So I searched until I was blue in the face on the easiest way to make a 2wd truck 4wd. Needless to say I didn't find any useful information so we dove in head first. I bought this truck about 2 months ago after I got a tip on a cheap truck for sale and like anything I get, leaving it alone just isn't my thing. The truck was pretty straight with the exception of the bed sides about to fall off even after the previous owner had attempted several times to weld the cracks. I left the truck alone for a total of 6 days and this is what happened....
The beginning.
Day Friday evening through Sunday.
(Ground factory welds to separate the front half of the frame)
Resealed the engine and cleaned it up.
The hard work was complete and I drove the truck home Sunday night. This was the look Monday morning. #stance
Blocks installed.
Following Wednesday, 11 days after purchase, we installed the Craigslist $1200 used CM bed.
Finally after a week and a half of work with help from a handful of good friends, 5 hours of buffing and a set of new wheels and tires we have all the hard work done and I am pretty pleased with the outcome.
Side note for anyone wondering, the cab mounts measured up perfect after separating the frame at the factory welds (measure cab mount distance before hand). Literally grind the welds, separate the frame, slide 4x4 front half in, check measurements from cab mount to cab mount to confirm position, square and level then weld back up.
I dropped the truck off for paint today and should have it back in a couple weeks. It will be black metallic (same color as my 06 mega cab) sport front end now along with new headlights, cab lights, window tint, mirror's and a few other small things. If anyone has any question on anything we did to covert don't hesitate to ask. It was a really simple process after we got a plan of attack. Drive train is still 2wd 5 speed and will be auto as I'm waiting on a stand alone controller to be built to test as well as putting the auto back together and getting my dpc converter refreshed. Hope this helps anyone in the future going down the same road.
Brandon