440 to Cummins Crew Cab Swap

Still exhausting

2011-11-22T22:20:00.000-08:00

Still punning. The "' Stan's kit is now permanently in place. Somewhere along the line I swapped the turbo exhaust housing to a 16 cm housing. This should help spooling compared to the notoriously laggy factory housing.

On these trucks, with the right hand drop on the transfer case there is not a lot of room for a fat exhaust pipe. Here are some clearance issues. The transfer case.

The cross-member.

The front drive shaft.

For the frontmost hanger, I made a stepped bolt and used a shock absorber bushing in a factory bracket at the bell housing.

This is a hanger at a little cross member at the back of the cab.

This is at the cross member that goes over the fuel tank between the front hangers of the rear springs.

Another pic.
I wanted to make sure a spare would fit, so I stuck one in the frame.
All fits well. Since the kit was made for an extended cab long bed in which the frame is 6 inches longer behind the rear hangers, I will need to cut 6 inches out of the tail pipe. I will wait until I get the bed on for this, though.

For now it just looks a little goofy.

This is becoming exhausting.

2011-11-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the pun. I have been concerned about the tight clearance between the 4" Stan's exhaust and the cross-member brace at the transfer case. I am sure the Stan's would have fit fine in a factory situation, but, with the NV4500 and the home made transfer case mount, the cross member is probably sitting back a little which makes the wiggle room a little tight. So, I marked where the exhaust comes closest to the brace, then removed the brace for adjustment...

...in the form of cutting slots with the cut-off wheel...
...beating it mercilessly with my 2-pound ball-peen hammer...
...whammity, wham, wham...
..and welding it back up. It gained me about another 1/2 inch of clearance.

Insulating the cab roof.

2011-11-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

Anybody who drives these old crew cabs knows the way the roof acts as a drum. On various internet sites there are frequently debates as to how to deal with this if you are building a diesel truck and you want to be able to carry on normal conversations or listen to the radio. Many people are against filling the space between the ceiling and roof with foam is a mistake just asking for rust issues. I disagree. Year ago I filled the roof of this truck with foam. It has been sitting outside ever since. Before I filled it, I had too repair rust all the way across the top of the windshield. To this day, the rust has not returned and the roof just makes a dull thud sound when you knock on it.

Long story short, I am filling the void in the roof of this new cab. I attached a longer hose to the cans of Great Stuff to reach deeper into the recesses.

I happen to have some hose that fits over the Great Stuff straw perfectly.
Being the brute that I am, I went ahead and bored some holes in the ceiling that are the same size as the rubber plugs that cover the body mount bolt holes in the floor. I plan to make headliner inserts someday to cover them, but I really won't mind if the rubber plugs are visible indefinitely.
When it was all done, between three new holes, the sunvisor holes, and the rear dome light hole, the roof is now full and muted.
Just a little trimming...

The Powerlock

2011-11-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

Once again it has been a long time since I put in any updates. Progress is depressingly slow as the bones grind on each other in my low back, but every once in a while I get out there and make a couple of hours progress.

Here is the condition of the friction material in the limited slip. In the process of swapping gears, I put in new clutches.

I thought it was pretty cool looking at how this thing works. I have no pics, but, with the help of M & H machine. The rear end is all buttoned up with 3 inch brakes, working park brake cables, and fresh paint. It is all buttoned-up under the truck with some springs from the cab&chassis. I removed two leaves from each side. Air bags will take up the slack some day.

Dug into the Dana 70 Today

2011-04-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

The rear axle for this guy was from a cab and chassis dually. The c&c housings are only two inches wider than the standard pick-up axle and since this one had 3 inch brakes and a limited slip, I thought I would just replace the 5/8 inch wheel studs and use it. That plan changed today. The first thing I noticed was the magnet in the cover. Yuck. Hopefully that is just magnetic friction material. I was planning on rebuilding the Power Lok anyway.

Then I noticed this. Well, Maybe I can polish the rust off with emory cloth. maybe the hardened surface of the ring gear teeth aren't pitted. Then, I wiped the oil off the side of the ring gear and saw that these are 4:10 gears. Nooooo. With the tire size I will be running and the type of driving, I wanted them to be 3:54s. For a couple of years now I have thought they were 3:54s. I do not kno where I got that thought, But I was stunned this morning. What makes it even worse, I recently bought a set of dana 60 4:10s for the front of my ramcharger and had M&H machine install them for me. They took out 3:54s. I could have just swapped axles. now I will not only need to have them drop some 3:54s in my rear axle, I will need to have them put my old dana 60 ring and pinion into this truck's front end. Good grief. Anyway, I have a spare dana 70 rear axle that has the proper gears. I will just have M&H put the Power Lok in that one.
I took this pick so I would have a guide for putting the brakes back together.
I wonder if the same guy who silly-coned the king pin dust cap also put this hose clamp on the parking brake cable/lever.

Cab Work - shifter holes and sound deadening.

2011-04-09T23:10:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for this truck is to make it at least as quiet as my second generation cummins dodges were. My first step in accomplishing this task is spraying sound deadener on the outside of the floor. I thought this would be easier if I stood the cab on end.

As I,ve said before, this cab pretty is rust free. You can see the factory 4-speed hole in the tunnel as well as the round hole I put in for the NV4500 shifter. The round hole was barely big enough so In the process of patching the other hole I enlarged the new one to factory size.
Here you can see the rough opening of the new hole and the patch on the old. You can also see two smaller holes. These are the end radii for the transfer case shifter.
This shot is from the inside. The black on the floor is POR 15. I put it on all the surfaces that showed a hint of surface rust.
Back on the bottom side, I went over the floor with a cup brush in an angle grinder and followed that with a scotchbrite pad. Then, I used brushable seam sealer on all the seams and on my patch. You can also see the finished transfer case shifter hole.
Here is the ugly mess of sealer and patch.
Next, I started spraying the sound deadener with an undercoating gun. You can see the texture of the first pass.
The plan is to get about 1 mm thickness per pass and do two passes. The temp in the shop is below 50 and I have to put my halogen lights on it to get this water based stuff to dry.
About halfway through the first coat.
This is the product I am using and the gun. The stuff is called Spectrum and its made by Second Skin. It runs about $60 a gallon, and it is thick stuff. It goes on a bluish grey, but dries black. It seems pretty hard when It dries. I have right at a gallon on the underside of the floor with two coats.
The finished product.
After setting the cab back down on the floor, I also did the engine side of the firewall with two, or was it three, coats. That was a week or so ago. Today I scuffed and cleaned the inside of the cab and shot the first coat on the inside of the firewall, the floor and the back wall.
I have right at two gallons on the cab as of now. The second coat on the inside will take most of a third gallon.
The texture is not bad and I am thinking of using it on some exposed surfaces and painting over the top of it. I did put it on my kick panels. They may get covered with plastic trim, but then they may not.

King Pin Overhaul and Dana 60 Install

2011-04-09T21:40:00.001-07:00

If it seems like I am jumping from one thing to another on this build it is probably because I am. I have been having trouble with focus. I am really trying to get to the point where I can put something together and leave it. You know, real progress. It has been too cold in the shop to paint so I can't start bolting things to the firewall, so I decided to start in on the front axle.

When I got the knuckles off I found this thing in the upper king pin.

And, I saw serious wear. Notice how sharp the edge is in picture right. There is a lot of steel missing here. After inquiring on dieseltruckresource.com, I found that the hex thing with the cross in the top is part of a caster camber fix kit. There was supposed to be a pin in the cross that held an offset upper bushing, but there was a stock bushing under the cap on the pin.

I also found this ugliness on the dust cap. At first I did not know what was going on. Then...
...I found this. This gob of goo is sealer due to holes punched by somebody who was to cheap to replace a dust cap.
More carnage. These bearing races have seen a few too many miles and maybe a little too much water.
In this shot you can see the lower eccentric from the kit mentioned before. You can also see the condition of the dust cap. The seal that usually covers this was just sitting there lose. Unless the kit comes with an offset seal, I cannot see how it would work with this smaller bearing holding the lower pin off center. The seal that I took out was all mashed, but looked like a stock seal. Who knows.I did not get a pick of this when I finished welding it, but it did not matter. It did not work. I was trying to make a tool to remove the upper king pin. When I ordered my parts from 4wd factory, I forgot to order the big hex wrench. I welded the doodad that was in the upper pin to an old tie rod I had in the corner. I proceeded to break the nut off a couple of times before I gave up and ordered the dang wrench.

Here is the big honkin' allen wrench chucked into the king pin. I propped up the inner c away from my wood saw horse so I wouldn't catch it on fire when I heated it with the torch.
The white bar is the handle off my floor jack. They call this a "swede" and I tink it'll work pretty good, ya sure.
Now the heat. I heated it for a while and then hung on the swede and bounced until it let loose with a clang. It did no favors for my bulging disc in my back. Then I had to do the other side.
The torque spec on those id 600-700 pounds. sheesh. Once it clanged, it threaded right out. I did not take any picks of the new one, I simply put it in with loctite and bounced on the bar a few times to tighten it in.
Next, I finally saved enough to replace the badly worn axle u-joints. Both sides were bad. This is one of the places I had robbed from this project to keep other trucks on the road. One side was off my ramcharger, the other was off my 91 ctd. They both had orange dust where the needles were supposed to be.

Man those u-joints are beefy.
I torqued the front leaves on to the axle housing with the old u-bolts. I thought this one looked a little hinky (notice the bend). I will definitely be replacing these bolts.
painted-up and ready to put back under the truck.
Back in where it belongs.
New rotor and freshly painted parts.
Shortly after this pic, I put new calipers with like-new pads here.
And its back on the ground with the wrong tires. These are a set of 16.5" I got from a neighbor mainly for the wheels so I could mount my old 35s on them for a future project.
Done.

3 years

2011-04-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

I started this blog on January 26, 2008. My last post was in January of 2011. I have spent three years working on and off on this thing. I think it is time to get it done. I have been working on it over the last four months (since my last post), but I have not taken the time to post. I will try to get it up to date today.

Clutch Master Cylinder to Clutch Pedal

2011-01-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

Originally, this cab had a mechanical clutch, but the NV4500 has a hydraulic clutch. In the last post, I showed the work involved on the engine side of the firewall to convert this. Here is the interior side. You can see the master cylinder and rod coming through the firewall.

Here is the end of the rod in relation to the clutch pedal. I will need to fab up a bracket to reach from the pedal arm to the eye on the cylinder rod.
I started with this bracket. It is a piece that was bolted under the floor to support some of the mechanical clutch linkage. The tab on the left is about the width I need and the angle of the bend seems pretty close to what I need as well.
After some creative hacking with my port-a-band and some hammer and vice work, this is what I came up with. The long end with the hole in it will weld to the clutch pedal arm, and the end with my fingers will receive a hole for the pin that will go through the eye in the master cylinder actuator rod.
I noticed that the eye in the rod was hogged out a bit and did not want this to continue if I used a hardened bolt for a pivot pin so I thought about making some sort of bushing. Rummaging around in my brass drawer, I came up with this fitting. I figured I could use it to make a bushing.

I started by drilling out the center with a bit the same size as my bolt. I am thinking it was 1/2 inch, but it may have been 7/16 inch.
Nice fit so far.
Then, since I do not have a lathe, I chucked the bolt into my drill press. I used a nut on the bolt to keep the brass from spinning on the bolt. Then I used a file and sandpaper to "turn" the brass down...
...to the right size to fit the eye of the clutch rod. Then, I trimmed it to length to be just wider than the thickness of the eye.
Here the new bracket is clamped to the pedal with a vice grip. I welded a bolt in a hole in the bracket to act as a pin through the rod with the bushing. Then, I double-stacked the nuts to lock it in place while still allowing it to pivot.

And finally, after removing the pedal, I welded the bracket to the pedal. Job done.

More Firewall Thinking - Clutch Cylinder.

2011-01-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Back on December 20, Firewall Thinking, I sketched out what I thought would need to happen to get the clutch master cylinder in place.

Recycling this picture, it shows how the rectangle hole for the wiring harness bulkhead connector goes through. The circle shows the size and location of the hole needed for the clutch master cylinder (or so I thought).

I started by cutting a rectangle out of the driver's side of the hole.

Then, recycling the scrap rectangle, I planned to weld it on the other side of the hole. I used a magnet to hold the little piece in place as well as a hack saw blade that I used as a straight edge to ensure that the piece was in the right place.
After first tacking it in place, I burnt it in solid.
After grinding the welds smooth, I used a 2 1/2" hole saw to bore a hole to match the hole that was in the pattern I used that was a chunk of firewall from a 1st gen truck. I had to run into town to purchase the hole saw which makes the situation shown in the next pic all the more frustrating.
So, here I am welding a patch into this beautiful hole I just got through making.
It turns out that I really did not understand exactly how the master cylinder mounted in the hole and I am embarrassed to say I never compared the size of the barrel on the cylinder with the size of the hole in the pattern I used. It ends up that I am using a 2nd gen clutch hydraulic system (I think). It makes sense because I am using a 2nd gen transmission with the NV4500.
So, I had to resize the hole quite a bit smaller.
I cut some notches at 4 locations around the hole to fit ears that are on the cylinder. I forgot to take a pic of this, but I will edit one in later. The cylinder goes in from the engin side and twists 45 degrees to lock it in place. I also doubled the thickness of the firewall at this location to gice it a little more strength and support. The master cylinder reservoir will bolt to the cowl near where I am holding it.

Final Stages of Intercooler Mount

2011-01-06T20:01:00.000-08:00

Since the new construction on the core support fit without issues, other than the mods I will need to make to the inner fenders to clear the inlet/outlet tubes, I went ahead and burned the rectangular tube to the the bottom of the core.

Next, I needed some brackets to support the isolators at the bottom of the intercooler. I made these by cutting a section of the same rectangular tube off the scrap end about 2 inches long. Then I drilled a 1" hole in each side of the section. Finally, I cut the section of tube on the diagonal to make two brackets like the one pictured below. The 1" hole receives the rubber button isolator that slides on a stud on the bottom of the intercooler.
This pictures the other side with the isolator in place. This locates and securely holds the bottom of the intercooler in the same way it was held in a factory application.
Next, I fabbed-up some upper mounts. This is a piece of 1" square tube with a 7/16 nut welded in the end. I am holding it with a pair of funky laminated vice grips. The right end is notched to fit flush with an indentation in the core support where the battery tray mounts.
Here it is welded in place with a slotted donut shaped isolator. I did the same on the other side. This located the top of the intercooler and keeps it from jumping out of the lower mounts.
Here is the core with the finished mounts and the intercooler (and ac condenser for that matter) securely mounted in place.
This is the engine side view showing the ac condenser and the in/outlets of the intercooler. Next will be supports for the radiator.

Working My Core

2011-01-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

Before welding the 1.5 x 3 tube on the bottom of the core support, I wanted to make sure it would all fit together. I clamped the tube to the bottom and set the core in place. Then I hung one fender and propped the inner fender in place.

I needed to make sure there was ample room for the fender near the marker lamp. I had cut my tubing to be the same length as the width of the core support. The metal I cut away was not as bulky and tapered at the ends. With the tube cut off square, I could get my fingers between the end of the tube and the fender, so all is well here.
Then I set, or should I say, I tried to set the intercooler in place. I only did the test fit on the turbo side, but my problem became pretty obvious. The 1st gen intercooler inlet and outlet tubes are centered up and down on the intercooler. The 2nd gen cooler has inlet and outlet tubes on the bottom. The inlet tube shown hits the inner fender.
After studying this issue, it looks like I can massage the inner fender around the pipe. I do not think this will get the inner fender too close to the tire. In fact, I really can't see why the inner fender has this lump in it anyway. So, massaging the inner fenders gets added to my to-do list. I assume the left inner fender wil have the same issue.

Here is sorta how it looks with the intercooler almost in place.

Today I cut the cheese.

2010-12-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

er...I cut the rusty Swiss cheese metal out of the core.

Tacked in some new steel.
Burnt it in. Did the same on both sides.

Made some patches for the attachment sites.

Burnt them in as well.

This one looks better.

Today was a great day for grille-n.

2010-12-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

I started this truck two years ago. From the beginning, I intended to keep the 1975/76 grille, ut I also wanted to have an intercooler. To make things worse, I planned to use a 2nd generation cummins intercooler, which is much bigger than the 1st generation intercooler. On top of all this, I will have air conditioning and will need a condenser behind the grille as well. This adds a lot of junk that was never intended to fit behind there. Well, today, with Hondo to keep me company, I figured it out.

Here is my original, rusty ol' core support. The long, oval-shaped holes are leftover from the 440 days. I used to get so much radiant heat in the cab that we would sometimes leave for camping in the middle of the night in the summer. I cut those holes to increase the air flow under the hood.

The first thing to go was this center grille support.
This is the 2nd gen intercooler. You can see The Great Vittorio in the background.
I forgot to tale some pictures, apparently. Maybe I will edit them in later. The next thing I hacked out of the core was a section of the box at the bottom so I could drop the intercooler as low as possible. This would take out some serious structure from this part that supports the hood, fenders, radiator, battery, etc, but I will combat that by grafting a piece of 1.5 inch box tubing along the bottom. By doing this, I will not need to use the body lift spacers under the core and it will be every bit as strong as original.

Then I had to cut a piece of the brace under the hood latch.

I am missing another picture here. Imaging how good the inter cooler looks with the top just under the above cut and the bottom flush with the bottom of the core support. I also blew some holes for the inlet and outlet tubes.

This shot shows the cooler under the grille. Now imagine the big ol' grin on my face. My teeth may even be showing.

The next thing to tackle is the condenser. On a 1st gen Dodge Cummins truck, the condenser is on the outside of the intercooler. There is now way this would fit behind this old school grille. My solution is to put the condenser between the radiator and the intercooler. I am hoping this will work. I do not know how much the intercooler will preheat the air before it reaches the condenser, but I will give it a try. To do this, the center support down the middle of the core support needed to go. In the picture below, you can see that I also cut out some of the metal below the condenser. I actually did not need to do this. I only needed to square the lower corners where they were rounded like the upper corners or the hole, as you can see in the pic. Since this core was all swiss-cheesey with rust that needs to be patched anyway, I just hacked it out of the way for now with a sawzall.This shot shows the missing center support. In the upper left corner, you can see where I marked for the hole for the connection point for the air conditioning hoses.So, now I have the condenser in, the intercooler in, the grille on, and the lower valance in place, well, almost.I'll try ti set this picture up. The silver on the right is the bottom lip of the grille. The little smile at the very top of the pic is the right turn signal lens hole. And, the long hole in the middle is the original hole in the 1975/76 valance. In the hole you can see the edge of the cooler. This is the part that is holding the valance out. The black lines are showing my plans for more chopping. In the pic, you can't see the contour of the metal, but if I cut this out, the valance will drop back at least an inch.

Rather than just chopping out what needs to come I will open up the whole hole. I hope to be able to make it look like it came this way. We'll see.

Here it is, engine side with the radiator in place.

Here, with the radiator out, you can see the connection block for the condenser.

This shot is looking down the hood latch opening. Red arrow = intercooler. Blue arrow = condenser. Yellow arrow = Radiator.

And, here it is all dressed for the party. I was so excited I even got out the ladder so I could get far enough away to get the hole thing in the picture.

A couple of other dents

2010-12-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

This little dent is where the bed has made contact with the back of the cab somewhere in this truck's past.

Not so dramatic in the picks, but I punched some holes and used a slide hammer with a little tapping with a body hammer and pulled it out close enough to skim it with filler and make it go away.
This dent is under the front passenger door. I treated it the same as the other dent and got it pretty close as well. Forgot to pic the end result.

Rockin' the Rocker, part 2

2010-12-22T20:13:00.001-08:00

Today, I got things cleaned-up where the rosette welds will be and got my patch trimmed to length. I massaged the crease out of the old rocker in front of the patch with a chunk of 2x4 and various pry bars. Here is the new section in place waiting the welder.

Another shot from below.
A shot of the sill.
This is what the seam looks like. It will look just like the factory seam.
This shot from down in the hole by the seat back shows the holes I made for the rosette welds. I got it welded-up today, but did not take final pictures. oops

Firewall thinking...

2010-12-20T21:53:00.000-08:00

I am thinking this cab is from 1981. Build date is some time in 1980 anyway. It was originally a 4-speed truck with a mechanical clutch. It will now have a hydraulic clutch, but there is no provision for the clutch master cylinder. I have also heard that the big rectangular hole for the wiring harness bulkhead fitting needs to be moved a little.

Luckily, a friend had saved a piece of the firewall from a truck he scrapped. This is a close-up of the clutch cylinder hole and the bulkhead connector hole.
Lining up the brake booster hole and steering column hole I can locate where the hole needs to be. I can also see how the bulkhead connector hole needs to be shifted.
I should be able to cut the right side out of the rectangle hole and weld it into the left side. Then, I can use the appropriate hole saw to pop out the clutch hydraulics hole.

Rockin' the rocker

2010-12-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

With the rocker section removed you can see two of the factory rubber plugs. I can't believe how clean the inside is.

Tomorrow, I will work on the remaining crease. Now I can get to the back side of it. I need to smooth out the spot welds as well.

Next, I went a-harvesting in my 1989 ram-garden. Before anybody wails about hacking-up a clean cab, this is the cab I cut the firewall out of for the ramcharger. It may need to give up its floor for said ramcharger as well.

Here is the "new" steel. This is straight and rust free.

This is a pic of the plate down in the hole. Looks like in 1989 they used even more gobs of goo-gob magic seam putty.

After an hour of drilling more danged spot welds and blasting my eardrums with the air chisel, I got the donor panel almost ready. Her it is sorta stuck up in place. Maybe I get it welded in tomorrow.

Bashed-in rocker.

2010-12-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

I got some room back in the shop today and spent a few hours on the cab. Notice the damage to the rocker panel below the right rear door.

This is a really clean cab and this is by far the biggest blemish.
It looks like it is just a good bashing and no rust.
So, I started the arduous task of drilling out spot welds.
If I can get this panel off clean, I can fix the small crease that is forward of the seam.
This plate was held in place with copious amounts of factory putty-goo. It was down in the hole in the bottom cab corner behind the rear seat seat-belt.
This is a picture down in the hole where the plate came out. More blasted spot welds.

Got the ramcharger out of the shop today.

2010-12-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

My buddy at M&H machine got me set up with the 4:10 gears. I got the axle back and in the truck over the weekend. This Dana 60 axle came out of a donor chassis that had been in a nasty wreck. The tie rod was bent in the middle at a right angle. When I put the axle under the ramcharger I stole the tie rod from my crew cab. I ordered a new chromoly tie rod from M&H to replace it.

I also bolted the body back on without the body lift. I had to go out today and find some new bolts the right length for the mounts without the spacers.

2010-12-06T21:45:00.001-08:00

The Duke of the Day was The Sons of Katie Elder. Billy is trying to convince the Duke and Dean Martin not to look into their father's death, or something like that.

You are right, this is not my crew cab. Once again, the Cummins Ramcharger is taking time, energy and money away from completing the crew. Not long ago, I replaced the raggedy old worn-out Dana 44 with a Dana 60. I can't remember if I updated the rc blog with that, but, long story-short, the 44 had 4:10gears as did the rear axle. The 60 had 3:54 gears which I worried would be too tall for the 37" tires I am now running on it. I was planning on replacing the Ramcharger's rear axle, also a Dana 60, with a Dana 70 with 3:54s from one of my donor trucks, but the taller gear ratio kept nagging at me. So, instead, I bought a Dana 60 carrier with 4:10 ring and pinion and decided to have M&H machine install them for me. To save a little money and not have my truck tie up their shop, I stripped the axle and pulled it out completely and just took them the housing. When I get it back, I will have 4:10s front and back.

Okay, that might have been the long story. The fun part of this was that my son and my daughter's boyfriend helped me pull it out. It is important for him to know that I know my way around power tools and, thus, aught to treat my daughter right.

So, while the Ramcharger was tying-up my shop and not wanting to add the expense of a body lift to this project, I remembered the 1 1/2" spacers in the Ramcharger. It had a body lift when I bought the carcass, but I do not need it anymore since I tweaked the rear of the front fender openings to clear the 37" tires (probably did not update that on the rc blog either). Anywho, I pulled these spacers out of the RC and lowered the body down to the stock isolators. Now I won't need to jump quite as high to get in.

Back to the crew... Here is one of the spacers on top of the new isolator at the front right cab mount.
Crappy pic of the right rear cab mount.
Mission accomplished, The cab now just clears the fuel tank by a little under 1/2". The floor clears the bell housing, tranny,and transfer case. All is good and the price was right.
Here they are, side-by-side.

1 1/2 inches of Body Lift

2010-12-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

I stuck some chunks of 2x4 on top of the isolators. This raised the back of the cab about a half inch abofe the fuel tank.

This is the front mount. I guess i did not get picks of the improved clearances around the engine, but it this amount of body lift would solve all my problems with clearances.

Here is how the cab sits with the blocks. The reason it looks high in the front is because the front axle in on stands, while the back is sitting on tires.

And, incase you are wondering how I did on locating the shifter hole, check this out. Shazam!

Test Fit - The Results

2010-12-01T21:53:00.000-08:00

At first it looked pretty good. But...

The back of the cab was sitting right on the blasted lump in the fuel tank. I suppose without the lump it would only be 29 gallons instead of 30 or whatever it is. So, now it is decision time. Do I start hacking on the back of the cab to get it to sit down over the tank? I think it would take some an awful lot of structure out of the back of the cab. I may be able to box it back in but, I dunno. Or, do I buy or make a body lift? Lets look further.

Right rear sitting nicely on isloator.

Left rear, oops.

Somehow, I missed getting a pic of the right front. It was sitting pretty also. The left front is pictured below.

This is a shot up under the tunnel at the shift tower and the underside of the hole I just made. The cab is sitting on the head of a bolt that holds the shift tower in place. Looks like I will be opening up this hole afterall.

This is a shot over the transfer case toward the transmision. Pleny of room here.

This is the clearance at the right side of the engine/tranny adaptor plate. Seems ok. This is the side that is down on the mount.

This is the driver's side. The flange where the floor and fire wall come together is almost touching the adaptor plate. This is the side that needs to go down an inch or so. The flange would need to be trimmed.

Engine to firewall is about what I expected. I am not sure why the old voltage regulator is there. Forgot to remove it I guess.

Up it goes.

2010-12-01T21:25:00.000-08:00

I started a new tradition. I moved an old tv, vcr, and dvd player out into shop and each evening when I go out, I pop in a John Wayne flick. Tonight, it was True Grit. In the picture, you can almost see Rooster, Maddie, and General Sterling Price negotiating in Chin Lee's back room.
I had been playing around with twin sticks for the transfer case. These need to come off for now. I will need to locate and cut a hole later, The cab was off a two wheel drive and has no slot for a transfer case shifter.

I attached two chains to the bottom rear door hinges that are still bolted to the frame. I hooked two others into the front cab mount accesss holes. Bringing the four chains together toward the front of the middle of the cab, I was able to get it to balance fairly well. I set the center of the chains too close to the floor which put my center of gravity higher than my hook. Luckily my son came out at the right time so he could run the jack while I supported the cab.

Up, up, up...

...and over...

...got to clear the shifter...

...and down.

Locate and Cut Hole For Shifter

2010-12-01T20:58:00.001-08:00

Before I could mount the cab I needed to relocate the hole for the shifter. Although the cab came off a truck with a stick, the shifter is in a completely different spot. To start off, I used the front cab mount brackets on the frame and the front cab mount holes in the frame as points of reference. Using a plumb bob and string, I marked the center line between the the cab mounts on the piece of tape on top of the tranny.
Then, measuring from the cab mounts I marked the centerline between the frame rails. The center of the shifter is 4 inches behind this intersection point.

Duplicating the process I came up with the intersection point on the tape. Measuring 4 inches straight back, I came up with this point to bore my hole.

My biggest hole saw is 4 inches. I can always trim it larger if needed. In fact I probably will eventually so I can remove the shifter without pulling the cab or tranny.

Dug the cab out for a test fit.

2010-12-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

After getting the fuel tank and exhaust in place I pulled the new cab out of the corner. Over the last year or so, I had been stacking junk in it. After pulling that carp out, i removed the ratty old rubber floor mats. This was my first glimpse of the bare floor of the cab I bought from my DTR buddy, farmer01. I am pleased with the look. The floor is solid with just a little surface rust.

Fuel Tank, Rear Drive Line, and 4" Exhaust

2010-11-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, ladies and gentleman, after more than a year I am back at it. I have done little to nothing on this old crew for a long time. A couple of days ago, after packing the wife, full-sized son, and 80 pound lab in the standard cab of my '91 Cummins truck to pull the fifth wheel on a camping trip, I dug through the pile of carp (yes, that is how I spell it) in my shop and found the old crew cab project.

To locate the large diesel tank, I had to move the carrier bearing cross member (bottom of picture below) forward a few inches. I had installed the other cross member (top of picture) at another time and it is recorded in another post. I plan to have two tanks. The rear of the frame is already set-up to install a ramcharger tank. I know I will run into some issues with this front tank and the bottom of the cab. Once I try to fit the cab, I will decide if I will modify the cab or use a short body lift. If I need the body lift to clear the tranny, that will be the plan. If the cab clears the tranny, then I will fab on the cab.

The little cross piece with the tape measure on it was a piece that was just behind the cab original truck. Here I am using it to both carry the front tank strap and to eventually hang the front of the muffler.

In this picture, you can see what I have set-up for the fuel tank strap. Years ago, I had put a smaller gas tank in this location. This tank is much bigger, but the turn down in the crew cab frame made the factory Dodge Cummins tank strap too long. I am not completely happy with the way this turned out with the old gasser tank strap, but it will do for now.

You can see the fuel lines that I borrowed from a one of my standard cab donor trucks. They are several inches too short to reach the sending unit on this tank, but that is not an issue due to the fact that I will be installing tank switching valves in the floor of the cab under the edge of the driver's seat.

You can also see the hump on top of the tank that will most likely interfere with the cab.

This pic below shows the two pieces of the rear drive line. The front section on the right is attached to the 205 transfer case. The rear section on the left is attached to the Dana 70 rear end. It looks like I will be taking about 2 inches out of the overall length. You can also see where the carrier bearing is in relation to the the relocated cross member. If I take the 2 inches out of the frond section, the bearing will line up with the cross member nicely.

In this shot of the front end of the fuel tank and the driver's side of the cross-member you can see from the location of the holes in the frame rail how far I shoved the member forward. I have not drilled new holes to mount this yet. I have not decided if it is going in like this as it was in the crew cab originally, or if I will flip it over and hang the drive shaft bearing from it. The drive shaft I am using came out of a 1992-3 Dodge Club-cab diesel dually with an automatic. On that truck, the bearing hung from the member.

I also laid the Stan's 4 inch exhaust in the frame. I bought this a couple of years ago, and, since Stan' does not offer a system for a crew, I ordered one for a Club-cab since they have the same wheel base. This is the first I have known how well it will fit. I laid the down-pipe and the wiggly-pipe in before to see how they cleared the tranny and t-case, but I was happy to see that the whole system fits very well. The over-the-axle and tail pipes even look like they will miss the rear tank.

You can see that by flipping the aforementioned cross-member it will go over rather than under the exhaust allowing the use of a hanger there and eliminating the potential rattle source.

This last shot just shows how close the big 4 inch pipe is to all the junk it has to clear along the passenger side of these old Dodge 4x4s.

2009-04-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the new release bearing clipped into the release fork. The fork can actually be installed backwards, so care must be taken to get it right. The stamped part number, near the tape part number on the fork, needs to be down. It goes on the picot side, not the slave cylinder side. On mine, this actually put the number upside down.

Hanging from the engine hoist, ready to go in.
Splines engaged, searching for the pilot bearing.

She's home. Chain is slack.

The block is bolted to the cross-member. The transfer case is mounted-up. The taped-up u-joint is on the 1977 short drive shaft with the carrier bearing. You can see that it is the wrong u-joint. Something to deal with another day. That short shaft will most likely be a custom length anyway. I will need to fing a replacement yoke when I get it modified.

Another angle.

And...the other side.

Not sure what to do next. I need to strip the new cab of the flooring and dash and take whatever is remaining off the firewall. I also need to deal with some rust issues on the core support and modify it to accept the ctd radiator and the second generation Dodge Cummins intercooler. I am still hoping to get my 1975 grill over the intercooler, but I won't know about that for a while yet.

New Southbend Clutch

2009-04-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

OOOOH! Lookie what Uncle UPS brought.

This clutch is rated to 400 HP an something like 700 ft/lbs of torque.
It took about ten minutes to get the packing off the flywheel. The flywheel comes with I nice pilot bearing already installed.

I do not know if it was an oversight, but this kit did not come with a pilot tool. Luckily I had borrowed one from M&H Machine.

I got all 60# of the flywheel bolted up and torqued down with locktite. You can also see the started is now in place.

Here the pressure plate os torqued dwon. I took a few minutes to level out the spring fingers where they meet the throwout bearing.

Its starting to look like a nice little package.

Cross-member and tranny-mount

2009-04-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the donor tranny cross member in its new location, one hole toward the stern from the old member.

This is a shot of the new tranny-mount rubber bushings with part numbers.
Crappy shot of the new mount location. the square tube on top of the bracket is at least three times thicker than the cracked one I took off. It is also longer, so the holes are not as close to the edges.

Tranny Mock-up to Configure Cross-member and Mount.

2009-04-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

I started by attaching the adaptor plate to the back of the block.

One of these holes on the left side of the adaptor plate is for the barring tool that is used for holding or rotating the engine. I do not know what the other is for. I will need to find or make covers.

This hole on the left is for the starter.
Now the bell housing. This is just a mock-up. there is no flywheel or clutch under there. You can also see the stock cross-member, minus the mount, for the 440/727 combo.

Swinging in the NV4500 (not yet gussied-up for the dance.).

With the tranny bolted up, I clamped the diesel member in next to the original for the crewcab. They are exactly the same depth, but the dirty one is much beefier. I like beef.

Some quick measuring told me that I will be able to use the rear two of the three holes in the frame and will only need to drill one set of holes to relocate the cross-member. I will also get rid of this twinky piece of square tube. It is stress-cracked almost the whole length on both the top and bottom. It is close to two pieces.

The best news of the day

2009-04-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ever since I bought the donor with the NV4500 transmission, I have been unsure as to whether the truck was originally a Getrag 5-speed or an A518 automatic. Since it did not have the heat exchanger on the side of the block ot a throttle positioning sensor on the injection pump, I hoped it was an original 5-speed. I knew the current 5-speed was a replacement because it was not a Getrag. My doubt came because the three screw/bolts on the AFC that hold the cover on and also hold the TPS bracket on auto trucks were missing. The reason I was concerned is that the transfer-case input shafts on the auto trucks were significantly smaller and weaker than those for the stick trucks. The automatic equipt trucks have a 23 spline input to the t-case, the 5-speeds came with the beefier 29 spline input.

While I was waiting for my clutch to come from Uncle UPS, I figured I would sepparate the tranny/t-case so I could mock up the tranny placement and figure out what kind of cross member issues I will have.

Gloryosky Batman! I count 29 splines. Thats money I don't need to spend. Both the input on the t-case and output on the tranny have the same 29 spline count!

New Rear Main Seal

2009-04-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Now that the 1200# monster is off the engine stand I can get to the rear main seal. Once again, I will appologize for the poor quality of my pics. If you want to sponsor this site, send me a decent camera. Kidding, of course.

The way to do this, without removing the rear housing and damaging the oil pan gasket, is to drill two 1/8th inch holes i80* from each other in the seal. Be careful not to score the crank or the aluminum housing with the bit. Just centerpunch and drill.
Then I used my slide hammer. You can also drive in a couple of sheet metal screws and pry it out with screw drivers or wiggle it out with vise grips.

Working from side to side and using gentle taps with the slide, I eased it out evenly.

Out.

After getting it free, I cleaned the surface on the crank and on the housing with brake cleaner on a rag threaded over a screwdriver. The wear on the crank from the old seal was not that bad. I planned to drive the new seal in a little deeper than the old one so the seal lips would ride on new material.

The new seal comes with this stepped pilot tool to ease the sealing lips over the end of the crank without folding them over causing the new seal to fail. The seal is installed dry.

Ince the seal is started on the end of the crank, the plastic tool can be removed and this tin tool can be used to drive the seal in straight. I drove it in until the tin tool was flush with the end of the crank and it put it right where I wanted it.

The finished product.

Time to place the engine.

2009-04-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

Thar she blows, hangin' by a chain again.
Next to take off the hanger from the monster engine stand.

Slips in right like it was intended to be there. No modification to the cross member or motor mounts.

Please forgive me.

2009-03-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

If you go back to the original post on this blog, you will see the truck with the Super Bee decal and stripe. When I originally built this truck with the 440, I tried to stick with a 1969 Super Bee theme. The color was a correct Mopar color for the Coronet Super Bee. The gas caps were from the muscle car era. And the stripe is the classic Super Bee touch. At that time, I painted the Dodge v-8 blue 440 to a nice Hemi orange. For over a decade, we have simply called this truck the "Super Bee." So holding to the tradition, I nixed the Dodge Cummins Black and the Cummins correct baby poop tan colors and went with the Hemi orange.
Her is the engin with frash paint. I ran out of orange before I got to the oil pan.

I love the way the contrasting colors make the orange pop. I went with black on the oil pan. The chances of having this engine leak proof are slim so I thought black would be fine for the pan.

Right side.

Right again.

Top.
Yep.

More engine teardown.

2009-03-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

Cleaning-up the engine and getting ready for paint, I wanted to remove as much as possible that was easy. I like the way an engine looks when the base (block) is freshly painted and the accessories stand in contrast to the base color.

To get to the top inside nut on the power steering pump, I had to modify a 15 mm wrench. Luckily, in my toolbox I was able to find a cheap loner wrench. A few seconds with the torch, and I was able to get right back to work. (unfortunately, I left the acetelene bottle on and now it is empty. Doh!)
My custom wrench.

In taking the fan off, I did a little experiment to see how thick my skin is. Poor little guy.

Dowel pin tab.

2009-03-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

I ground this tab out of a large washer.

After using a sharp chisel ti open up the space between the bolt and the pin, I inserted the tab. Then I removed, cleaned, and retorqued the timing case to block bolts using locktite.

Timing cover removal.

2009-03-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today I finally got back into the shop for an hour. I had been laid up with the flu for a few days, but now I have a week off. Other than a trip to Seattle, dropping a few trees, helping my son with his science project, and nursing my back, I have nothing to else to do.

I started by removing the dampner. The unmistakable smell of locktite, not to mention the hernia in my gut, tells me these bolts were put in to stay. (note to self: Get the four dampner bolts off the head and into a labeled bag, Dummy.)
Having removed a cummins timing cover before, I knew there were different length bolts holding it on. Some go through the cover and case and into the block (long). Others just hold the cover to the case (short).

To avoid confussion upon reassembly, I made a map of the cover. At the bottom I traced each size bolt and labeled the long bolts "1" and the short "2." I also indicated any "special" doodads different bolts, such as on extended "1" and one extended "2" that hold the factory tach pick-up.

The first thing I checked upon removing the timing cover was the infamous killer-dowel-pin (KDP). This dowel is used by the factory to aid assenbly. Other than that its only purpose is to, perhaps, strengthen the block to case attachment. The dowel pin won its name, Killer, and its infamy from its habit of backing out of its home and taking a ride through the timing gears. Personally, I make a habit of "killing" the KDP anytime I have the timing case open or if I even have easy access, such as if the rediator is out. The KDP can be killed by either peening the aluminum case around the dowel pin hole with a punch or by fabbing a tab to cover the hole. The tab can be held in place by the case attachment bolt immediately to the right of the pin.

I am getting tired of my crappy camera, but I don't dare take the wife's camera out into the grease. Anyway, this is my before image. I was hoping you would be able to see that the end of the pin was on the same plane as the shoulder of the neighboring case bolt.

After tapping on the pin with a punch, it went in about 3/16 of an inch. It is generally assumed that the dowel pin is bottomed out upon assembly. I do not know if this is the case, but if it is, mine was on its way out. Not knowing how many miles were on this engine, I have no way of knowing how much time before...Boom. My guess issomewhere around a million more miles. If its only gone 3/16 inch in most likely 2-300,000 miles, it was not in a hurry.

Another note: The last pin I killed, on my ramcharger project, some of the case bolts were loose. I mean, not even finger tight. One of these coming out will do as much damage as the dowel pin. It is also standard procedure to clean the bolts and holes and retorque them with locktite. The crank needs to be rotated to expose hidden bolts behind gears.

I an not sure but it looks like the outer lip on the cover seal was wearing too close to the end of the crank. It was clearly leaking. When I replace the seal, I will set it a little deeper in the cover.

A point of curriousity: When rotated, the timing mark "0" on the lower gear will line up with the "E" mark on the upper gear. I will head over to http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/forumdisplay.php?f=93 to see if this is staight up or if it is a tooth off as I expect.

EDIT: my research shows that I am timed correctly.

A pic of the gears waiting for me to get back at it.

Nekkid Engine

2009-03-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

Started stripping the engine to clean it up for painting.For some reason the oil pan and timing cover are Cummins beige. I wish I knew the history on this thing.

Somebodies mod on the throttle linkeage

A reman tag on the injection pump.

I always thought that you rotated the pump toward the head to advance the timing. According to these marks, it looks like the timing is actually retarded.
There is about 3/4 inch between the top of the pump and the head.
Another mystery. The info plate is missing from the side of the timing case.

Engine on the stand.

2009-03-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Dang, in this shot you can see what an armpit my shop is in. With only a few minutes in the shop today, my focus was to get the engine on the stand. This stand is extreemly high. The valve covers are about eye level which is cool because I will be able to clean it up and work on it without havien to stoop over. My back will not take any of that nonsense.Left side.

The 1100 pounds cantelevering on those bolts scares me so I added a couple of c-clamps to ease my mind.

Another piece of security. This junk is HEAVY.

Wow, middle of June to middle of March. Seriously, where have I been.

2009-03-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Last summer I took time off from this project to work on my Cummins Ramcharger project. After getting that on the road, I played with it all summer, including entering it in three sled pull competition, with the best performance taking sixth place out of twenty-some trucks at Banks, Oregon.

Anyway, I am back to work on the crew some more. Today, I lifted the engine off the floor with the idea of setting it on the engine stand. I got as far as removing the bell housing, clutch, flywheel, and adapter plate. I did all this only to find that I did not have any metric bolts the right size to attach the block to the stand. Hopefully I can get a trip in to the parts store on my way home from work tomorrow.

When I pulled the engine out of the doner frame, I first disconnected the NV4500 5-speed from the bell housing. I left the bell housing and clutch intact on the block.

Since the engine was sitting on blocks on the floor, and one of the blocks was under the bell, I lifted the engine with the cherry picker.

A shot of the inside of the bell housing with the clutch fork and throw-out bearing set in place.

A shot of the pressure plate on the back of the engine.

A peek at the fingers on the pressure plate.

"LUK" is stamped into the pressure plate. I mainly want to post this and some of the following pics so I can link to them when I ask some qustions over at dieseltruckresource.com and or ramchargercentral.com.

12 1/4 inches.

Not dead, but not enough to put back on. Looks like I am buying a new clutch.

More numbers. These are on the flywheel.

Inside of the pressure plate.

Flywheel on the floor.

Flywheel number.

More flywheel info.

Here is a shot of the adapter plate that attaches the 1993 engine to the NV4500 that did not come out in the dodges until 1994.

A bit blurry shot of the end of the crank and the back of the block. Finally a mounting surface for the engine stand.

I may regret it later, but I left the starter on the adapter plate. I di not have a metrick 12 point socket to remove the starter bolts. Sniff. I smell tool purchase in the near future.

2008-06-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking on the progress of the crew cab project, however, all efforts are into getting the Ramcharger on the road this summer to enjoy the open air. Here is a vid and link to my ramcharger site.

www.cumminsramcharger.blogspot.com

Front Axle

2008-06-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

Not much new going on with the crewcab these days. All efforts are going into the Cummins Ramcharger. The link is on this page. You should check it out, if you haven't. Anyway, in a three axle swap with the ramchrger, 5-speed donor truck, and the crewcab, I ended up with the dually front d60 in the crew frame. the d44 from the crew is now in the Ramcharger with the lift springs. It will eventually be replaced by the d60 that M & H are welding.
Still can't get used to the idea of the crewcab becoming a dually. We'll see.

Time to put the cross-members back in.

2008-05-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted the frame to be flat and square before I bolted it back together. First I put a level on the back. It showed about 1/4 inch low on the right.

To adjust I stacked washers under the rigt rear jack stand.
The level on the front showed that it was about 1/4 in low on the left. This meant the frame had 1/4 inch of twist in it. I do not know if the cross-members will hold it flat, but it gives me a good starting point.
Once again, I stacked washers under the appropriate stand. Before bolting in the members, I put a tape accross the diagonals in three different places. All showed that the frame was square. Now that I know that the frame is square and flat, it is time to bolt it all up.
Here it is from front to back with the members on place and torqued down to 60 ft/lbs on the 7/16 bolts and 80 ft/lbs on the half inch bolts.
The last pic from back to front. I don't know why it is green. I think it will signal the end of the cheap camera. I will likely need to move the two middle cross members forward some because the NV4500 5-speed is shorter than the auto that was on the 440.

The next move will be to roll it out of the shop and start in on the Ramcharger.

Finally got some paint on the frame.

2008-05-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the poor picture. Using an old cam as a shop cam. Anyway, here is the painted frame. I coated it with POR15. This is two coats of the original product. Tomorrow, I will recoat it with POR15 Chasis Black. Unfortunately, it looks like my hands and arms will be blackish for a while. POR15 does not wash off skin. Next time I will wear long sleeves and keep my gloves on.
A better picture. I did not paint the axles. They are not staying on the truck.
The next step after topcoat is to pop some wheels on it and roll it out of the shop to make room for the Ramcharger. I want to do a quick cummins install and get it on the road. Then I can get it out and have room and time for the crewcab again. So, It looks like I will be signing off this blog for a while and focussing on the Ramcharger blog. Check the link.

Cab Mounts

2008-05-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

I have 3 different Dodge trucks without bodies on them and all of them have cracked or broken rear cab mounts. I figure if I just weld them up they will just crack again, so I looked at a different remedy.
I searched through my washer box abd came up with two large thick washes to weld in place to reinforce the entire mount surface.
Clamped up ready to weld.
Yeah, I welded it right above the fuel tank. Maybe I am not too bright

Started Cummins Ramcharger Blog

2008-04-29T20:58:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of progress. Things will change soon. I added a link to my new Ramcharger swap page. I plan to knock out a quick swap, nothing fancy, to get this on the road. I can't wait to roar down the road with the top off. In the picture below, I figure if I fit, that little 6 cylinder cummins wil drop right in. I can't even remember what I was doing in there. What a dork.
Check out the link in the right column.

A new donor

2008-04-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

I have been toiling over the decision of whether to buy a new 5-spd NV4500 transmission or to put the truck together with the original 1992 4 speed automatic. The issue of my personal preferance was made a long time ago. I really wanted this truck to have the stick, and I wanted the NV4500 instead of the frequently weak link Getrag. The problem was the cost. The new tranny would be the single most expensive part of the whole project. Then, I was turned on to a local wrecked w350 dually chasis that had a 2 year-old NV4500 in it. The whole 1st generation package - clutch, bell housing, starter, etc. The beauty of the deal is that this chasis came with a 1993 cummins 6bt engine, an NP205 transfer case, Dana 60 dually front axle w/3.54 gears, and a dana 70 dually rear w/3.54 gears and a limited slip. All this for $300 more than the new tranny would have cost from the supplier. I could not pass it up.

Here is the engine.
And the tranny.
And the rear-end under a twisted pile of metal.
Now the little ramcharger gets to be a cummins too. (Smillin' big)

Project may be taking a turn.

2008-04-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the unexpected happens. Even though I have not put in much work on the truck lately, I have not been Idle. I am now in the process of buying a '93 4x4 cummins dually 5-spd donor. The 5-speed is the desirable NV4500, not the getrag. Assuming this happens, I now have two complete power trains. One auto, one 5-spd. This can only mean three things:

1. The crew cab may become a dually.

2. The ramcharger gets a cummins.

3. The 44o is now for sale.

So boys and girls, tune in next week to see what happens next.

Busy making fuel.

2008-03-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

Truck has been sitting idle for most of the week. I thought I would blaze on it as I have had this week off. I bought some POR15 to paint the frame. Then I remembered the broken cab mount.

I was going to weld this today. I hooked up my new bottle of gas to the wire feed, only to find it empty. They either sold me an empty bottle or one that leaks. Anyway, I didn't want to put the flux core wire back in so I had to wait.

I have spent some time trying to pick-up waste vegetable oil accounts and making fuel. Now the week is toast and I am back to work tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some shop time in during the coming weeks. I would like to make more progress.

More cross-member work.

2008-03-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

I went back to the wrecking yard today with a couple of wrenches and a cordless sawzall. The other day I got a 40 gallon fuel tank out of a '93 Ramcharger. When I got it back to the truck, I found that the rearmost crossmember on the pick-up frames is designed differently than on the Ramchargers, and it would have to be changed if I wanted to install the tank up out of the way as much as possible. So, I went back to the same ramcharger to cut the frame off behind the rear shock mount. Below is the section of the frame as it looked when I got it home. You can see that there are three crossmembers instead of one. The front (right) and back (left) fit the contours of the front and back top of the tank, and the center is flat with the top of the frame to allow the tank to sit up at least 2 inches higher than it could with the pick-up frame member.
Here is a picture of the tank up tight against the original crewcab frame. The arch in the member is shaped just right, but the tank sits down 2 inches lower than it could, and I would need to fabricate hangers to support it.
Of course this thing is riveted in, as are all three on the other hunk of frame. I think I ground and chiseled and drifted eighteen rivets today.
This crossmember is set between the rear spring hangers, which maces ir structurally crucial. That is why the Ramcharger frames have the two heavy members that tie the top and bottom of the frame together and keep the rails from twisting. For those of you that are wondering what I am going to do for a spare tire, I am wondering that, too. In all the years and miles that this truck and I have been through, I have never had the bracketry to hang a tire under the bed anyway. I just left it in the bed or left it at home. I know I am due, but in 28 years of driving, I have never had a flat on the road. Yeah, I am looking for some wood to knock on.
Here are the three new and dirty pieces clamped in place. The middle one actually goes under the rail. I just laid it there for the pic. I mounted the ront and back members before taking out the original to mak sure that the frame did not change shape on me.
The front and back are bolted in . Because of the size of the rivets, I used half inch hardware on most of this. I wanted the bolts to fit tight in the holes to lessen the chance of things moving around.
Now to grind out, hopefully, the last rivets of the project.

Here is the tank held in place with the floor jack. You can see the '92 diesel fuel pickup and guage sending unit I got thanks to Thomas, AKA Alwaysworking on the DTR site.

This is what it looks like looking back over the top of the axle. The little plate on front holds the full skidplate that I found when I went back to the wrecking yard today.
You can see why I wanted to get this thing up as far as possible. It does hang down a might. By the time I get my trailer hitch back on and the monster bumper that is hanging out on my daughter's Ramcharger, I don't think you would ever see it though.

Side Note

2008-03-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

I got my biodiesel eqipment today. looks like friday I will be making fuel. I don't have any pictures yet, but I got a fuel tank out of a ramcharger to put in the frame behind the rear axle. This tank holds 40 gallons. Together with the large stock diesel tank, I will be able to hold close to 75 gallons of fuel. At 20 mpg on the highway, that will get me 1500 miles round trip. I need to go back to the wrecking yard and get the cross members out of the back of the ramcharger. Then, I need to replace one of my few remaining cross members with two from the ramcharger. This will allow the tank to sit up as high as possible under the bed and allow me to use the factory straps. Looks like I get to grind some more rivets.

Dead Internet

2008-03-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Internet has been dead for a few days. Satellite people came today, and I'm up again. I will get some work done on the truck this comming week. No Work! Yipeeeee!

Getting ready to paint the frame.

2008-03-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

I rolled the frame outside today and hosed it down with degreaser the pressure washed it again. You can see that I took out the new cross member and also removed the carrier bearing cross member that was in the way of the front of the fuel tank. The Tranny cross member came from the factory with bolts, so I removed it. the oil and dirt was really packed in around this area, and I wnt to get it cleaned-up for paint. I also removed the steering box. The 1977 box is different than the 1992, and I do not know which one I will be using yet. I also removed the shocks and front sway bar.Since I need to let the frame dry before I can finish the paint prep, I went to work on the front axle again. Remember, the inner-c or housing yoke on the short side was broken when my donor truck was wrecked. Previously I had ground the weld away where the C is pressed on to the axle tube, and I had beat the snot out of it with a three pound hammer, but I could not get it to budge. Today, I ground on it a little more. You can see I ground too far. I will weld it back and grind it down before I put the replacement C back on.
I do not know if any of you have ever dealt with this type of problem before, but the press fit is tight. I heated it up with the torch to expand the ring and beat on it until my arm was ready to give out and I could not get it to budge. So I got out the port-a-band and cut most of the way through in two places, then beat on it until it broke. Below is the replacement part on top, and the broken part, now in two pieces, below.
When I put the replacement on, I was going to clock it about 4 degrees so I could take the wedge out of my sping pack and restore the caster back to factory specs, but after this, I may have to rethink removing the other side that is not broken. I may cut the tube, clock it, and sleeve it. or I will just put the wedge back in like everybody else.

Went wrecking yard shopping yesterday.

2008-03-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

I lined up a rear 35 or 40 gallon tank from a '93 ramcharger. If I put this in, I will be able to hold close to 7o gallons out of sight under the bed. That should get me about 1200 miles without need for a fill-up, which is pretty cool because I just ordered my biodiesel equipment. I've never had a spare tire back there, and it would be nice to stow a tire. I'll just have to decide which is better. I also found a 93 grill and valence, just in case I can't figure how to fit my old-school grill over the intercooler. I should pick this stuff up tomorrow.

Well, I haven't fallen off the planet.

2008-03-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't been in the shop for ten days. Grrrrr. I've been sick, then I was behind on my college work. The weekend is around the corner. Yeeeee!

Big fuel tank.

2008-03-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the big tank sorta propped up in place under the new cross-member.
If I don't move it, I will need to cut away half of the carrier bearing cross-member on the driver's side. This would seriously weaken the member. I think I will do some research to try to find what kind of a set-up the extended cab diesel's had. Moving the member forward is no big deal, I just want to do it right so I don't have drive line issues. My old two piece unit has smaller u-loints than either the t-case output or the dana 70 input. My donor truck is a different wheelbase and has a one piece driveline. Also, the cummins/727/overdrive/np205 is 2 inches longer than the 440/727/np203 that came out of it. Then again, if I go with the 5-speed, it'll probably be something different, yet.
Here it the tank sitting on the member. You can see that it needs to go down several inches in the front of the tank.

Too many days on the same topic.

2008-03-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

But then what can you expect when you can only get into the shop part of one day per week.

Here is the offending cross member. It is held to the frame rails with these three rivets on the top of the c-channel and two more below, on each side.

On the donor frame, where I removed the replacement member, I used the cutting torch and blew the heads off. I did not want to put that much heat to my keeper frame so I took a few more minutes and ground the heads away.
You'd think that once the head was gone a few taps with the punch would pop them out. Wrong! These babies are tight. Both ends of my drift now look like mushrooms.
The member is out. Ready for the new(er) one.
Here are the two cross-members side by side. The taller one (lower) will accomodate the much larger (taller) diesel fuel tank.
This side-by-side shows the difference in depth of the two frames. On the left is the crew member out of the 7" frame. Both the top and botom fit inside the c-channel. On the right, is the '92 cummins member with the 6" frame. It mounts under the top and under the bottom of the c-channel, but the hump in the lower support makes it overall the same size at the other (lucky).

Here it is pined in place. The top holes all line-up perfectly. The bottoms will meed some massaging.

The holes were just shy of 7/16. I drilled them out to 7/16 and mounted the top with tranny crossmember bolts from the donor truck. These were also 7/16 bolts.

Here you can see what I have to deal with with the lower mounting.

The gap it exactly one inch.

So, some one inch spacers were in order. I used 1" heavy-walled square tubing.

Four spacers, cut and drilled.

All bolted in.

I used grade-8 bolts (overkill) and these locking nuts. Now I get to take it all back out for painting.

Hey sorry for the lack of progress.

2008-02-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

I had a cortisone injection in my back this week, and just have not been able to get into the shop. Will definately get in there on Saturday. Keep checking back.

New problem.

2008-02-26T20:51:00.000-08:00

The last thing I did in the shop was to remove this fuel tank and the arched cross member above it. If I am going to use this large tank in the crew cab, which I an, I will need to transfer over this raised cross member. I beat the top rivets with a cold chisel and medium hammer. I got out the hot wrench for the lower, hard to get to, rivets.

By the way, the donor frame had taken a hard hit on the end of the passenger side rail causing it to diamond or parallelogram, so I cut loose the right sde first, then put a come-a-long on it to pull it back square. I just used a framing square along the left rail to check squareness.

So, I brought the newly free cross member into the shop and laid it next to the arched one shown in this pic. The holes for the top rivets are perfect, but the bottom holes for the gusset are wrong. This is when I found that the crew cab frame is a full inch deeper than the '92 standard cab donor. I remember this being an issue when I took the 360 out and put the 440 in. I had left the under tranny cross member on, and, since it bolts to the bottom of the frame, it put the tranny too low by an inch. Anyway, this is an imprtant cross member because it is right even with the front spring hangers. I want to get it right. I think I have come up with a way to secure this in with an inch of spacer without compromizing integrity. All this just so I can spend more at the fillin' station.

This thicker frame also pretty much means I do not change over the tranny member that I talked about in my last post for the same reason I was not able to do it ten years ago.

Another thing.

2008-02-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

The first two pictures show the tranny cross member. The one in the donor truck (right) looks beefier than the old one. It also has a relief in it for the exhaust. Snaking the 4" exhaust past the transfer case is pretty tricky, so I will probably swap this member, too. At least this one bolts in.

Below and right you can see that the only difference between the under engine member is the slotted motor mount hole on the driver's side. A little work with the grinders will solve this problem.

Not a lot of excitement today.

2008-02-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today, I removed the chasis wiring harness, then I rolled the frame outside and pressure washed it. After rolling it back in, I removed the skid plate and started looking at the cross members and comparing them with the wrecked donor truck. The crew cab short-bed frame is about 18 inches longer than the regular cab long-bed of my donor.

The biggest issue I will run into, as far as the frame goes, on this swap will be the arched cross member shown at the right. The fuel tank goes under this member. The tank that I took out a few days ago was only 20 gallons. The one in the donor, pictured below, is something like 35 gallons. I don't want the little one.

You can see the different shape of the cross member in the dodor truck.

Though the cross members are shaped different and the frame is a 1977 and the donor is a 1992, the mounting holes are exactly the same. The problem here is that they are riveted not bolted. I can torch them out on the junk frame, but I do not want to put that much heat on the crew-cab frame. I will probably drill them, chisel them, or grind them off.

The other problem is with the cross member shown on the right. This member holds the carrier bearing. The shorter truck does not have a two piece drive line. The above pictured fuel tank goes forward to the middle of this member. You can see in the pic a little notch I took out of the member to fit the small tank ten years ago. I don't think I should notch it out half way, so I will probably move it forward about 4 inches. I will need to shorten the short drive shaft and lengthen the main shaft. Since this may end up being spendy, I'm still thinking of other possibilities. If I move the tank backward, the arched cross member will get into the curved part of the frame. All in all, I find this to be a minor problem. But I guess it will be the first of many on a project like this.

Two days in a row in the shop. A guy could get spoiled.

2008-02-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

I'm going to have to think of a name for this crane. Here I am lifting the ramcharger body. I plan to move it back about two feet so I can slide in the big block w/headers, 727 automatic tranny, and Np 203 transfer case all at once without trouble.

Now I have the body blocked up on the frame and back bumper. I just had to pull the six body mount bolts, disconnect the steer shaft, disconnect the gas fill neck and vent, and remove the bolts from the master cylindar to the brake booster. I let the master cylinder stand there and wobble on the brake lines.
Ignore the sign in the background. Mr. Goodwrench don't work here. It's all MOPAR.

Here the engine, tranny, and t-case come free.
I should have put the little tires on the front. I don't like lifting this much weight this high.
Wow, the frame is almost bare. If you look closely you can see a little block on the drivers side of the engine crossmember. That is half of the motor mount. With a broken motor mount and the fact that the tranny mounts were loose, it is no wonder that the fan went into the shroud under hard acceleration. With all thr torque pushing all that weight, I'm lucky the whole engine didn't climb out of the engine compartment. Here she sits in the ramcharger engine bay. I guess the ramcharger had a 440 originally. Believe it or not the rear crossmember if in exactly the right spot. That might explain the goofy brake booster. I had clearance trouble in the other truck.Snug as a bug in a rug. Is anybody asking why I am putting this 400 horsepower into this little truck?...Because, I can.

Finally, I get to take the cab off.

2008-02-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

My buddy the engine crane is back on the job.

Here I have to set it down and relocate the crane. Every shop should have a beam and hoist in the ceiling.
Clear of the truck! The shop is really getting crowded with truck parts.
This should make the engine pull a lot easier. Looks like the cherry picker gets to go back to work again tomorrow.
My cab mounts were so fried that the bottom of the cab was sitting on the frame. Notice the fresh orange surface rust.
This next shot is a cab mount bracket. It is a casualty of the wasted cab doughnuts. The rubbers in my back cab mounts were so bad the nut end of the bolt was hanging loose allowing the cab to bounce up and down. I will have to replace these riveted-on brackets.In this shot the inside-the-frame gas tank is out. And, my daughter is working on the front shaft of the two piece rear drive line.

I cut both exhaust pipes in front of the forward muffler and was able to snake it out in two pieces each side. This exhaust system has very few miles on it, and I am hoping to modify it to reuse in the ramcharger build.

This is how she sits tonight. The frame should be pretty bare by this time tomorrow.

Got 2 more hours in the shop.

2008-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't imagine this post will win any awards for excitement, but I made up my mind to document the whole build. Soooo.....The seats are out.
The carpet is not too bad for being in there for 10 years. I haven't yet checked to see if I can even buy new molded carpets for this generation dodge. If someone has a source, feel free to post a comment.
It's my guess that this carpet and padding has been wet since the day after I put it in. The truck has been in the shop for, what, a month now and it is still wet from where my vents leak. This is some thick pad I put in on the last build for heat and sound. I did not put it up the firewall enough. Boy, it got hot in here in the summer.
The cab is pretty much picked clean now. I just need to disconnect the master cylinder and do something with a couple of fuel lines in the back corner and the yellow cab is ready to lift off.
Today was a good two hours. I found $3.08 in change between the floor and the ash tray.

I only got about an hour and a half in the shop today.

2008-02-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Here I got the dash out as well as the wiring harness. As these parts are going right into the Ramcharger, I labeled things carefully.

Now the heater box is out. It helps if you remove all the nuts first. You feel kind of stupid after yanking on it for a while, only to find that it was still bolded-in.

Another shot of the nearly empty cab. You can see the paint from my previous build, ten years ago, has held-up. All the metal was that goofy green color like the interior of my new cab and the shot of the back wall behind where the gas tank was. You can see the engine through the hole where the heater box was.

This is what ya call one-a-them artsy shots. Notice the tranfer-case shifter and front seat through the hole.
Every time I post a picture with the hemi-orange engine, I get excited about seeing the Cummins in there. It makes me wonder about how I am going to paint and dress it up. I know that everywhere I take this truck, someone will want to "have a look under the hood."

Back to work on stripping the old truck.

2008-02-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

I got another door off. I had to get part of the dash apart to disconnect the wiring harness for the power windows, locks and door speakers.
Below, I have removed the instrument panel and steering column. I am working carefully and methodically labeling things that are not obvious. All of this dash and wiring are going into the Ramcharger.

Back in the shop today.

2008-02-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

First I had to get the new cab off the back of the frame.
Since I am always working by myself in the shop, I need to devise ways to get big jobs done.
Man, I love this engine hoist. I've got a chain hoist on a big beam further into the shop, but, because of the yellow cab being in the way, I could not lift the white cab, then roll the truck out from under it.
I love this shot. Did I mention that I love this crane. Below is the new cab tucked away on its scooter wheels. Another shot. I am pleased with how rust free this cab is.

New Cab

2008-02-09T01:01:00.000-08:00

I wasn't expecting to go this route, but, since I had so much repair ahead of me on firewall modification, floor rust, roof rust, door rust, and back window rust, when farmer0_1 from www.dieseltruckresourse.com offered me his cab at a decent price, I had to go for it.
Especially when I found out it has the correct firewall for my heater box and wiring harness, and, to top it all off, it has a clutch pedal which was the one thing missing from the 5-speed replacement kit.

Front axle.

2008-02-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

I tore into the rebuild of my front axle. Mine was damaged in the process of my donor truck becoming a donor truck.
The first problem is a broken inner "C". The king pin was torn frm the yoke on the passenger side.

It took several months, but I finally found a replacement on Craigslist. Drove to Bellview, WA for it.

I have ground away the weld. I just need to heat it up and pound it off.

The next problem is the broken knuckle on the driver's side. I was going to switch over to crossover steering and then go with a high steer set-up. This would eliminate this worry, but the guys that build the high steer stuff don't recommend it for larger tires on pavement. And it is an $800 set-up.

So now I am looking for a knuckle. As far as I can tell they do not exist. None on Craigslist or ebay anyway. I'll just have to keep looking. Maybe I will buy a whole axle and part mine out.

2008-02-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry - Will not be able to update for a while. Had sinus surgery on Friday. Dock says no work on truck for two weeks.

Day 2 - Front body.

2008-01-30T20:27:00.000-08:00

I got to spend another day in the shop today so I tore down the front body.

Bumper first.
Then the hood and grill
Both fenders off. Tranny cooler, condensor, and radiator next.
Finally the core support. Not bad for one afternoon.

This is a 1977 Ramcharger. It is receiving the 440, drive train, and runnig gear that is comming out of the crewcab.

Day 1 - Rear tear-down.

2008-01-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

Heading into the shop.

Bumper and bed off.

This door is next.

Back doors are off.

Back seat and gas tank are out. The green here is the only part of the truck I have never seen before. Ten years ago when I first redid the truck, I never pulled the cab tank.

This is one of about 30 nests I found so far. Some even have live hibernators. Apparently the Superbee decal made the truck look inviting.