Stock floor VS. Traditional Body drop

If someone has already posted it, and i missed it, i apologize, but why not channel it? Yes it's more sheet metal cutting and capping, but with some planning, you can inch out stock headroom, or at least "less room lost". And you can keep your stock frame, and it can be done in close quarters. Sometimes there are more options than just the two obvious, more popular ones.

channel it, or traditional it 75 -80 percent of teh trucks out there dont have completely stock floors when stock floored anyways

i've done both. and i will prolly never do anoth SF again except for customers. im usaully unpatient on my own shit so i chose to do trad. on all 3 of my past truck,and me and a friend just trad. bd his 92 sonoma,put it in the shop thursday evening and he drove it home sunday night. bed wasnt completely finished tho. it all depends on how long you wanna wait. and if your doin it yourself it requires some more tools lol

The trick to maximizing interior space with a traditional bd is making the frame rails the lowest part of the truck before you bd. I see alot of trucks that are dropped beyond the minimum necessary amount to compensate for frames that haven't been z ed or crossmembers that hang below the bottom of the frame. If you get the truck to lay flat first you can gain valuable headroom in the cab later when you bd.

Toyotas are notorious offenders for needing to be z ed, if you don't z first thats an extra inch and a half you have to raise the floor to lay rocker. That inch and a half is over half the amount the truck needs to be body dropped to lay rocker if the rail of the frame is flat on the ground.

Alot of Rangers get done extra because there are crossmembers that hang low(radius arm and trans) If you look after those first it makes your bd and headroom loss less drastic which makes for a more comfortable interior in the long run.

Nissans have a good sized gap between the top of the frame and the floor that can be reduced by lowering the body mounts on the frame before you start cutting for a traditional bd. This helps maintain valuable headroom which is a big plus in the end.

I guess my point is spend some valuable time underneath your truck with a tapemeasure and a straight edge before you decide on how much to lift the floor. The small amount of time spent here will be to your benefit in the end I guarantee. I have done both traditional and stock floor over the years and they both have their good and bad points. Alot of your choice will ultimatly depend on what area of the vehicle you feel most comfortable working with. Good luck on your body drop!

why not just channel it Brian???? get the best of both worlds man

I stockfloored mine on the garage floor. No way in hell i'd fuck wtih a traditional.

If you want to be low, then why not stockfloor it so you actually sit lower and don't have to hit your head on the roof.

do a cutfloor to begin with and if u dont like it after a while just throw u some 2x3 under the cab and build u a new smooth purdy cab floor to go along with it. i think ur more than capable of doing either.

I have done both, and I like both. I like DOING a traditional less, but it depends on the truck, and how much room you have to spare.

That said, my truck is traditional, and I am building a new frame to regain some head room.

I've had both and its my opinion that traditional ruins a truck. You sit higher in the cab, Everything just feels funky and depending on your seats, they might sit real close to the ceiling. I

Originally posted by bagged85



trad. ftw. welding sheet metal is easier than building a frame

I hate having to patch up the gaps.....welding to the stock sheetmetal sucks major ass to me. Specially if it's an old dirty grimy truck. I don't like having to grind off all the stock paint/primer on both sides of the metal, then you grind to much and its thin now so you blow through it. Or if you wire wheel it off then you have lil wires stuck all in ya, or you catch an edge and the wire wheels in your chest. Then you catch a seam were the seam glue is and it bubbles everywhere. Specially if the truck is on the ground.....Just to much bullshit for me. Id rather pull the cab/motor, SF the frame and redo the body mounts. Im a big guy so losing head room is a no go.....I can take it all apart and build the frame on my table and save my back a little trouble. It's totally preference but a huge as curb inside the door jam is crazy to me. Specially on a newer truck....when there's other option out there. Or the steering wheel being between your legs cause the seat so hi and the columns so low. Channeling is another option....still alot of sheetmetal to be welded but atleast you'd be welding in a valley most the time.....IDK I just prefer the SFBD. But all in all its not a SF, due to the tranny tunnel and all. I had to raise my tranny tunnel, notch the rear wall, and plate the rockers on the dodge. Inside of the cab was sprayed with sound deadening so my only option was to do all the work from under the cab......This is how that happened.