

 

[SkiFreak]

Can I swap the running gear from the FG into the FE?

If only life were that easy.
Short answer... no, unless you want to do quite a few mods. The step is to allow the front of the truck to be higher, allowing for the bloody great pumpkin under the sump.

I guess it really comes down to how badly rusted your chassis is and where that rust is located. My understanding is that there are some Fuso specialist wreckers in your neck of the woods, which others could probably tell you about.
Maybe pugslyyy will chime in here too, as he had a custom made replacement chassis built for the rear of his FG. I am pretty sure he would have looked into all possible alternatives, prior to going down that route.

And one last thing... welcome to the forum.

 

[christopher p weinberger]

Am I correct that the Isuzu equivalent to FG 4x4 trucks don't have a stepped frame? If not, how do they get around the front axle issue.

 

[SkiFreak]

Am I correct that the Isuzu equivalent to FG 4x4 trucks don't have a stepped frame?

The earlier models did have a bit of a step, but nowhere near as much as the Fuso/Canter. The newer NPS does have a straight chassis and uses significantly large spacers between the underside of the rear leaf springs and the diff housing in order to get the suspension at the correct height.
Personally, I do not like that design concept, but obviously the engineers signed off on it, so it must be structurally okay.

 

[win0857]

If only life were that easy.
Short answer... no, unless you want to do quite a few mods. The step is to allow the front of the truck to be higher, allowing for the bloody great pumpkin under the sump.

I guess it really comes down to how badly rusted your chassis is and where that rust is located. My understanding is that there are some Fuso specialist wreckers in your neck of the woods, which others could probably tell you about.
Maybe pugslyyy will chime in here too, as he had a custom made replacement chassis built for the rear of his FG. I am pretty sure he would have looked into all possible alternatives, prior to going down that route.

And one last thing... welcome to the forum.

The frame is so bad it is in 2 pieces, so totally gone. I want to make a big pick up truck with it and put big tires on it, pretty useless is my goal. My idea was to use a FE frame so that the steering/motor mounts/shifter/ETC would all line up. Block the rear axle to level the truck and then shorten the rear frame and put a 8' dually bed from a Chevy truck. Since I will be carrying no weight I won't be using that much of the suspension and if I needed more room for the pumpkin I would just raise it a little more.

 

[SkiFreak]

Well... anything is possible!
It all comes down to how much time, effort and money you are willing to sink into this project.
I have never really taken a close look at a FE frame, so other than the step, I don't know what other differences there are with the FG. Having said that, there must be some differences under the cab when it comes to suspension mounting points and/or heights and I suggest that you identify those differences before committing to going further.

Another option, assuming that you have the necessary fabrication skills, might be to build your own replacement frame. You would not be the first to do this. I'd suggest Alan's thread as a starter, but the images of his Fuso transformation no longer display, so it probably won't help you all that much. Pity the images are gone, as it was a brilliant build.

 

[pugslyyy]

Far easier to have a replacement frame fabbed, Imho. The FE is a wider frame than the FG, IIRC. Don't expect anything to "line up"

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Czechsix]

Well, it could be done, but it would be considerably higher than a stock FG. Another option to look at is to go with something like a dry sump, or redesign the engine pan to accommodate the third member. Alternately, move the engine aft.

Lots of redesign work to get it done right, easiest is locate another FG frame, use frame sections to fab up an new frame, fab up a completely new frame, etc etc.

It almost sounds like you're looking at recreating an FC150, but at a larger scale. Which would be a fun project, for sure.

 

[blackduck]

Alan made his chassis straight and put spacer blocks under the rear end to compensate for the trailing arm set up he put on the front end
spacer blocks are okay by design so long as you dont load them up with torque
they have a habit of inverting the leaf if theyre loaded up to much

 

[christopher p weinberger]

Don't take spacer block placement lightly. They are highly frowned upon in both the Hotrod world and the 4 x 4 world. At some point you need to add an additional third load point from the top of the axle to the chassis to prevent twist Under torque load. Ubolts are not rated for excessive lateral load