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

[CrewCabDiesel]

Wow, I can't believe how many people are doing conversions now a days. It wasn't that long ago that the "conversions" forum was added to TDR. I am still trying to find a place to post all my conversion photos/specs without loosing picture quality, but time has been very limited with both teaching high school full time and going to college also. I may be setting up a site on comcast soon with all the photos posted. Here is a photo of my truck when it was completed.

Kyle

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

my new project... Old school! '70 Dodge D500

It's a poor pic but I haven't gone to pick it up yet.



$800



I want to put a 1st gen or at least a p-pumped motor in it. Auto, TWINS (like there was any question )



I'm thinkin 22. 5 alcoas for a little 'bling'.



What do you think?



here's a pic of a D500



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[Mark_Kendrick]

Wow, I can't believe how many people are doing conversions now a days. It wasn't that long ago that the "conversions" forum was added to TDR. I am still trying to find a place to post all my conversion photos/specs without loosing picture quality, but time has been very limited with both teaching high school full time and going to college also. I may be setting up a site on comcast soon with all the photos posted. Here is a photo of my truck when it was completed.

Kyle

Send them to me with the text you want and I'll put them up at www.kendrickdiesel.com



It's free

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

I found this on Ebay.



out of my price range but... .



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4515399659&category=6197

 

[benhall]

I know where that truck listed on eBay is at in Iowa.



Ben

 

["Mad Max"]

Fellas - there will be another crew cab truck up for auction within 2 weeks. It was parked next to the one I just picked up in Boise ID, and I believe it was a 1982 4x4 4-door with a service bed. I just called the folks at the Dept of Land and they said that one will be up for grabs in a couple weeks. Number for the place is in previous post of mine above. Truck looked good and was definitely big and would be a good donor or swap rig. There was also another 4-door, but it was an older body style (pre 1980) so if you want to do an older conversion that'd be a good truck as well. I think they're going to auction that one in a couple weeks as well.

Hope that helps,

- Sam

PS - If you are planning to get one of those I suggest using a big honkin; tow bar to get it back. I fabricated a tow bar to specifically for towing Dodge trucks via tow bar, and if you want to make one I can send good pics, measurements, and list of parts I used to make my tow bar. Was real simple and very effective.

Here's a pic of the tow bar system I used:

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

My $800 beast comes with a tow bar :-laf

 

[benhall]

Another good draw bar is from Northern Tools. I used the one they have listed on my 82 crew cab and didn't have any problems with it. I did modify it though in one way, and that was to get rid of the grade 5 nuts and bolts and upgrade to grade 8s. One of the parts had the nuts pressed into it, because you can't get to the back nuts at all when the parts are together. I drilled the nuts out and tig welded the new nuts in. The draw bar was rated for 5000 lbs, but I think that is very conservative since this was made out of retangular tubing. When I went to bolt this up to the 82, I just used the exhisting bumper holes, since these bumpers go straight to the frame.

One thing I learned from pulling a truck like this, was to take it slow around clover leaf interchanges. I had some pucker factor on the first one I did, because I took it a little faster than what I should have.



Ben

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

I pulled a '76 ford in my '01 3500 once. I got around an off ramp a little fast and almost lost it. It picked up the back end of the truck and moved it about 3ft sideways.



My butt sucked a cone in the seat

 

["Mad Max"]

my bad fellas - what I meant was the black part (in the pic) the tow bar attaches to. I made a jig that resembles a trailer hitch, and the tow bar attaches to it. The hitch bolts to the trucks frame where the front bumper normally bolts up.

- S

 

[benhall]

I just found a few more crew cabs on the following website: http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction



Ben

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

Got it home today...

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[HSchroen]

Just curious, what year did you get? I take it it was a Crew Cab, 4x4? Was it in running condition? How many miles? Trying to get a feel on what I can expect to spend. Nice thing is alot of these gov't trucks seem to be very low mileage. Post some more pics of what you got

Fellas -



Below is the link I used to the GSA auction site - it's already loaded based on a keyword search of 'dodge'. The process works great - good trucks to be had. I know this because I just got back from Boise, hopefully retrieving the last parts truck I'll need for my Big Rig build.



The place where the truck was stored was a Dept of Land building with a big storage lot. It is in Boise, and there are TWO MORE crew cabs rigs there - one older, one newer, both decent, and both 4x4's.

The number for the Dept of Land shop is: (208) 334-3488 - ask for Kurt or Dan. I got my truck there yesterday morning, and spent the last two days towing it back with a custom-made tow bar I made about a year ago for a similar purpose. They're just about too larg to put on a trailer. Fun trip - 2000 miles round trip, and TJ and I did it in about 33 hours. It was especially pleasant with the portable DVD player...

That Dept of Land location may just sell those two remaining rigs without an auction - they wanted to git rid of them. I got mine for $1300 and though it was pretty beat it was pretty clean and very complete, and also rolling (the biggest blessing from above was it had 4 good tires and grease in the wheel bearings... ). It was an old Air Force truck which until recently was used in its second life serving a Fire Department.

The dodge trucks come up often, and the prices are right. Hope that all helps.

- Sam

Here's the link to the latest search -

http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucindx/

 

["Mad Max"]

old Air Force truck

The one I saw was on the GSA auction site, and fortunately it was close enough to be able to get in a pair of days. It was in Boise, which was only about 15 hrs from Colorado Springs. TJ and I set off early Thursday morning and got back Sat around noon.

Anyways, it was an old Air Force truck, probably used as a crew vehicle for the security police. After it's Air Force time it faithfully served the Bliss Fire Department. And since both the Air Force and Fire Department are two things very important to me I figured this rig was an omen and that I just had to go get it. Funny there weren't any other bids on the truck, probably because it was too far away. I got it for $1300, but then I had to put two tires on my own rig to be sure no flats on the way up, plus I picked up a DVD player for the 35-hr round trip - I'm here to say that having some movies to watch/listen to while yer driving on a loooong trip is the way to go! Plus I had to have the rotors turned so the brakes would be as good as possible. So, it cost an additional $800 to ensure the trip was as risk-free as possible, but man it was a great time! . . anyways...

The interior is pretty thrashed but it's mostly all there, and it was a 4x4. It has a dana 60 front and rear which was a huge bonus as I wanted a spare front diff for my Ramcharger. It was a small block with a 727 and mated 205 x-case, short bed crew cab. Not bad shape, and will be a great donor vehicle for my project. I'm actually even using the frame because I have to stretch my diesel frame at least 4 feet... . it's a long story but a good story.

I'm going to start the fabrication in early February - first thing I have to do is fabricate the 6-pak cab - three doors per side: crew cab with the quad cab suicide half doors behind the crew. So if you're in the back, you can recline the seats and sleep in total comfort, plus the quad doors will let me load any gear, coolers, luggage, or two more people for that matter. I'm using the seats from a 99 quad cab truck, but mine will have two front seats. So it'll be two sets of 40/20/40 seats, with the quad bench behind the second set. Should be fun to build. It'll be long, but it'll also never know if my 33' trailer is behind it. I'll just have to park in the back '40' when I go out for pizza... ...

I'm going to be posting loads of pics as the build progresses.

- S



Here's a pic of the one I just got from GSA auction -

 

["Mad Max"]

GSA sites soon -

There were two more crew cab trucks at this place, and they said those two trucks would be showing up on the GSA site's any time now. The link is posted above in my other threads.

- Sam

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

I got this one a couple years ago in Arkansas off of GSAAuctions.gov

$800

Just curious, what year did you get? I take it it was a Crew Cab, 4x4? Was it in running condition? How many miles? Trying to get a feel on what I can expect to spend. Nice thing is alot of these gov't trucks seem to be very low mileage. Post some more pics of what you got

 

[HSchroen]

The one I saw was on the GSA auction site, and fortunately it was close enough to be able to get in a pair of days. It was in Boise, which was only about 15 hrs from Colorado Springs. TJ and I set off early Thursday morning and got back Sat around noon.

Anyways, it was an old Air Force truck, probably used as a crew vehicle for the security police. After it's Air Force time it faithfully served the Bliss Fire Department. And since both the Air Force and Fire Department are two things very important to me I figured this rig was an omen and that I just had to go get it. Funny there weren't any other bids on the truck, probably because it was too far away. I got it for $1300, but then I had to put two tires on my own rig to be sure no flats on the way up, plus I picked up a DVD player for the 35-hr round trip - I'm here to say that having some movies to watch/listen to while yer driving on a loooong trip is the way to go! Plus I had to have the rotors turned so the brakes would be as good as possible. So, it cost an additional $800 to ensure the trip was as risk-free as possible, but man it was a great time! . . anyways...

The interior is pretty thrashed but it's mostly all there, and it was a 4x4. It has a dana 60 front and rear which was a huge bonus as I wanted a spare front diff for my Ramcharger. It was a small block with a 727 and mated 205 x-case, short bed crew cab. Not bad shape, and will be a great donor vehicle for my project. I'm actually even using the frame because I have to stretch my diesel frame at least 4 feet... . it's a long story but a good story.

I'm going to start the fabrication in early February - first thing I have to do is fabricate the 6-pak cab - three doors per side: crew cab with the quad cab suicide half doors behind the crew. So if you're in the back, you can recline the seats and sleep in total comfort, plus the quad doors will let me load any gear, coolers, luggage, or two more people for that matter. I'm using the seats from a 99 quad cab truck, but mine will have two front seats. So it'll be two sets of 40/20/40 seats, with the quad bench behind the second set. Should be fun to build. It'll be long, but it'll also never know if my 33' trailer is behind it. I'll just have to park in the back '40' when I go out for pizza... ...

I'm going to be posting loads of pics as the build progresses.

- S



Here's a pic of the one I just got from GSA auction -

Sounds like a real adventure! Is it a '85 model? Was it low miles? Seems like quite a few of them are when they come from the military. I'm down here in Dallas and there are not many of those around... . matter of fact I cant remember the last time I saw a Crew Cab that was 4x4. I saw the details of your project from earlier posts in this thread... keep all of us posted of course.

Also, have you considered going with 2nd Gen or 3rd Gen wheel flares for the dually? Give it more of a modern/streamlined look? Wonder if anyone has tried that.

 

[1stgen4evr]

2nd Gen or 3rd Gen wheel flares

Surely someone has but the giant fenders remind me of a lard butt woman. With the equipment I pull it is hard to see the tires on the trailer when in the later model trucks. For show, that might be cool. I saw a Ford the other day with late model fenders. It does update the looks a bit, if that is what you are going for.



James

 

["Mad Max"]

I messed around with the big fenders thing when I built the power wagon - there are some 'ok' pics in my readers rigs. They were big and cool lookin', but I just really like the older simple fenders - dunno, just personal preferrance I guess. There was a guy in Denver that dropped a new dually box on a power wagon, and it looked really nice but he also had the new bed to go with it.

- S



101 posts to this thread - wow - very cool :-laf

 

[RSchwarzli]

While we are on the subject of truck years, how can you tell what year your 81-85 crew cab is. I ask as I still have not figgured out what year my crew was based off of. Does anyone know?

Robert



P. S. Make that 102.