Wow! What a tremendous welcome to the TDR family (although I've been a member for years)!... I suppose I had to start posting at some point, since this thread called me out, and has apparently taken a life all its own. First, a humble thank you for all the comments from all the 1st Gen CC fans! I certainly don't have the best rig here, as I'm envious of many a TDR members' rigs, but thanks all the same! That helps motivate me to continue the evolvement of this unique truck which happens to be my DD as well.
Second, my apologies for my tardiness at replying to my own thread. I am an active duty Marine SSgt (20+ years, soon-to-retire), and have been quite busy lately at work, so I didn't even realize this thread was started for me until recently. I am normally a very prompt replier, as I'm a 100% feedback rated eBay buyer/seller, known for my excellent communication, and quick service.
I see that pics of my truck were requested numerous times in the thread above, but some favorites have been posted already [for me]. Here is the link to my photo gallery pics:
Member Profile - Photo Gallery
tugboatphil put the same link above. I will be adding more pics there shortly, so stay tuned!
Ok, now to answer the questions I see above:
-tugboatphil: The wheels you asked about (from the first pic posted I'm assuming?) were M/T Classic Lock 16x8's.
-Now for Bob, (whose CC project has been inspirational to me as well) wanted the history of my truck... ok. . here goes:
I saw the truck for sale in Iowa on eBay back in 2004-05 while I was on deployment in Iraq (I grew up in a MOPAR family, so I always wanted Dodge CTD truck, but not the $50,000 new truck price
). The truck never sold, as the previous owner apparently wanted too much for it ($18,000+). I thought I'd take a shot, and contacted the seller directly to negotiate. We struck a deal, and he held the truck for me until I returned home, then I flew out to Iowa to drive it home to AZ.
I'm the 3rd owner. The truck started life as a '92 standard cab in Michigan. The 1st owner factory optioned it for snowplow duty for his plow business. It was well maintained (no body rust or driveline damage), then sold some years later to the 2nd owner in Iowa, who owns a limo and ambulance chassis fabrication business. During the winter, it continued plow duty until the owner decided to put his chassis fab expertise to use on the truck. Off came the standard cab. The chassis and driveline was streched 36" to accomodate an '85 CC. All of the '92 cab interior was transferred into the "new" cab. The original front bench seat became the rear seat. The front seats and center console were "donated" from a 2003 Chrysler T&C minivan. Some 2,000 miles of use after the conversion, the owner put new M/T wheels and tires on, and put it up for auction. Then I came along to retire it from plow duty. It was essentially "stock" when I bought it. The engine had no mods w/ only 70,000 mi :-laf on the odometer in 2005. It only came out to plow seasonally, and wasn't a DD then. That was the reason for the low miles. During my ownership, the truck appeared in Diesel Power and 8-Lug magazines, as well as the 2007 and 2008 TDR calendars.
I did the following mods over the last few years as a tight budget and time allowed:
- Tinted glass
- Amsoiled all driveline fluids
- "Tweaked" the fuel pump up a bit for better performance
- ASA Modifieds air intake
- OEM cab roof lights
- Campershell
- HD front/rear bumpers from Brown's Welding in TX
- 6" Skyjacker lift
- Horton engine fan
- Prototype billet grile inserts from "Mr. Grille" in Norco, CA
- Traded M/T wheels/tires for 16. 5" "wagon wheels" with 36" Military OZ Hummer Tires
- EGR disc brakes (front)
- Rear EGR disc brake conversion kit bought, but not yet installed.
- Ramcharger aux rear fuel tank (not yet installed)
- Roof mount rear seat DVD player (for the kids of course!).
- Sold wheels and Hummer tires (looked cool, but ride on bias-ply tires was awful!! :{ )
- I missed the M/T wheels, so I put 18x10 M/T classic locks w/ 35x13. 5" M/T ATZ tires. (Much better ride than Hummer bias-ply!)
I was happy with that set up, but always wished it could be a DRW truck
, as my family wants to eventually get a camper to travel in after I retire, to catch up on all the years in total I've been gone in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I love the looks and safety of towing w/ a properly built DRW truck. After aquiring a DRW bed from a local farmer, and much research (on TDR of course!)
later, I have decided to convert my truck to a true W350 dually. I then sold the M/T wheels/tires, and am now running on my OEM SRW wheels with new BF Goodrich A/T tires.
I do need some technical assistance though regarding the axle swap. I have available to me, a low mileage 1984 D350 DRW truck with its OEM Dana Spicer 4. 10 rear axle still in place. Is this a good choice for a direct swap?
I could find little information online about this particular axle. I only know it was built from '81 to '85 (same as the CC's ironically), comes from the factory with OEM 16. 5"x 6. 75" wheels (to barely clear the massive drums!) and looks to be in great shape, with NO leaks from the pinion, the breather, or in the drums. The truck never towed, but carried a slide-in camper used as a mobile locksmith business. Would anyone else trust this axle? Or, would anyone who wants to convert their DRW to a SRW like to trade parts? I would include the $700 EGR rear disc brake conversion kit as well, if I could swap everything over from a DRW (axles, brakes, and all wheels, ect. ). My dream set up would be a '01. 5^ DANA 80 rear axle OEM disc brakes with 2nd Gen wheels, with the proper 9/16 lug studs to run them (like the truck shown below... ).
Lastly (for now), I am in need of a set of W350 front brake rotor assemblies with the DRW adapters to build it as a proper DRW in the front as well. My front axle is currently a Dana 60 w/ SRW hubs and EGR slotted rotors. Anyone wanna trade SRW for DRW hubs?
Anyone's assistance or tech info would be SO appreciated.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
