2000 Dodge 3/4 ton 2wd to 4wd conversion

[JBlackwell]

Hey guys, I have a 2000 Dodge Cummins 3/4 ton that I bought new and I can't even part with it to get a 4wd... . sooooo you think it is possible to convert it to a 4wd???



What I have in my head at the moment is that I have a '93 Ford F350 Single tire 4x4 7. 3 that the motor has locked up in (parts truck). It is a manual locking Dana 60/ 10 1/4" I believe. Was thinking of pulling the 60 up front and putting it in along with the leaf springs. I can pull the A arms and such to get that out of the way for the leafs. I think I can keep the springs perch/cross member. Its all 1 piece. Use it for a shock mount maybe. Then fab up my mounts for the leafs (stock leafs from the F350 for now for mock-up) and get the Dana 60 mounted in. I think the leaf setup is the way to go. (not sure if the spring perches will align with the frame yet) Then I will worry about the steering later. I think that shouldn't be a problem.



The next thing I am worried about is the transfer case. What would I use? The Dana 60 will be manual locking so I won't need all that automatic shift-on-the-fly stuff. Need a transfer case that will adapt to my 47RE Automatic. Is that possible?



I appreciate anyones help and the more support I get for doing it, the more confident I will be. I will attempt to do it. The worse thing that can happen is that I will just be wasting time cause I can slap the A-arms back on and other stuff and it will be a 2wd again. Just really concerned about the transfer case.



If everything gets fabbed up OK under the front, I will come back and lift the truck up with new leafs and get the steering finished and drivelines built. I plan on getting about 10"+ lift... enough for 39. 5" Swampers.





I will have my 12V finished up on bombs in a couple weeks so it will be my daily driver then and I will put up my 24V til I get everything straight on the conversion before I tackle it.



The reason why I want to do it is cause 1. I want a 4x4 2. I don't want to sell my 24V to get one 3. I already have a manual locking Dana 60 with leaf perches and that is how I want my 4x4 Dodge... with manual locking hubs and leafs up front.





I appreciate any info you can give me especially on the transfer case setup. Need one that will bolt-on. The little stuff like gears and drivelines and such isn't important right now.



JD

 

[Cumminpwr11]

Hey, I started that exact same project that you are thinking about. I had a 99 2wd that I wanted make into a 4wd. I had a buddy of mine that owns a local 4wd shop. Custom Motorsports in riverside CA, make spring hangers for a dana 60. I had mine on 42's, the got smart and dropped down to 38's (to much police issues being that high).



Honestly I would consider selling the other 2wd and find a good deal on a 4wd one.



But is you are as stubborn as I am, go to a parts yard and look for a 4wd trans with transfercase attached. saves a lot of headaches looking for misc. parts.



Custom Motorsports did all the work, I just found the parts for them. I found the 4wd conversion to be very finicky, so I sold it to some punk kid (who rolled it the next week) and bought a 2000 4wd.



Ask your local shops for advice. There are some really good shops out there.



Chris

 

[BV]

Hey guys, I have a 2000 Dodge Cummins 3/4 ton that I bought new and I can't even part with it to get a 4wd... . sooooo you think it is possible to convert it to a 4wd???



What I have in my head at the moment is that I have a '93 Ford F350 Single tire 4x4 7. 3 that the motor has locked up in (parts truck). It is a manual locking Dana 60/ 10 1/4" I believe. Was thinking of pulling the 60 up front and putting it in along with the leaf springs. I can pull the A arms and such to get that out of the way for the leafs. I think I can keep the springs perch/cross member. Its all 1 piece. Use it for a shock mount maybe. Then fab up my mounts for the leafs (stock leafs from the F350 for now for mock-up) and get the Dana 60 mounted in. I think the leaf setup is the way to go. (not sure if the spring perches will align with the frame yet) Then I will worry about the steering later. I think that shouldn't be a problem.

I see problems here. The leafs on the Ford are really long and might not have enough room forward, the Dodge frame is not as straight so your perches will have to be stagered and the Ford differential in on the drivers side so you will have to come up with a transfercase solution (adapt to BW1356 or use a divorced case) to solve that - Dodge application has the driveline on the passenger side!



IMHO - You might want to consider a DynaTrac replacement axle with the manual hubs. I can understand you wanting Leafs and Locking hubs so do what you gotta do - Read my signature for my solution.

 

[JBlackwell]

Yeah, I was doing some measuring the other day. On the F350, the leafs from eye to eye is 58 1/2" long. The frame widths between the Dodge and Ford are very close, close enough where I think that I won't spent much time at all figuring out that problem. The problem I did run into is that where I can mount the front mounts on for the front leafs, when I measured to see where the back mounts would be, it was right there at the front cab mounts that are welded outside the framerail. Not sure what I would run into there yet. Also where I was wanting to mount them, the Dana 60 would be actually 3" closer to the front from where the front tires are now, that means 3" more of wheelbase. I like that because I won't need as much lift for the big tires, so they won't be eating into the fenders... would just have to trim the bumper more.



But on the Transfer case, I was thinking of getting a divorced case.



I appreciate ya'lls help.