Well I had a consult with my friend who mentor tech in the early days of my wrenching to get a second opinion on some decisions that have to be made.
The cab on my black truck is rough. The doors and fenders are shot, and the cab corners, as well as a few other spots are badly rusted. The red cab is pretty clean, but will be stripped to bare metal and repainted for the same reasons the bed was. But I pulled the carpet back last night and the floor pan is rough. Not shot that I can tell, but rough.
The 4x4 frame is also rough. The rear is pitted badly near the end.
So we talked it over, and I think the bed is going back on the black truck, while the red one is pushed into the garage, cab stripped, and frame completely disassembled. I mean completely. This will give us the chance to put the cross members in a blasting cabinet, clean the main beams, and do a proper rust reform on the whole thing without having me sans truck for a year or more. Then it will take a few weeks to put it all back together with a 4x4 cross member.
I don't see this as giving up on my old truck, even though there won't be much of it left, I see this as building a truck out of the best parts I have. I am going to be using the power train and drive line that I have spent over 10 years scraping together and driving for almost 10 years.