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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.