85 Crewcab Conversion

[JIM BOB]

Hi everybody,

I figured I would post my project. Sometimes things go slow, I work 50+ hours a week sometimes.



The finished project will be a 85 W350 CREWCAB, 90 Non/IC 47RH with a 3rd gen interior.

The 85 W350 Crewcab ex-firetruck has only 58k miles, blown up engine, no A/C, it has a little rust over driverside windshield, but all the truck is there.

The 90 tug runs good but has 81k & 7200 hours on it, with 7. 17 gears.

It smokes, it has smoked less, since I drove it like I stole it (32mph),The smoke smells like fuel, originally it smoked all the time when I got it. I had a oil pressure scare! I had moved trailers with it around the yard and decieded to drive it down the road after about 20 min I stopped at a stop sign and oil light came on, gauge at almost 0psi. Later I put a gauge on it and when the light came on I had 25psi hot idle in gear, about 60psi driving down the road. The engine doesn't leak but it has a lot of hours on it. I'll tear it down and inspect it before installing.

I bought a 1995 47rh with a busted o/d housing, used 4x4 o/d housing and output shaft, 2nd GEN adapter and starter. I'll o/h trans, beef it up and put a Goerend triple disk in it. ( I want the lifetime warranty)



Any helpful tips would be apreciated, I see a good # of people have done this conversion already.

thanks James

 

[Shadrach]

Welcome to the funny farm Shadrach

 

[Simplysmn]

to make it easier the whole front clip will bolt right on the crewcab and even matches with the body lines pretty much everything will or should bolt right into place . as soon as I get my pictures onto this computer I will post some of my Beast it sits tall runs 325-85-16 tires and has 411 gears with a 518 auto . engine n trans are from a 93 with intercooler thats why i said use the whole front clip good luck on your project if you end up needing any parts lets us know .

Val

 

[JIM BOB]

update

Hi everybody,

My son and I worked on it through the week to pull the front sheet metal, driveshafts and t-case. Then this morning we pulled the engine and trans.

Now I think the next thing is going to be remove the windshield, pull the dash, fix the holes in the roof and fix the rust in the upper corner. I'll hit a couple of junk yards and try and find a A/C dash and parts next weekend. I figure I should paint the interior while everthing will be out, it's still AIR FORCE blue.

I'll look through the old posts for that spray on sound insulator stuff, it might be a good idea to spray it on the inside firewall, while dash is out.

That last pic is the front cross member that the fire dept. was nice enough to destroy for me! They put those big hooks for fire trucks on, then at some point pulled something big and destroyed the cross member! It took 2 porta-powers and a 5 ton jack to open it enought to get a socket and extension in to get the core unbolted. I'll try to use the member off the 2wd.

On the sheet metal I figure I'll use the original fenders, CTD innerfenders and core. I think the downpipe is goint to be tight to get around the 205!

James

 

[JIM BOB]

update

Hi

I stripped the interior out this week, When we pulled the rubber mat and pad out, it was full of mold, the white in the pics is mold, the red is surface rust. I bleached everthing and then rinsed it out with the garden hose. I will pressure wash it out this week. It's odd, the only places that are rusty, are also moldy, where the paint looks like new there is no mold/ rust? Where I washed the mold off, the paint is missing underneath it, but the metal isn't rusty yet?

I emailed the coating people to see how their ceramic sphere's would work with automotive paint? I'll treat the inside with POR-15, paint it red, then eventually have it sprayed with bed liner. I figure if it will cost roughly the same to have it rhino lined vs new pad, rubber mats, carpet, it would be easy to clean in the future.

I'll start to grind the rust at the upper roof corner while it's outside, fingers crossed it wont be like the roof the pics I have seen on TDR.

I'm still lookin around for a dash pad with vents, hvac controls and hvac box, my dash pad has holes drilled in it every where.

I took some measurements and it looks like the 40 gallon fuel tank from the tug will fit in the bed, a auxillary tank, and it's DOT approved!

James

 

[Simplysmn]

the pipe is a tight fit but goes with no problems what I did with mine was use a body lift makes things alot easier on fit wise gives a little more room and you dont have to sweat over the trans not fitting as for sound stuff I just use regular carpet padding makes a world of difference . Looking good so far keep up the good work .

 

[JIM BOB]

Advice Needed On Rust Repair

Hi,

Thanks for the words of encouragement Simplysmn.

I planed on putting some of the Skyjacker 2. 5" softride springs to try to level it out, because my front springs are shot, reverse arch even with no front end or drivetrain on board. The rear springs have 8 or 9 leaves, a helper pack on top with 5 leaves (looks kinda like a helwig) and coil over shocks. I am trying to avoid a body lift if possible, wife at 5' tall is insisting on no lift. Is the trans a tight fit because of the o/d? I marked the frame so I know how far the crossmember moved back, I figured I'll have to fab up some t-case linkage.



Now on to the real PROBLEM, I ground down my cab corner to see my rust area and it has already been bondo'd, and it's not pretty, see pics.

In the center of my hole there is another hole and it goes into the a-pillar, possibly it was made for wiring, and the area across the front has 4 small holes in it, I believe I can fix the front, cut it out, flange it, weld in straight piece. I don't really want to try and make a patch panel for the corner area because that corner seems busy(lots of angles converging), I'm thinking I may need to hit the junk yards and try to find a not rusty roof to cut patch panels from.

I'll treat all the rust I can with POR 15 or the pale green stuff, can't remember the name. Anybody got any good ideas or experience on this one?

thanks James

 

[BWJensen]

Hi,

Is the trans a tight fit because of the o/d? I marked the frame so I know how far the crossmember moved back, I figured I'll have to fab up some t-case linkage.

The 518 trans in my '79 conversion had more than enough room in the tunnel.

As far as the croosmember, I left mine where it was and fabbed a new transmission to crossmember piece. No muss, no fuss.



Check this stuff out for noise- Lizardskin Ceramic Insulation and Sound Control Spray-on Formula SLICK!



My Grampa always said, "Never work any harder than you have to, to get the job done right". Smart man my Grampa.





MADDOG

 

[sdstriper]

TDR member AKimmel had a good thread on roof replacement/repair. To fix that roof right it is going be a serious cut and replace job, Crew Cab would be hard to find or replace otherwise.



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...993/155247-why-front-our-roofs-rusts-out.html



Also I would look seriously into Picklex-20, it's a better rust converter, rust inhibitor than a product like POR, just my opinion of course. I prefer the full metal treatment, primer, converter inhibitor and then good old fashioned alkyd oil Zero Rust. Again, my opinion.



Picklex20 Manufacturer Home Page Metal surface preparation, steel pre-treatment.

 

[JIM BOB]

got parts

I went to the PULL-A-PART monday and looked around, found 2 pickups, came back with help and tools tuesday. Someone grabbed the mint sliding backglass, but I cut a roof off at the bottom of the A&B pillars, got a good tailgate, visors, seat belts, HVAC box, all factory A/C wiring (everthing removed from harness NO CUTTING),ducts, controls, A/C cluster bezel, 2 good mirrors, glovebox door.

I will remove the standard cab roof skin by drilling out the spot welds, cut the CC to see how far back I need to go, clean the drip rail up and drop the standard cab front in like a patch panel. Treat the metal to avoid future problems, do it right!

That Picklex20 looks real interesting,I could spray it in while the front of the roof is off. I have used the OSPHO and wasn't real impressed. The Lizzardskin stuff is real neat, but Summit wants $200 for 2 gallons, $140 for the spray gun Take a look at HY-TECH Insulating paint and insulating house paint additive DIY insulation solutions their ceramic spheres look like a good deal, $32 for enough to mix 2 gallons.

I'll try the hytech stuff somewhere out of sight when the body work is done to see how it looks. It might be interesting to put some in a high-temp paint for around the engine compartment?

The roof repair thread from Akimmel is what made me take a closer look at my roof, mine looked good to the untrained eye.

If I fabricate a adapter for the crossmember in the stock location, I could avoid drilling new holes. It looks like you might have to use a angle drill if you moved the crossmember.

Keep the good advice comming!

Thanks James

 

[Simplysmn]

Hey James if you want a complete and running already converted truck look in the ad section I just listed mine for sale . PM me for a price or info .

the swaps are a lot of work but fun as heck :0



Val

 

[JIM BOB]

roof line question?

The roof I picked up has a sharp drop off at the top, where the crewcab roof is more rounded. I an wondering if the crewcab roof is a 70's D truck style that the never changed? or a completely different than any of the standard cabs? If it's the same as a older one I'll hold off cutting the one I got up and look for the correct year in the junk yards. I would prefer to weld the front section on verses patching together.

thanks James

 

[dodgenstein]

The crew cabs were like the 1st gen clubcabs, the factory re-used the older sheet metal forms. You can use 70s model roof or one from 91-93 club cab.

 

[JIM BOB]

Thanks Dodgenstein,

I thought that might be the deal on the roofs, I just wanted to confirm with someone that knew , I'll have to let my buddys know that was just a "practice roof removal", LOL, next time it'll be for real!

I ordered the picklex20 and the Hy-tech insulation spheres. If anyone wants a free roof in the Atlanta area let me know.

thanks James

 

[JIM BOB]

I got the correct roof!

I cut the roof off a 73 yesterday, Picklex-20 and Hy-tech insulation showed up today it really looks like a bag of flour! The roof, steel inner door panels, 2 large stainless towing mirrors $58, I spotted a mid 1960's chevy dually with good 17. 5 rims, I'm gonna go back and see if it has a Detriot locker in the HO72, I'm keeping a look out for 19. 5's, since I failed to get a set off a 67 Chevy C30 SRW in time, the crusher works fast around here.

James

 

[JIM BOB]

Patch panel almost ready

Hi

I got some time to work on the truck this weekend.

Removed the old exhaust, pressure washed the inside, doors, front frame area, and cut out my patch panel for the roof, The patch panel is a little rough, but much better than the roof on the truck. I chiseled the seam sealer out from the drip rail and proceeded to use a spotweld cutter until I was working on a long weld with three overlapping holes (less than 1/3 done) and I got in a hurry and broke it:{. Then I figured I'm not reusing the drip rail so I'll just drill out the spotwelds, it went much faster with the colbalt bits.

When I cut the top of the roof across I didn't know there was a pad in there for sound dampening, the plasma cutter quickly set that on fire, no visable flames, but lots of smoke. I found that if I move fast with the plasma cutter it will just barely blister the paint on the inside roof. I ground as much paint/ rust as I could off then treated my patch panel with the PICKLEX-20. I set the panel on the roof and it looks like it will be a good fit, I'll trace the back edge onto the roof and subtract the depth of the flange and cut it out, it will be a couple of weeks before I can get back to it.

I tried out my cheap $29. 00 flanger tool, it worked good. I could flange down to the drip rail.

I couldn't do anything on the CC roof due to the broken spotweld cutter.

I scored a BD Diesel Pressurelock for the transmission for $41 to the house on Ebay, the only downside is the people cut the TV lever off, I'll see what a new one will cost, if it's high I'll see if I can weld the half I have onto the stock lever on the trans.

I went to the welding store last week looking for some ESAB Easygrind wire and a copper or ceramic plate to put under the holes when I weld the patch panel into the drip rail. The welding store had changed names, familar faces gone, the new people there didn't even understand what I was looking for, when I explained what I was doing, they just couldn't comprehend it, because none of them could weld HOW ABOUT THAT!

See ya'll later

 

[BWJensen]

Updates, JB, updates!





MADDOG

 

[JIM BOB]

Sorry, no progress at the moment, just returned from vacation at the inlaws house in MICH.

I came down with a BAD tooth ache a week before vacation, dentist's office closed (dentist called in sick!), I ended up going to the hospital at 4:00AM with pounding headache, blurred vision, dizzy, my blood pressure was 220/170, I got several shots, ( I didn't know you still get shots in the rear!) and antibotics, I get to have my wisdom teeth pulled out this wed.

Hopefully I'll be back to work on the Dodge in a week or 2.

James

 

[JIM BOB]

I finally got around to working on the Dodge again, after helping other people do stuff for about 6 weekends.

The roof drip rail is still being a problem, metal to thin to weld, filling in the holes with copper plate behind them is not going well. At this point I think I'm going to use some sort of metal bonding agent for attaching the patch panel to what's left of the drip rail, seam seal the thing, and weld the seam across the top. Any body tried this before?

James

 

[JIM BOB]

Gluin The Roof On

Well I finally got around to doing something on the dodge. (besides cussing at it)

I used Duramix large panel adhesive and glued the patch panel on. It is curing as I type, IT DOESN'T LOOK PRETTY! I am hoping it bonds up well. I used sheet metal screws to pull it together, I couldn't figure a good way to clamp it without glueing the clamps to the roof due to holes and adhesive leaking out both sides. I'll leave it screwed together and unmolestered till thursday or friday since cure time is 24-48 hours @ 75F, and it aint no 75F in a shop with no heat.

I'll grind the screws off and fill in the rust holes and rust issues in the drip rail with JB WELD then use the duramix self-leveling seam sealer over the whole drip rail mess. I guess I'll use bondo on the top seam, there is only one spot that has a dip on the top seam,

I JUST HOPE IT WILL BE WATER TIGHT.



On a related note, I got my d350 donar truck from GL, they sent me a email telling me the demill has migrated and they want a EUC on the truck

This is not good! I have already been down the MANDATORY DESTRUCTION road & RETURN THINGS TO THE NEARIST BASE road. I believe this road for diesel donar trucks is about to dry up. I got my first REGISTERED LETTER I HAVE TO PICKUP AT THE POST OFFICE monday. buyer beware!