Cummins Ramcharger

Now the Bed Needs a Front

2010-04-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

I did not take any pics of the fitting process, but here is the cab wall/bed front. It is the front wall off a 1970s Dodge pick-up bed.
The bottom is welded to a a 1 inch square tube that is welded to the bed.

The space behind the seat is the same as what would be found in a Club Cab.

On this I stitched it together with short welds, like I should have done on the roof, so I had to seal it. Also, The corrugated bed floor left voids tht needed sealing.

This is the prodict I used.

And, finally, with the top back on and outside. Once the sealer has had plenty of time to cure, I will prime it and most likely bedliner the bed.

Finshing the roof.

2010-04-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Back to working on the top. I scrubbed the old crusty seam sealer out of the rain gutter,
This is the product I used to seal up the gutters.

Then I coated the whole exterior with Hippo Liner.

The lid is back off...

2010-01-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Actuall, here the roof is sitting on the back of the bed rails, Where I am trimming the outside wall level with the bed rails.

Then I clamped a 1" x 1" tin walled sqare tube between the outer and inner walls. This is a shot from below.

Another shot from below.

Now the roof is off and upside-down and the inner wall is trimmed. By welding the outer and inner to this square tube, the rear wall will gain stiffness and the thickness will form a sealable surface on top of the front bed wall, yet to be built.

Maybe a better shot.

New Top Outside

2010-01-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

I still need to build the back wall, but I had it out of the shop for a couple of weeks. Now it is sporting its new shoes. A set of 37" Goodyear MT Military OZs. Now I can add a bit of front fender surgery to the list of "to do."
The spare in the bed is stock sized.

And a trippy to the snow with a trick, custom tailgate..

The roof gets a fit.

2009-12-13T19:58:00.000-08:00

I set the roof on for the first time.
This here is what you call a short bed. 4 1/2 feet, almost.

It doesn't quite fit yet. It hits the roll bar. The roll bar won't let is sit down all the way.

The roof gets foamed.

2009-12-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

Anybody who knows these dodges knows the roof is hollow and bongs like a drum. Years ago, I foamed the inside of my crewcab an it made a big difference. I rigged this copper tube to squirt the foam as far as I could into the roof. I wish I could say it worked. It blew apart. So I taped two straws together and reached in as far as I could. Then I did the rest from the dome-light hole seen in the top right of the pic.
One thing about this stuff. You find where all the holes are.

Here is a shot back up inside before it expanded completely.

While the foam was still soft, I started welding in the insert.

2009-12-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here I am trimming the front lip of the new top to prep it for the front edge off the old top.

This is the old roof. The rain gutter is actually a seam of spot welds that hold the inner ceiling and the roof together. By cutting the gutter off, I can get the flange free from the roof without damaging it.

A closer view of removing the lip.

Here the bolt-up flange is free from the old roof. It will be welded to the new roof.

Here is the new top on the cradle

Hard to tell what is going on here, but the green is a section of the old ramcharger roof rail embedded in the new roof.

Another shot of the fitment.

Here it is all welded-up waiting for a little finish grinding.

2009-12-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here is my donor for the new roof. It is a craigslist find of a mid 70s truck.
B.J. helped me remove the top.

A little cut-off here. A little sawsall there.

And, a cradle so I can hold it upside down without denting the roof skin.

It has been a while...

2009-12-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I updated. I have just been driving and working on other things.
Here are some picture in the winter clothes. The roof is rusted out all along the top of the windows. The plan, now, is to build a new top. I will use the roof off a an extended cab pick-up and make a removable cab-and-a-half top.

The plan is to put in a front bed wall under the new back wall. It should be cool.

Took it out for a little Sunday pull.

2008-08-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

2008-07-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Got the guages in today. All hooked up except the trans temp. I still need to install the probe. Needed to go get a fitting and did not want to install it while the fluid was hot.
A closer view.

Guages

2008-07-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

I will be wanting boost, pyro, and trans-temp guages. I also want them where I can see them. I am not happy with the pillar pods that are available for the first generation trucks, so I relocated the message center to the radio hole and opened up some prime dash real estate for the important guages.

The guages come in Thursday.

I did a write-up with pictures on the DTR site. Here is a link. http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/showthread.php?t=211964

2008-07-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

Well, here it sits.
I've been driving it for a couple of days now.
The green is 1977. The black 1989. the engine, tranny, transfer case, wiring, and dash are 1991.5 Dodge Cummins, the axles are 1975 for now. All along, I have been calling the cummins stuff '92. COme to find out, it is 1991 1/2. It makes a difference in how some things, such as the over-drive, are wired.
I drove across some scales. 5300pounds. 3450 in the front, 1850 in the back. This shot shows the 92 dash with the 92 tilt column and heater box.
Nothing like wide open spaces.

Can you see me smiling. Some babes only a mother can love.

2008-07-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's hard to tell from the picture what is going on with all these wires, but this is a shot taken in the middle of connecting the 1992 ctd wiring for the back of the truck to the 1977 wiring that is already in the back of the truck. I used a Haynes manual wiring diagram to figure out the color codes of the chasis wires. Since my cheapo manual does not cover diesels and I have not coughed up the 100 clams for the Mopar Field Service Manual for the 1992 cummins trucks, I had to use deductive reasoning to figure out what is what on the 1992 side. As I traced each wire, I labeled it with tape and marker. When I had them all figured out, I soldered and shrink-tubed all the connections. The frame harness on the cummin/dodge side originates at a dark blue plug under the dash to the left of the steering column. It then routes through the firewall in a 1 1/2" grommet, goes down the firewall, and back inside the left frame rail. When I dismantled the donor truck, I cut the harness at the bottom of the firewall, so the first thing I did was retrieve the down-stream part of the harness out of the old frome. Then I worked my way down the loom and identified the purpose of the wires as the exited the loom. The first wires I came to were for the fuel tank so I labeled those wires for the ground, guage, and low-fuel light. The next was for the abs sensor on the differential. These are not needed so I bundled them together and labeled them "abs." Then came the abs dump-valve. They were bundles and labeled "abs." Then I got to the left lights. The 92 ran ground wires instead of grounding to the frame. The black wire was ground for all the grounded items, that left three wires. One had to be the stop/turn, another would be tail, and the last would be back-up. I bundled these in masking tape and labeled "left." moving down the harness, I came to the license plate light wire. It was the same color as one one of the three wires in my "left" bundle, so I pulled that wire out and labeled it "tail." Finally, I got to the end of the harness. Here I had three wires plus a ground again. I knew which was the tail color. That left two. One was the same color as one of the wires in the pair that was left in my "left" bundle. This had to be the back-up light wire. The remaining wire in the "left" bundle had to be the left turn/brake wire and the remaining wire at the end of the harness had to be the right turn/brake wire. These old American trucks used a single 1157 two-filament bulb to function as tail, stop, and turn lights. Dim for tail and bright for stop/turn.

Before I soldered everything up, I double checked using a volt-meter. Headlights on = power to the taillight wire. Left turn switch on with key on = intermittant power to the left turn wire. And so on...

The amazing thing is in the end, it all worked.

Note: Since there were not enough wires running back, I chose not to wire the low fuel light.

2008-07-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

The front driveline from the donor truck bolted right in because the length between the t-case and the front differential did not change. The rear driveline was a different story. I had to take over 20" out of it. The new length was 30.25" center of u-joint to center of u-joint. Since the Dana 60 is just temporary, I had the driveline made-up with the big u-joints that were factory on the cummins trucks. This meant I had to change the pinion yoke on the rear-end. Luckily the splines are the same from one to the other.
Rear joint made-up.
Front.
The whole thing. It ended up with very little room for the splines to move. I did not measure it to see if it came out the length I asked for or if it was my mistake in taking the measurement before I changed the yoke. Something to check on.

Tank problems.

2008-07-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

This may be out of order, but I got excited and failed to post for a few days. I had trouble getting fuel up to the lift pump, and, in the process of tracking down the problem, I noticed the fuel tank was seeping fuel. It looks like the exhause was at one time routed too close to the tank and melted it. I had inspected the spot and determined that it was okay, but apparently I was wrong.

So, I pulled out the tank that was destined for my crewcab project. This tank is out of a 1993 fuel injected ramcharger. The sending unit is out of a cummins diesel Dodge. The two wires on the left are both ground. The other two are for the guage and low fuel warning light.
The top hose is the fuel return line. The lower is the fuel delivery line.
The old fill neck that fits the body of the truck was held into the old tank with machine screws. The newer style tank has a big rubber donut that friction fits the tube. I saw no reason to remove the flange and risk damaging the fill tube.
I used the existing vent for my vent line.
These two wires are part of the original 1977 rc wiring for the fuel guage. The yellow is grounded to the frame. The green is part of the loom that goes all the way up to the firewall plug and ultimately to the guage.

Using a diesel tank unit out of the tank, I found that blue/yellow wire in the plug on the unit was the guage plug so I connected it to the green wire in the frame harness.

Then I soldered it.

And shrink-tubed it.

I did the same with the ground wire.

Everything made-up ready to lift the tank.

All tucked-up in the frame.

Thar she sits.

Finally, I hooked-up the fill tube and vent. Since the tank vent was 3/4" and the fill-neck vent was 3/8", I left a bit of the old hose on the fill-neck vent, then overlayed it with the bigger hose before clamping it. Worked slick.

Another short miscelanious day.

2008-07-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

I was holding off on hanging the left front fender until I sorted out the starting problem. While my daughter turned the key I was trying to troubleshoot. Suspected the park/neutral switch. Before crawling under the truck, I banged the start relay with a half inch wrench and it turned over. great lesson in shade-tree mechanics for my daughter. So, I went ahead and hung the fender. I buttoned up the rest of the dash, bled the brakes, filled the radiator, replaced the radiator overflow bottle to the stock location, and installed a seat. Tomorrow, I hope to get some fuel in it and run it for a bit. I still need to wire the brake/tail/liscence/back-up lights. It is another place where the 1992 meets the 1977.

Windshield Day

2008-07-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

I started by cleaning up both sides of the flange with a wire cup brush in the 4" angle grinder. I followed that with a couple of coats of black Zero Rust spray paint. While the paint was curing, I scrubbed the old window rubber with a brass wire brush in a bucket of soapy water. In the past, I would have just purchased a new one, but they are now about $65. The old one did not seem brittle, so I figured it would work even if it was full of crud and had green moss on it. after it was scrubbed clean, I rescrubbed it with R-U Glide. R-U Glide is the rubber lube that they use when mounting and dismounting tires. As you can see, the rubber looks like new.

I started by pushing the rubber onto the flange all the way around the opening. You can see that I also dabbed some body sealer in the gaps above the cowel. I had forgoten to do it before. When it dries, I will paint over it to make it black. Eventually, it will be covered by the upper valence.
Next, I put the bottom of the windshield into the groove in the rubber and leaned the glass back against the frame.
Ordinarily I would have tucked a rope into the groove to help pull the rubber lip over the edge of the glass. Not having a rope of the correct thickness, I opted to use this tool. I think it is a tool used to loosen stuck hoses, but I am not sure. I saw it in the middle of an intersection and thought it would look better in my toolbox than sticking out of somebody's tire, so I stopped to pick it up. Working slowly and pressing inward on the window with my hand, I worked my way around the glass.

Working mostly with the tool this way to avoid poking through the rubber, I pushed the lip from the inside of the cab out. Occasionally, I would use it in the way depicted to pull the lip over the glass. Whenever it started feeling tight, I would hose it down with windex and it would slide right in place.

Eventuallu, The entire glass was in the groove in the rubber.
Once the glass is seated, the lock cord goes in. The lock cord fills the void that allows the rubber to flex enough to be forced over the glass. Using a rag, I liberaly doused the cord with R-U Glide. When it was dry, I could not force it into the slot. Once lubed, I was able to pop it in place with my fingers.
I worked it all the way around.

Just to the right (picture right) of the shine on the bottom of the windshield, you can see about 6" of the cord stiking up. This is the overlap. I am pretty sure that over time the cord, which was stretched during install, will relax. If I cut it to fit now, it may leave a gap later. I will give it a few days, then I will trim it.

Somewhat random day.

2008-07-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't get out to the shop until early afternoon today. The first thing I did was hang the driver's inner-fender. I had been holding off on the engine bay wiring until this was in place. I left the bolts loose so that I can jockey it around to line up the hood and fenders. I also reinstalled the key lock and start switch. I had taken them out to get a key made. $25 later, I now have a key to unlock the column and some day start the dumb thing.
Next, I focussed my attention to the wiring. I ran the main bundle along the top of the firewall. I then mounted the voltage regulator to the firewall and plugged the harness into it. I also attached the ground.
Then I hooked up the grid heaters. The grid heaters are acuated by solenoids on the driver's inner-fender. When the key is turned, the heaters heat in order to assist start-up. From what I understand the computer times the heat cycle and shuts them off after a few seconds when the "Wait to start" light goes out. Later, if and when I rewire this truck to make it as simple and reliable as possible, these grid heater will probably go away.
These two big plugs on the side of the engine by the lift pump and fuel filter get connected.
These two plugs connect the alternator to the harness.
The blower motor plug.

This is the washer tank pump plug on the passenger inner fender.
After hooking up what I could under the hood, I hung a door on the passenger side. Since the rear body and the windshield frame do not move, the door goes on before the fender. I do not know how many times I tried it the other way around and spent the rest of the day trying to get things to line-up. By doing the door first, you just fit the door to the winshield frame first, then to the body, rear of the door. On the lower hinge, leave two bolts loose and tighten the middle one. When the door is closed, you can get to the upper hinge bolts and this center lower bolt with a 9/16 socket and a 6" extension. I adjusted the top hinge to make the door fit the bottom of the windshield frame. Then I adjusted the bottom hinge to even out the gap along the door and frame.
Since I am using a newer style door than the body, I had to change the latch pin. I did not take any picks of that. I will when I do the other door. Once the latch pin is in place, it is adjusted up or down so the door closes smoothly and in or out to make the trailing edge of the door line-up with the body.
Once the door is in place, the fender can go on. To adjust the fender, work from the door forward. For now, I only tightened the back of the fender. The rest is loose until the hood is in place. Then it will get adusted and tightened to make the gaps along the hood look good. This picture was taken befor the back of the fender was adjusted.
I turned the key. I got buzzer, blower, wipers, hazard flashers, wait to start, 4x4 indicator, headlights, and map light, but no starter. I just get a click. I put the charger on the battery to make sure it was fully charged. Tomorrow, I will do some testing before I put the other fender on. Lifted trucks are such a joy to work on. The top of the fender is just right to rest my forearms on and talk about the worlds problems. Way too high for easy access. Oh, the price you pay for being cool.

I should also get the rest of the screws in the top of the dash and get the windshield in. The more I do to it (thinking doors here), the harder it will be to do the windshield.

Das update.

2008-07-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

The dash is pretty much in. Needs a few mor screws. I still need to get a key made somehow. I got the switch and tumbler assy out, but without a key, I can't get to key lock out of the switch. It is worth a trip to the locksmoth as each of the two parts cast $66. Anyway, the plugs under the dash that I could not figure ended up being some kind of flasher or buzzer for when you leave your keys in. something for the radio, the third was the place where the power door equiptment harness would plug in.
Another pic.

Shifter and Steering

2008-07-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

I was not able to simply hook-up the the shift linkage to the column because of the body lift. The 1 1/2' lift moved the linkage bayong it's adjustment. To resolve this, I simply straightened this bend slightly so that the end would pop into place when both the shifter and the tranny were in park. Then I ratcheted through the gears a few times and checked that it hit them all. Another thing to check off the list. Getting closer...
Next, I hooked up the steering shaft. This was a head scratcher for a while, mainly because it was one of the places where the 1977 met the 1992. I'm still not sure if I get how it all worked out, but I will try to describe it. Notice that the steering coupler is up by the '92 steering column and the rag joint is down by the '77 steering box.
This picture is of a spare '92 steering column and steering shaft to show the stock '92 configuration. Notice that the ragjoint is by the culumn and the coupler is above my hand where it would connect to the steering box. Here is the problem. The splines on the '92 coupler do not match the splines on the '77 steering box. Also, the shaft itself is about 2" too long. This is because the old style steering box is mounted differently and turns the opposite direction. I could have changed the box, and I still might, but this worked and there is no reason why it shouldn't be safe, as you will see.
Messing with a spare part, I found that the splines on the '77 coupler and the splines on the column side of the '92 rag joint were the same, so I drove out the roll pin on the column side of the '92 racg joint that was aready installed in the truck. Since I forgot to take picture, I am showing the part and the roll pin on the extra column.
This is the '92 coupler. I am not using this part as its splines only fit the '92 steering box. It is also connected to the shaft that is too long.

I ended up using the '77 shaft. Not only was it the right length, but it also was the only thing that had the correct splines (on the rag joint end) to fit the '77 steering box. This pic shows the '77 coupler installed on the '92 steering column with the roll pin reinstalled.

This shows the '77 ragjoint on the '77 steering box. For a while, I thought I was going to have to cut and weld the steering shaft and put it together with two rag joints. Neither of which would have made me hapy from either a safety or drivability standpoint. I am pleased with how this worked out.

The summary of this (I realize this has sounded like a bunch of circular mumbo-jumbo with a lot of '92s and '77s in it) is, if you are using the '92 cummins dash, column, and wiring harness, as I am, but retaining the old '77 steering box. also use the '77 steering shaft. Knock out the roll pin and remove the rag joint from the column, and the older shaft will fit.

If I had retained the old dash and column this would not have been an issue. But, by using the dash wiring that fits the engine wiring, I am saving a lot of wiring fabrication nightmare, which is my least favorite kind of nightmare. Since I am using the newer wiring, it only made sense to use the dash that it was meant for (even thhough the old steel dash is way cooler). The same goes for the column. The wiring plugs are different from '77 to '89, which in turn the '89 is different than the '92. In fact my '75 is different than my '77. By using the '92 I have plug and play wiring, I also have tilt, wheel monted cruise control buttons, and column mounted delay wipers instead of having to reach hafway across the dash to control the two speed wiper in the '77 dash. I also like the smaller overall diameter, but bigger grip diameter steering wheel. In my mind, this was the only way to go.

My Version of a Hybrid

2008-07-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I spent a little time on the dash. Actually I spent most of the time under it. I started by laying out the harness. I took the steering column down twice befor I got it figured out. Three times if you count the metal strip that supports the under side of the dash that goes over the steering couln and gets sandwiched between the steering column and the brake pedal/column bracket. Note to self: When you do this again on the crewcab, the main harness goes over the brake/column bracket and in the long plastic sleeve behind the cluster.
The reaso i call this a hybrid, is because it is a combo of so many things. The frame and rear sheet metal is 1977 half-ton ramcharger. The axles, for now, are 1975 3/4-ton crewcab. The engine, transmission, transfer case, wiring, and dash are out of two different 1992 diesel trucks. The front sheet metal and doors will be off a 1989 half-ton. At least it all came off Dodges

The next series of pics are mainly here as a host sight so I can post them on http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/ to see if anybody can tell me what they are and where they go.

The first, the pics are terrible. It is some sort of gizmo with a plastic bracket. it does not plug anywhere. I just want to know what it is.
Another bad shot of it.
This next has wires whose colors remind me of car stereo speaker wires. But the plug does not fit the back of the factory radio.
This is the inside of the last plug. My phone is kind of hit and miss on pictures, this was a mis.
Here is another pretty good shot of the same plug.
Finally there is this little guy. Now that I am not in the shop, this may be where the power window/door lock harness would plug in. I will check that tomorrow.
Another shot. All three of these are under the dash to the left of the brake light switch and to the right of the ash tray, and they come out of the main under dash factory 1992 ctd wiring harness.

1992 factory CTD transmission Cooler

2008-07-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

The next thing to get installed is the transmission cooler. I drilled the oval-shaped hole with overlapping 1 3/4" holes in the hole saw arbor. Then, I cleaned it up with the cut-off tool, the same as the way I cut the holes for the intercooler. I did not even measure for this one, I just held the cooler up in place and marked the center of the holes. The hole saw was of no particular size, it was just one I had.

This is how the coller will fit on top of the intercooler.
I had some of this u-shaped moulding with adhesive already in the groove so i decided to use it around the hole. The last thing I want out on a trail or anywhere is to have a rub wear through the tranny fliud line and leave me or my kid stuck somewhere.
Here it is bolted in place. I left a gap between the intercoller and the tranny cooler so there would be no rub or heat transfer. In the left, I used two self-tapping self-drilling sheet metal screws, being crefull they were not long enough to ever come in contact with the radiator.
In the other side, I made another bracked with a 1 1/2" spacer and a nut.
Here is a shot of the lines all hooked up on the engine side of the firewall. Notice the lines bolted to the radiator flange. In the upper right of the picture, you can see that i got good penetration when I welded the bracket to the other side.

Intercooler part 3 - Lower Brackets

2008-07-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

This is the way the intercooler was left hanging, literally. In the previous posts, I made upper mounts and installed the tubes, but ended the day with no lower brackets.
Here is one of the brackets I made. The procedure follows.

I strted with the old hunk of frame from the bent 1-ton outside. This is nice heavy steel with a 90 degree bend already in it.
As before, I layed out my cuts on tape. I was looking for simple L-brackets with a 5/8" hole 7/8" from the back of the "L" I tried my new, very expensive, Irwin step bit but the steel was too heavy. Hopefully, I did not ruin the bit right out of the box.
So, after a trip to the drill press and a few swirlies with the burr (5/8" was not quite big enough), this is what I had.
After a little grinding tio clear the paint and some welding...Then some paint ant the bushing and we are done.

Grill Options

2008-07-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

of all the Dodge truck grills, I am partial to this one. I am not sure why. For this body style it is one of the oldest and straight ones like this are almost nonexistant. This is the gril I plan to put on the crewcab sometime in the future. If particular interest is whether I can get it wrapped around an intercooler and air conditioning condensor. Note: this grill goes with round headlamps. This is just to check fitment.
In 1991 when the Cummins Turbo Diesel Dodges became intercooled, Dodge changed the grill style to the cromed plastic bubble grill to make room for the intercooler. With this old school grill off of a 1975 truck, there is very little extra space. The aluminum of the actual grill piece clears the intercoller, bet the steel valence below the grill does not. When I do the crew cab, I will be using an even bigger intercooler out of a 2nd generation (1995-?) It is 1/4 inch thicker and about 4 inches wider on both sides. Clearance will clearly be an issue, but I am confident that I can trim the valence to fit and still look nice.
This is the proper grill, the bubble grill, if you will, for the ctd (cummins turbo diesel) intercooled trucks. The valence inder the grill is for a gasser. I believe the ctd valences have ventilation for the bottom of the intercooler.
If a person is modifying an older core support as I am. The headlights would need to be relocated up a bit. Obviously the easiest thing for me to have done would have been to use this grill and get a correct core support to go with it, but then what would I have done with my time over the last few days...clean my shop?

I wanted to see if the pre-intercooled front could be made to fit.

2008-07-02T00:05:00.000-07:00

The lower valence is in place.

It fits alright, but it covers a lot of the intercooler. the bottom of the cooler is at the 13" mark. If I use this valence, I will cut some openings to let air get to the cooler.
Here an ugly surrond and broken inset are hanging in place. The surround fits fine, but...
...the insert hits the intercooler. The cooler is holding it out about a half inch.
Studying the insert, if I cut the grids out of the four big slots, it looks loke it would fit. So, using the cut-off wheel in the die grinder I cut about a half inch off the back of the two big openings on the driver's side. Mmmmm... the smell of burning plastic.
After cutting out the back half inch, whis included the grids, It fit better, but this stud is now hitting the insert.
After a little strategic notching with the cut-off tool, it fits pretty good.

It does change the look a little. You can see the new on the driver's side and the old on the passenger side. If he wanted, a person could put some kind of mesh or something back there to give the grill a custom look. The end of the story is....It os possible to get an intercooler behind th factory non-intercooled grill ... sorta...

Intercooler part 2

2008-07-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of the previous post. The inlet tucks into the holes perfectly.

The outlet does the same.
A straight on shot of the outlet as viewed from the engine bay.
The stock intercooler has tabs with rubber isolators. The next few pics will show the process for making these mounts.

The back-side of the isolator was right at 1 1/2" from the core support. Looking in a tray of misc. junk, I came up with two spacers that were exactly 1 1/2" long and had a 1/2" inside diameter. I ground the paint away where the spacer comes in contact with the core support and tack welded it in place.
Then I welded all the way around the spacer.
The rubber isolator bushing has a sleeve i it that just accepts a 1/4" bolt. It just happens that a 1/4" nut fit almost snuggly in the end of the spacer, so I welded it in place. First I threaded it onto a bolt so I could hold onto it and keep it aligned while welding.
When I was done, I had made a nice little bracket this one is on the passenger side. I removed the overflow bottle prior to welding since it was attached to the other side of the core support.

This is the bracket on the driver's side all painted up. It happened to land right on the end of the indent for the battery tray, so, befoe welding it in place, I beat the end of the dimple flat with hammer from the engine side so I would have a flat surface to weld to. The rest of the dimpled area will still work for the battery tray.

I still need to make lower brackets for the intercooler.

I will weld two pocket to the front bottom of the core support to accept these bushings.

Here is the stock '92 tube attached to the outlet of the intercooler.

The same tube also attached to the intake.

Finally, this is the the tube installed from the turbo to the inlet on the intercooler.

Intercooler Part 1 - Lots of work today.

2008-07-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

The Ramcharger will be getting a stock first generation intercooler. I hope to fit it in behind a stock '89 or '77 grill. Some people say it can't be done. This is the side profile of the inlet. The outlet is identicle.

The tape shows that the bell is about 6" from top to bottom.
The inlet/outlet is a little over 2 5/8" in diameter.
The center of the inlet/outlet is 6 1/2" from the bottom of the intercooler. The inlet and the outlet will just fit on each side of the radiator flanges. The distance between them is the same as the distance beyond the flanges.
My layout may be lower on the core support than others because of the 1 1/2" body lift. The fact is, i am installing it as low as possible to keep the intercooler piping as level as possible. I am going to cut two 3" holes, one above the other, with a hole saw. Since the center of the hole is 6 1/2" from the bottom of the intercooler, I marked the center up 6 3/4 " up from the ledge at the bottom of the core support. Then I made marks 1 1/2" above and below the center mark. These will be the centers for the holes.

Since the fit will be tight, I measured 1 1/2" from the edge of the opening. This will put the edge of the hole right at the radiator flange.

Here is the outline of the of the hole marked out on the tape and the hole saw that gets to do the carnage.

The holes are drilled. The rest will be get trimmed out with the cut-off wheel.

Except for smoothing and paint, this one is done.

Clearly this flange in the center of the support will need to go away. I'll just cut it off.

The bracket is off now and the other hole is layed out the same as the first.
The two holes ar mostly through.
Once cleaned-up, the intercooler slipped right in place. In the next post, I will make some brackets an hook things up.

Radiator part 2

2008-07-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the missing trial fit 4 pic from the last post. As mentioned in the previous post, al it needs now is a little trimming of the support flange beside the lower radiator hose outlet.
Ther is plenty of fan clutch clearance.

I just nees to drill two holes to mount each of the two upper support barckets.
The upper hose fits perfectly.
The lower hose will hook right up. The arrow indicates where I trimmed out a little of the radiused contour to make room for the radiator mounting brackets.
I will have to wait until the fenders are on to see if the hood clears. Next, I will grind down all the sharp edges from all the cutting, weld the lower brackets in place, and touch up all the bare metal with black Zero-rust. Then, I will attack the intercooler.
The upper factory bracket installed.

Radiator fab work.

2008-06-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

Time to install the radiator. First test fit. I knew I would have issues using a gasser/non-intercooled core support, but as yet, I did not know what those issues would be. The first problem was the flange set-up for the radiator support. The v-8 gas engines are not as long as the cummins so the radiator was mounted toward the engine on these flanges. The radiator that goes with the cummins and intercooler needs to go between the flanges and fit almost flush with the core support. But alas, the gap is too narrow.
The cross-flow radiator is 30 inches wide. I marked out the cut lines with duct tape. Using the cut-off wheel, I will cut along the edge of the tape.
I am taking off about 2 1/4 inces from each side.
This will leave a 30 inch gap between the flanges.
This is what it looked like after cutting off the driver's side flange. The arrow and the lower red lines indicat additional cutting I need to do. Prior to the additional cutting, the radiator sat up about a half inch too high.
Same issue on the pass. side.

This is a shot before I did the additional cutting. It was the secod test fit, if you will.
This is the drain plug on the drive side befor a cut the clearance below it.
This is the lower outlet on the pass. side with marks indicating the additional cuts mentioned before.
Once finished with all the additional trimming, I was able to test fit the radiator for the third time. This time it fir well, I just need to trim a little on the side by the lower outlet so it does nor rub on the flange. At this point I was able to see that the radiator was right at 1 inch above the bottom of the core support. After scratching my head for a while, I cam up with the plan to cut some brackets out of some scrap frame channel I had lying around. The radiator has two pins on the bottom that fir into rubber bushings that in turn fit into holes that are just under 1 inch in diameter. Since I do not have a drill that big, I wil utilize the hole in the frame channel. Once again, I marked off my cuts with tape. This time I will use the porta-band in the background.

Here are my two brackets almost ready for test fit 4.
This pic shows one of my fabbed lower radiator brackets with the rubber bushing and a burr in a die grinder. The hole was not quite big enough, so a couple of round-i-rounds with the burr were in order.
This is looking straight down between the engine and the core support. You can see the two brackets with bushings sitting doun there. Eventually, I will weld the brackets to the bottom of the core support.
The 4th trial fit put the radiator in almost perfect location but the picture seems to be lost.

Core Support

2008-06-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the next step was the doors, but changed my mind and went to work on the core support. I am using a core support out of an '89 gasser (the one that donated its firewall and dash/heater). The only mod I had to make to put the '89 core support on the '77 frame was drilling two holes for the mounts. The holes in the frame were about 2 inches farther apart than the holes in the core support. I chose to drill the frame rather than the support. I figured it did not matter and the frame would stay put while I drilled. In this picture you can see the 1 1/2 in. spacers for the body lift below the support.
In this shot you can see that I still have work to do on the brake booster/master cylinder. I thought I was going to use the booster out of the '89 so I left it on the firewall, but as it turns out, I need to use the one that came on my cummins donor because the port size is different and I need to use the bigger plug to plumb in the heater controls. I considered tapping into the vacuum system elswhere, but I am not sure if the vacuum pump on the cummins needs a special booster or not. Anyway, five bolts and it will be changed. It is easy to get to with the dash out.
On the passenger side, I wnt ahead and put in the inner fender. Other than someday replacing the turbo housing and/or upgrading the exhaust, very little work will need to go on on this side of the engine. I will most likely need to move the radiatoor overflow bottle toward the headlight in order to run the intercooler pipes.
Next up, radiator.

Heater box install.

2008-06-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Now that the firewall work is done, I installed the diesel heat/noise blanket.
And the heater box.
Engine side of heater box.
Another shot.
Heter hoses hooked up. Not sure I got the controler on the right hose, but no worries. Sombody will set me straight.
Next, I will replace the door hinges. This is a tough thing once the dash is in. I am changing the higes to newer because the newer have replacable bushings. This rig will have summer doors and winter doors. The summer doors will not have any glass or mechanism in them, and they will be cut down to armrest height. I plan to rig up a door lock button to work the latch. It should be cool. The idea is to get rid of the frame around the side windows when the top is off. I will set it up so that I can change the doors by driving out the hinge pins. My hope is that I can change out the doors twice a year without having to adjust them each time. We'll see.

Firewall finished

2008-06-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

I finished welding in the new firewall today. After grinding the high spots off the welds, I spread seam sealer over the joint. This is the outside driver's side. I had already touched up the paint at the windshield flange.

This is also the driver's side, but on the inside. Everywhere that you see sealer here, there was factory sealer. I also seam sealed the outside only to ensure that water does not get in.
The stitch welding took a while, but, now that it is done, I am glad that I did it. This newer style firewall will make everything else about my conversion go slick.
Here are the same shots, after I touched up the paint. I know the seam sealer looks cruddy, but that is the way the original came out of the factory. I am not going to worry about it. I am not building this one for show, and once it is all together, nobody will notice it unless they are looking for it anyway.
The inside looks pretty much factory.
Looks pretty good. I will roll out some bedliner material on the floor at a later time.

Firewall Replacement Part 2

2008-06-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

This shot is looking into the part of the vent cowell that is still on the truck. The triangle metal flap with the reflecting shine on it is a water deflector. It keeps rainwater from running down the inner wall and coming through the vent under the heater and, on the other side, under the parking brake pedal. On my initial build of my crewcab, I patched some rust in the cowell and forgot to replace the deflector. When it rained or when I washed the car, my floor always got soaked. Here, I painted the surface with POR15. I forgot to replace the seam sealer in this area. I will have to sneak it in there later because...
...I started welding in the new part. So, that little hole is now all I have for access for the sealer. This is the outside below the windshield. It will be covered by the cowell grill panel that goes between the hood and windshield. The threaded stud and the threaded hole support the top of the driver's fenderThis is the inside below the windshield, driver's side. The bracket supports the parking brake assembly.
This is the outside on the driver's side looking at the area next to the wiring harness plug. This pic must be upside down, which would make the stamped-in numbers upside down if I turned it over. I decided not to change the picture because it is a pain in the butt to do so.

Maybe I will keep it this way so I can view the Cummins.

2008-06-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Not. This is a tough look. I keep telling myself that I did not just destroy my truck. I also wonder if it would have been easier to haf just cut the A-pillars and the floor and grafted the new on that way. It's a toss-up. If I had done that, then the front cab mounts would hav been utilized and the quality of my welds ay become a safety issue. Huh, sounds like a serious lack of confidence.

Kind of empty looking.
Hey look, twins.
Here is the firewall out of the donor. I left the wiper motor and linkage and the brake booster onit. Why not. It is newer than the original stuff, and, sticking with the theme, the wiper motor will, guaranteed, be compatible with the delay system built into the wiring and tilt column I will be using.
Here is the driver's side clamped into place and trimmed to fit with about 1/16" gap in most places.
The passenger side.
My worst fitment issue. Som filler will be needed, but at least it is out in the open, instead of burried down in the hole like the patches. All-in-all, I feel much better about this repair than a bunch of cruddy patches.

Patches? We don't need no stinking patches.

2008-06-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Unconfortable with and, frankly, sick of the patches, I ventured down a new path today. I made the decision to give up the patching and replace the whole firewall. After grinding away all the gobbed on seam sealer with a wire bruch on the 4" angle grinder, I exposed this seam that runs all the way accross the cab where the floor panels meet the firewall. I plan to cut the firewall just above the seam about a quarter of an inch.
Since my donor firewall is out of an '89 pick-up, I am not only eliminating the rust, but I am also prepping the ramcharger to accept the newr style wiring harness and heater box. The harness and heater bow will make the transition ti the '92 style dash a matter of screws and bolts. To the untrained eye, it will liiok like the '92 dash and instruments were in the truck since 1977.

I also exposed this seam next to the kick panel. I will also cut 1/4 inch into the firewall with the cut-off wheel in the air grinder.
Here I have made my initial cuts. The key-hole shaped hole is where the parking brake cable passes through the floor.
An hour and three cut-off wheels later, the firewall is loose,
Another shot from the other side. Prior to cutting this out, I "practiced" on a 1989 half ton gasser that I bought last summer. I bought it to supply a transmission for my 1989 ramcharger that is now for sale, for the cool, super-heavy-duty bumpers that were on it, and to be a sheet metal donor. Eventually, I will make a utility trailor out of the bed and frame. Currently the engine and transfer case are up for sale.

Trouble with the patching.

2008-06-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am glad this photo is blurry. I know people who can weld. Apparently I am not one of them. The face of this patch was not too bad. It had easy enough access, but the patch extends behind the brake pedal/steering collumn bracket. Inside the cowel the surface is rusty and access is limited.
This shot shows some of what I am dealing with. What the shot does not show is that the camera is peaking theous a 1 1/2 by 3 inch hole. It also shows how bad my patch fit was in the hard to reach places.
Some of the welding had to be done through the 1 inch wiper post hole. Not enough light got out of the box to darken my welding lense. Flashed the old eyballs a few times. Got to get beyond this frustration.

2008-06-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

To deal with the cowel rust, I needed donor sheet metal to graft in in place og the metal I cut out. I could have shaped new steel to form patches, but I have part of a cab from the '93 donor vehicle that gave up the power train for this project. This half cab is the full extent of the sheet metal that was on the truck when I got it.
Looking over the shape of the metal, the '77 and the '92 are virtually identicle, so I will use pieces of this red cab to make patch panels for the Ramcharger.
Using the sawzall and way too coarse of a blade, I hacked a big chunk of the firewall and cowel out. I debated removing the whole firewall and replacing the one in the rc with it. That would give me the correct hole for the style heater box that would fit the style dash I am using. Specifically, I am talking about the heater controls and ducting. I have not yet looked to see if the newer style controlls will work with the old heater box. Nor have I looked at how the ducting will work. If I need to, I will cut the firewall to fit the new style heater and be done with that issue.
I did not take any pics of the precess of laying out and cutting the patch panel. I basically just took some rough measurements and cut it out a litle too big, on purpose. Then i held it in place and marked where aditional cutting needed to be done. i did the cutting that I could reach with a cutt-off wheel on a die-grinder. The parts in behind the column/brake pedel hanger, I did with a 12" blade in the sawzall. This final pic is the finished panel in place. Since, I have welded the top edge and the hard to get parts behind the bracketry. Some of the welding I had to do through the hole where the wiper post comes through the cowel. It is not easy to get to. For the welding, I started by stitching at about 3/4" intervals, then, since I am not worried about warpage, I filled the space between the stitch welds all at once. Hopefully, I will finish this and the small patch tomorrow and I can start putting the dash in. Along with the heater issues, I will also need to change the rectangular hole where the harness plug passes through the firewall. And, yet to be resolved is the compatibility between the old style fuel guage sending unit and the new guage. I am guessing it will be a non-issue. Famous last words.

2008-06-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

When I was cleaning up the ramcharger I found that there was a couple inches of sand under the cowel panel where the heater and vents get the outside air. I am talking about the space under the grills below the windshield where the wiper linkage lives. Being sandy or silty, it laid down there smoothly and I was unaware how much was there until I started vacuuming it out. Then I saw all the damage it had caused. I knew this was something I could not live with, so I pulled the dash out to get to the rust for repair. This is a shot of the firewall below the left side of the windshield. The bolts in the oval hole are to the upper door hinge.

This one was easy to cut back to solit metal. The lower square hole in the background is where the dash wiring harness passes through the firewall and meets up with the underhood harness. You might remember that I was planning to keep the old style dash and harness in the cab. Being forced to remove the dash really saved me a lot of future grief. The wiring harness under the dash was cobbled-up and would have been nothing but a headache to make work.
This is more damage. Low center in the pic is the trottle petal bracket. Left is the bracketry that supports the brake pedal and master cylinder in the other side of the firewall.
This is to the right of the last pic. You can still see the fuel pedal. The hump is in the exact center of the dash about seven inches below the windshield. The ting on the low right that looks like a heater box is the heater box.
This is looking strait up though the aformentioned hump at the wiper linage and shop ceiling above.
A longer shot of the area with my initial cut.

A similar shot with most of the cancer removed back to healthy tissue.

Holding the camera up into the cowel, looking behind the brake/stearing column support, you can see what is left of this issue at the time that I quit working this afternoon. I will tackle the rest in the morning.

2008-06-16T23:30:00.002-07:00

I've owned this thing for over a year now. I even drove to Reno to pick it up. In the vid, you get a glimpse of me. Believe me, I am smiling on the inside. I've waited a long time to hear this. Like a Cummins, it did not hesitate to come alive.

2008-06-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

The time has come to put the body back on the Ramcharger. In this picture, my chain hoist is hooked into four chains. Two are hooked into the lower door hinges, and the other two are are bolted into the rear seat holes. The hoist is supporting the bulk of the weight. the back is supported on ramps.

Using the chain hoist, I raised the front of the body. Once it was up high enough, I started rolling the frame under it.Eventailly, I had to enlist the engine crane to lift the back. I dropped two chains down to the tail gate catches.
A blurry pic of the whole shindig.

Getting it up to level. Haven't pulled the roof in on me yet.

Here it sits. i forgt to take a picture of the mounts, I will get some tomorrow and edit them in. I reused the best of all the original rubber mounts I had laying around. Trying to keep the budget on this one as close to zero as possible, I decided not to buy new poly bushings. I also reinstalled the 1 1/2 inch body lift that was on the Ramcharger shell when I got it.This is what it looks like down the passenger sideTough to tell what is going on in this shot. I included it to show engine to firewall clearance. There is about an inch.Considering that this is a 35 inch tire. the spring lift/body lift combo set it up pretty good.

2008-06-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

For the most part, this project is an engine, transmission, transfer case swap. The Ramcharger has also received 3/4 ton running gear, but, so far, that has all been 1977 to 1977. Any other modifications are simply to make the 1992 diesel stuff work. With that in mind, I modified the old gas tank to become a diesel fuel tank. The yellow fitting is a 3/4 inch filler vent out of a diesel tank. Since diesel tends to foam, the small gas vent won't be adequate. The fuel supply is now plumbed to the lift pump on the engine. The return fuel line is plumbed into the old vent line. By using the old style tank and gauge unit the original body and dash wiring can be used for the gauge.This is a shot of where the hard lines ended. I extended the lines back to the tank with new fuel hose. I put the hose inside wire loom where it goes though all the cross-members beside the tank to protect them from chafing.
The shiny spot on the bell housing on the left side of the picture below the wires is where the cab and transmission came together in the collision that caused the 1992 ctd to become a donor vehicle. The transmission/transfer-case wiring harness was pinched, so I soldered and shrink wrapped the wires before stuffing them into this loom. There is nothing I hate more on a vehicle than electrical problems, so any time I find a hinky situation, I try to make it right.
Another shot. I like the clean and secure look to this wiring now. The original tape harness fell apart in my hands.
The body will be going on pretty soon. Exciting step.

2008-06-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

Both the 3/4 ton running gear are under the truck now. The brake lines are hooked back up as are the parking brake cables. The 5" lift and the 35 inch tires accentuate the short wheel base. hoping to drive this thing in about two weeks.
It ain't very long.
I used the hard fuel lines from my standard ca/bed donor truck. They hooked right up to the engine (Heck, they came off this engine) and fit the frame rail perfectly. I removed the line I had swapped over from the other side and pitched it. These lines, supply and return, just almost reach the front corner of the rear-mounted ramcharger tank. I will run hose from there to the tank. I rigged up a vent and a dedicated return hook-up at the tank. I will talk about that more when I get pics of the tank.
I reused a solid 3 inch, madrel bent downpipe and 3 inch mandrel bent exhaust pipe. Trying to keep the expense to a minimum, I chose not to use the 4 inch that is waiting for the crewcab to be ready for it. For now, the exhaust ends just off the picture. If it is too loud, or if it drones too much in the cab, I have a stock muffler I can put on. What I don't have is a over-the-axle and tail pipe.
Cleaned up and installed the Rancho shocks off my crewcab.
The next post should be the fuel tank and redoing some wires at the tranny. Then, I will be putting the body back on. Hopefully the body goes on on Wednesday.

Odds and ends up front

2008-06-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

This picture shows the installed front driveshaft. This is the driveshaft out of the '92 cummins donor truck. The u-joint fit the yoke so I put it in without any modifications.
The power steering hoses were an issue because the '92 hoses did not fit the '77 steering box, and the '77 high pressure hose did not fit the pump. To remedy this, I changed out the fitting in the back of the power sterring pump on the diesel with the fitting from a pump off a '70s truck I had in the shop. The extra hose going over the top of the pump is the fuel line. I removed the hard line from the right frame rail and relocated it in the left frame rail to get it on the lift-pump side of the engine. I still need to attach it at both ends and run a return line back to the tank.
After switching the fitting, I was able to use the '77 hoses and get the power steering buttoned-up.
I also hooked up the brake line to the front axle, as well as the drag link.

Axle swaps

2008-06-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today was a game of musical front ends. I jacked up the dually frame and removed the Dana 60 axle.

I did the same with the ramcharger, removing the dinky Dana 44 full time half-ton front end. I installed the half-ton front under the dually frame so I could set it back down, then I went to work on removing the Dana 44 from the creww-cab frame. I moved all the axles with the springs. This would put the one-ton springs in the crew cab and the 3/4 ton springs with the 5" lift in the ramcharger.
I ran into a problem trying to remove the right front spring hanger bolt. The bolt had rusted in the sleve and I coul not break it loose with any hammer in the shop. I ended up using the cutting torch to remove the bolt head and thread end, then bore out the bolt far enough to drop the spring out. Luckily, I had a couple of spare polyeurethane (sp) bushings, a sleve and bolt on the shelf.
On the outside I mangled the hole a bit. The inside was perfect. It worked out okay, because I had to drill out the holes for the 5/8ths bolt required for the 1-ton springs.
Here is the 3/4 ton dana 44 in the front of the Ramchrger with the 5" springs and 35" tires. When I get the front axle back from M&H machine, I will be replacing this axle with the much beefier Dana 60. This will also change the gearing from 4:10 to 3:54.
Not quite the same angle, but a comparisson photo.

New overdrive housing.

2008-06-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

I was going to have M&H Machine weld up the broken alum. housinf, but they were able to get a replacement for only $45. It is back in the truck now and the cross-member is in position. I had to move it back one hole and will need to drill new holes for the four rear-most holes. With the cross-member in this position, it still would not bolt-up, so I slotted the holes in the member where the ruber mounts bolt through. I also replaced the motor mounts with new. Don't ask me why I did not do this before I set the engine. In the excitement, I just forgot.

Timing cover buttoned-up.

2008-06-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

After killing the dowel pin and locktiting the bolts, I put the timing cover back on. I could not help myself on the Hemi paint. If you do this job, you will want to make a map of the bolts, as some are long and others are short. The map makes reassembly a lot easier.

Killed my dowel pin.

2008-05-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

The infamous dowel pin (photo center, ten o'clock from the bolt head) is found in the timing case. Many people have reported this coming out and cycling through the timing gears and trashing the front of the motor. Since I have open access to the timing cover on the front of the engine right now, and I am waiting on my tranny housing, I decided to take care of this potential issue.There is also a notorious issue of loose timing case bolts, like the one pictured. I found that I was able to knock the dowel pin in about an eight of an inch. The accepted ways of dealing with it are to tab it with a tab that covers the hole and is held in place by the bolt, or to peen the aluminum case so the pin cannot back out of the hole. I did the latter. As for the bolts, of the four, three were tight, but the fourth was finger loose. Two of these bolts hide behind the timing gear. They have to be handled one at a time through one of the three windows in the gear. I cleaned the holes and retorqued the case bolts with red Locktite. I could not locate a timing case/crank seal on Memorial Day, so I was not able to button it up yet. I feel that I dodged a bullet with the loose bolt. I sure did not want that hardened piece of steel bouncing around the timing case with all those gears.

Extent of the damage.

2008-05-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

After separating the transfer case from the transmission, this is what I found. What appeared to be some cracks is actually much worse. M & H machine was going to weld it up for me, but they found a used case for little money.
Looks like I will be back in business in a day.

Bad news today.

2008-05-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is a view of where the transmission mates to the transfercase. This powertrain combo came out of a severly wrecked truck. I did not see this before today.
The crack goes about halfway around. I noticed this when I put the jack under the case to take the weight off the the cross-member to replace it with the one out of the donor truck. This is a setback. I'll keep you posted.

A landmark day!

2008-05-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

Here the cummins sits in this little ramchrger frame. This is the 518 (I think) auto transmission with overdrive. With the (eventual) 3:54 gears, it should end up with decent fuel economy. The transfer case is a NP205. It all came out of a '92 Dodge Cummins.

Sits a little low on the right (picture left). These springs and axles are definately leaving. There is only about 1 1/2 inches to the bump-stops.

A tidy little package.

I threw in this pic to put the short wheel base into perspectice. This will be one sweet ride. If you will pardon the cliche.

Engine in.

2008-05-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

It was great to get this behemoth off the floor today. It had been there for about a year. I am not sure which is heavier, the body or this mess. I should have extended the wheels under the engine more. It was tough to roll and easy to tip.

With the engine up this high, there was no way I was going to try to roll the crane. that would have been a disaster waiting to happen. Instead, I positioned the crane with the engine barely skimming the ground. Then, I lifted it up, being carefull not to get it swinging, and rolled the frame under.

Below is a pic of the engine cross-member. I had been concerned about the mount hole on the right side of the picture (left side of truck). The diesel frames have a slot on both sides as this does on the left in the pic. I did not want to mess with slotting the hole if I did not need to, so I gave it a try. First, I dropped the engine left motor mount into the hole.

Then the right side fell right into the slot with only a tap from the handle end of a 2-pound hammer. What a relief. I have only been worrying about this for several months. Am I pleased? You bet!

Body off.

2008-05-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

My buddy the engine crane went back to work yesterday. He whined a little, but he did the job.

I have never seen a filthier frame. I would not have taken the body off, but it was loose anyway. Now it will be cake to fab-up the exhaust and drivelines.

Here it sits.

Rolling the frame out to pressure wash. Some previous owner welded the rear bumper on. Idiot. Gotta get out the cut-off wheel and grinder.

New Project

2008-04-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

I bought this RC with no engine, tranny, or t-case. Here it is after I took the front clip off. It still has the twinkie running gear. It was a full time 4x4 job.
This is the power plant out of a 92 Dodge cummins 4x4 truck.
Another shot of the engine. It is bone stock. The pump has not been molested.
Looking forward to getting this off my floor.
Using the cherry picker to lift the body. Half the body mount bolt were missing. Thought it would be easier to work on with the body out of the way.