CTD + Crew Cab - who's doin' 'em?

[Simplysmn]

fuel tank for crewcab swap

what i used was the orig. tank from the donor truck both trucks are long bed so i swapped over the brackets and all from what i understand the tank will fit without any problems give me a call if you need help im up in apple valley .







val 760-559-6592

 

[dodgenstein]

Ramcharger tanks mount aft of the rear axle, and have additional frame bracing for the mounting straps. The pluses are they hold 30 gals. or so, are close to the same depth as a diesel tank so the sender fits, and can be found cheap. Minuses are extending fuel lines, moving the filler, possible old gas residue, etc. I have one I may use in my project truck if I can work it all out.

 

[MDeems]

Well after reading the threads I am more confident in doing a conversion but I still have a lot of questions. I own a 92 std cab automatic 2wd diesel I would like to purchase a older 4door shortbed 4wd and do the engine swap to a cummins. The body on my present truck does not have a straight piece of sheatmetal left. It was a local Cummins dealer service truck, beaten but not abused,. I have had the truck for 5 years and readily no problems. it still gets about 21 mpg, mostly highway driving. But the size of my family has increased and I need more room... . ie baby seats. I will not spend 30-40k on a new dodge. So hence the conversion. Now for the questions



1. What years and what ton-age 1/2, 3/4 or 1 ton?

2 Are the frames of these older trucks able to take the weight and torque of the cummins engine?

3. What rear and front end should I use? dana 60 or 70. . I will not be using the truck for heavy towing or making it into a high performance vehicle. The engine will mostly stay stock. I enjoy the better mileage over gas burners.

4. Can I use the transmission I have now or should switch? Will the transfer case bolt up to it? I am not sure of the model on my transmission. My vin # does not come up on the dealership computer. Plus I know nothing about transfer cases.



any information would help out a lot.

 

[RSchwarzli]

Welcome to the first gen funny farm! Oo. Oo. You are going to love it here. Also welcome to the diesel crew project club. As for your questions, lesee here, ahhh,

Crew cabs only came in 250 and 350 models,

You are best off with the diesel frame (I have a gasser frame and there is a fair amount of flex with the 4wd diesel in there now)

Axles. Front Dana 60, rear if going stock with motor, the current Dana 70 in your diesel will do you fine.

As for the trans it will need some mods to make it 4wd compatible, if you like driveing a stick now is the perfect time to get a 5 or 6 speed trans from a 4wd.

If you need more info just holler.

 

[HSchroen]

Can't get transmission mount to line up

For those who have done the conversion... . did you use the diesel transmission crossmember (auto trans), or the stock one out of the Crew? The transmission crossmember appears to be a much more solid, sturdier piece (much heavier too!). However, it seems to me the motor/trans sits about an 1" or so further back than the gasser did. The bolts/nuts which attach the metal plate which hold the rubber bushings to the transmission do not fit down into the slots in the crossmember.



Did y'all have to do any refitting to get this to work?? I don't think using the stock crossmember will help. I'll try and take a pic of what I'm talking about.

 

[bgilbert]

Did you remove the diesel trans crossmember from your donor? I know I did, its sitting in the garage. From what I've heard/read, most guys used the donor/diesel trans crossmember. On the diesel trans, just about all of them, besides the early nonIC'd trucks, all had overdrive. I'm sure NONE of the crewcabs had overdrive. I doubt DC put the A833 in a crew. So the trans is going to sit back farther as you've found out. Either fab/move back the gasser crossmember or drill new holes for the diesel crossmember. Thats what I plan on doing.

 

[HSchroen]

Bill, I do have the stock diesel transmission crossmember from the donor, thats what I'm trying to fit in there. Just trying to find out what others who have already done the swap had to do. I think like you suggested I may have to move it back an inch.

For instance, there are three holes on each side of the frame (bottom rail) where the transmission crossmember bolts to the frame. If I move it back, I can use the last two holes, and drill out the third hole. Only drawback is you also will have to do that with the transmission support piece that bolts to the TOP frame rail (and to the crossmember). I think drilling a hole in the top rail from underneath the truck will be a pain.



Is this what you guys that have done the conversion did?

 

[EarlKann]

Bill, I do have the stock diesel transmission crossmember from the donor, thats what I'm trying to fit in there. Just trying to find out what others who have already done the swap had to do. I think like you suggested I may have to move it back an inch.

For instance, there are three holes on each side of the frame (bottom rail) where the transmission crossmember bolts to the frame. If I move it back, I can use the last two holes, and drill out the third hole. Only drawback is you also will have to do that with the transmission support piece that bolts to the TOP frame rail (and to the crossmember). I think drilling a hole in the top rail from underneath the truck will be a pain.



Is this what you guys that have done the conversion did?

This is what I did. Installed the forward most mounting hole from the diesel cross member into the middle hole on the frame rail. Drilled two new holes in the bottom rail for the rear holes in the cross member.



I did not have a right angle drill so the brackets that go to the top half of the frame rail are only held on by two bolts on each side. Haven't had any problems with it.

 

[HSchroen]

Earl, you wouldn't by chance have any pics of this would you?



I just went and mocked that up on my truck... I was able to use the two rearmost existing holes on the lower frame rail for the first two holes on the crossmember. However, this still does NOT seem to be the optimal setup... it actually puts the crossmember a little too far back. The metal spacer, which holds the rubber bushings, still does not line up perfectly.



Sorry, I can't really get any pics... . I'm doing this with the truck on the ground, laying on my back. Less than ideal working conditions to say the least.



I'm attaching a pic of where the bolt (with the nut removed) is positioned with the transmission crossmember bolted in to the existing three holes. You can see the bolt is too far back.

 

[HSchroen]

Sorry for the terrible pic, but there is no room under the truck hardly. The second arrow in the middle is where the bolt should be positioned.

 

[EarlKann]

Here is the best pic I could get under there.



#ad




I don't know if yours is 4wd or 2wd, or what the differences are between them, but mine has a cast bracket bolted to the trans tailshaft housing. There is then a metal plate bolted to that cast bracket. It can be seen in the pic with a Z type bend in it. This metal bracket is then attached to the cross member with the rubber isolators. There are two large bolts that hold the metal bracket to the cast bracket, located inboard from, and above the rubber isolators. The holes for these bolts are slotted allowing for forward/backward adjustment.



I bolted up the cross member with the front cross member bolt in the middle frame hole and then adjusted the two inboard bolts until the isolator bolt holes lined up.



Of course this all makes sense to me cause I can run outside and look at the truck. Tried to explain it as best as I could.



Donald

 

[HSchroen]

How to get/verify your drivetrain is "lined up" correctly after install?

I'm finally nearing the end of my Crew Cab conversion, and when I was under it tonite installing the fuel tank I noticed that the driveline does not appear to be in a perfectly straight line. That is to say, the driveshafts from the rear end to the transfer case do not look like a straight line when looking from the back of the truck forward. The transfer case appears to be to the left of the center of the rearend, so looking up from the back of the truck you can see it bend to the left at the carrier bearing.

I pulled the motors, trans and transfer case as one assembly from my donor and did not seperate them before I installed them in the Crew. Is it possible the motor is not sitting on the k-member right? I had to elongate one the holes (drivers side) for the motor mount, perhaps its not perfectly aligned?



What are my options here, and at what point of not being perfectly straight can it create problems?



Thanks.

 

[driverswanted]

Sorry for being a budinsky but I found an easy way to check for horizontal misalignment on my 4BT. Drop plumb bobs at the front crank pulley centerline, the transmission output yoke centerline and at the pinion input shaft centerline. I sighted along all three lines and moved the rear of the transmission to acheive alignment on all three hanging lines.

 

[HSchroen]

Sorry for being a budinsky but I found an easy way to check for horizontal misalignment on my 4BT. Drop plumb bobs at the front crank pulley centerline, the transmission output yoke centerline and at the pinion input shaft centerline. I sighted along all three lines and moved the rear of the transmission to acheive alignment on all three hanging lines.

Interesting way of doing it! I may just try that this weekend when I work on it again.

 

[HSchroen]

Sorry for being a budinsky but I found an easy way to check for horizontal misalignment on my 4BT. Drop plumb bobs at the front crank pulley centerline, the transmission output yoke centerline and at the pinion input shaft centerline. I sighted along all three lines and moved the rear of the transmission to acheive alignment on all three hanging lines.

I tried jacking up the back of my transmission/transfer case and it would not budge. I had the two bolts loosened up with the large washers so it was lifting up off the transmission mount.

Am I going to need to lift the motor as well? What did you do to slide the transmission over?

 

[driverswanted]

I used the transmission mount that was left under the truck after the automatic transmission was removed. It is a plate about 12" long with the rubber mounts under and over both ends of the plate. I just had to pull both of these bolts out before I could move the transmission sideways. This of course required elongating the holes in the cross member for the 1/2" I had to move it. I guess I did not have my engine aligned perfectly before I welded in the motor mounts. Using hind sight, I could have used the plumb-bob and string method to set everything right before i put the engine in.

This may be a stupid question but did you pull the bolts? Mine will not move very far sideways with these in place. I used a VW car jack to move the transmission over and checked alignment through the three plumb-bob strings.

 

[ESchoon]

Newbie to Cummins and Crew Cabs

Great!!!! thread guys.



I'm in the planning stages of my dream crew cab dodge. I just joined TDR so I could learn all about the cummins engine and the in's and out's of the Dodge trucks they came in.



I hope to start looking for the crew after the first of the year. Then wants I find it I will start looking for a good donor truck. Once I have both at the his house I will start a buildup thread and post as I make progress.

 

[EarlKann]

This belong to anyone here????



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4585943581

Thing is awesome. :--)

 

[bgilbert]

EK, that truck has been on ebay quite a few times in its buildup. I see its a little more complete since the last time I seen it on ebay, probly a year ago. Very nice, but not cheap.

 

[benhall]

I found a crew cab on the following website. The truck is located up in NW Washington.



Here is the link: http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=718652



Ben