1977 Dodge questions

[TN farmer]

I have come across a '77 model Dodge 4wd crew cab swb srw that was used at a fire department and have a few questions. The man has told me that it is a 1 ton with a 318 and auto tranny. I looked under the truck and the t-case looked to be a NP205, the rear end had a tag with 4.1 for gears, and the front axle had only one u-bolt on the passanger side (Dana 60?), with 70K on the odometer. Also what rear end and what type of tranny does it have?

I want to use this truck to work in the field and also as a hunting/play truck, will I be able to find parts, will I be able to turn 36" tires, do they make a lift what size, and what problems can I expect?

The truck is rough but it has four new 32" super swamper tires and he wants $900 for it, is it a deal?

[Big Mo]

DAMN! I'd rip that mans arm off on that deal bud! Yes I'ma bout 99.9% sure the front AND rear are 60s! They would be stock 4.10s probably both open diffs..probably a 318,727,married NP205. You could turn around and sell that truck for probably 2 to 3k to the right people! Them ole 4wd Crew Cabs are like buck toothed rooster...you'll understand what I mean if your from TN:D If you trimmed on the fenders I think 35's would go under it;) Probably have to trim a good bit though...hope this helped! Oh BTW you can definately find parts for em still!;) :p

[GRMhick]

Actually, I think it is a 203, and the front axle has flanges on it.
Either way, still strong, and a truck alot of people woudl give their left arm for.

Garrett

[3/4tonYJ]

i'm thinking it may have a dana 44 front....

assuming it's an open knuckle (you can see the axle shaft u-joints) an easy way to tell a 60 front from a 44 is the steering arm) and 60 has straight arm with 4 nuts/bolts holding it to the knuckle, and a 44 has a "U" shaped arm with 3 nuts/bolts holding it on...........

[GRMhick]

Every single goverment crew cab short bed (they used a few of those in that era for some reason.. also seems like the only ones out there are ex gov rigs) I have seen had a dana 60 front. Now the reg cab ones on the other hand were all dana 44 for some strange reason.

Garrett

[GRMhick]

I take it it prob looks like this:

[TN farmer]

Hick, that is what the truck looks like except the grille is still chrome and it was originally blue untill they painted fire engine red.

How strong is the 318 with a 2 barrel carb. or can you hop it up pretty easy? I guess I wish it had the 440ci

[Lloyd]

Originally posted by TN farmer
Hick, that is what the truck looks like except the grille is still chrome and it was originally blue probably ex-air force then. They used a bunch also. I have a '77 standard-cab long-box former Army (M880). No problem finding parts, used or new. Not quite as plentiful as that vintage GM, but not that far from it either. Certainly not like a '29 Cord convertible or something of that sort.
How strong is the 318 with a 2 barrel carb.
Not much power, but will run forever. Something like 150 hp factory rating. Most have huge combustion chambers and really only get about 7:1 compression. I put a set of valve stem seals in one that had over 250K miles and hadn't been touched. Afterwards it used NO oil. A neighbor here has one that's clocked up over 750K miles; it was rebuilt once at 450K; just rings and bearings, no machine work. Didn't even get a new oil pump, and still pushing 20-30 psi most of the time on 10w30.
or can you hop it up pretty easy? I used a set of 4323302 heads ('88ish pickups) to get the high-swirl ports and closed 62cc heart-shaped combustion chambers. Ported the heads, used cheap Summit headers, an Edelbrock performer intake, Qjet, and Mopar '759 cam. Makes good torque off idle to 5500 rpm and gets ~300 hp, 350 lb/ft with a broad, flat curve (this was very important to me). Other buildups like this are documented on the web and elsewhere, and with the '761 cam dyno 330 hp with excellent driveability and only a slightly lopey idle. This compares favorably to the 340's built back in the day. Those heads are the key to these engines. You could also do a Magnum head swap but there are oil and valvetrain issues to be addressed and the '302s have same/slightly better flow characteristics. I've posted most of this before, with pics of the porting, links to some of the web sites, and references to some good books. In particular, Hot Rod magazine spent most of a year building a 318 with a wide assortment of parts to see what worked well, and what combinations worked even better. I spent many hours reading and playing with desktop dyno to pick the setup I used, and comparing results to measured numbers on similar buildups. I think it was well worth the effort and that the little 318 is maligned overmuch by people that haven't tried the right combination of parts. They will never be a big-block. They will never make the low-end grunt of a diesel until you add the nitrous. They can be made to produce surprising levels of power for their size, and amount of money/work involved. Everyone uses their rig differently, so everyone has to determine what the best and most cost-effective setup is for them.
I guess I wish it had the 440ci Don't we all? :D