looking at building a tow rig

[ironpig70]

okay i want a bad ass truck and was looking at the chevy hd with the diesel, allison tranny in either a crew cab or extended cab and was told the price was $42,000 thats way to much for me.
so i thought about building a truck. my dad works for a public works company and there selling off a fleet of old dodges with a cat 3318 motor was thinking of using this and buying an nv4500 or allison tranny and for running gear a set of 2.5 ton rockwells as for the body i'd like to go crew cab w/ short bed. anyone see any problems or does this sound like a do able build up.

[Grendel]

JD Lethal on here has a a Cab and grame for you. 3x3 Chevy Crew Cab with a full bed and mini-sleeper.

[GRMhick]

what type of dodges? i thought only the fords came with the cat desiels.. how old are they? soudns kind aintresting.


Garrett

[LCexplorer]

Well having a bigger tow rig is definately safer than having one that's to small. At least that's what I tell myself when I look at bigger tow vehicles. So I say go for it as you would probably get better fuel economy then a big block gasser and still be able to tow 20 000 lbs.

[JR2]

I don't want to say your wrong, but Dodge never put a Cat motor in there pickup trucks. It has been a Cummins since 89 and before that it was all gas. If you want to build the best two rig with massive HP/TQ I would start with a Cummins out of a 97-98 12v truck. These engines can be set up to push 450 Hp fairly easily. They where the last of the mech fule pump engines made for the Dodges. They are the most desireable trucks for guys building race trucks or big pullers...

Just a warning, that $42K duramax will be cheap by the time you finish building a truck...

[That Mick]

Originally posted by JR2
It has been a Cummins since 89 and before that it was all gas.

wrong

Dodge used a 198 CID Mistubishi straight 6 diesel for several years in the 70's/early 80s

[ironpig70]

Originally posted by Hick
what type of dodges? i thought only the fords came with the cat desiels.. how old are they? soudns kind aintresting.


Garrett

my dad say's there early 70's maybe it ain't stock but as for the price factor i'd say i'd build it for about 30k so thats a 12k savings and i would have twice the truck.

[Norm]

Before Dodge started putting C series 6cyl into thier pickups, our local Cummins shop did the swap into a early Ford pickup for a delivery rig. They hopped up the 12V 6cyl and pulled a goosneck with two or three truck engine blocks on it all over the state and got 17MPG. I've been a cummins fan ever since. You can pickup a used Cumins 12V for around 5K-6K with a 5 speed, put it into a older crew cab dually chassis. I'll bet you could build a serious hauler for around 12K with as much power as you will ever need. I though about it before spending 35K on my 3500 . The problem with older 450 and 550 chassis is they will beat you death on the road. Can you say solid axle, leaf spring, and king pins.

[ironpig70]

good point about the ride question is is there a good riding ifs system out there that is 4x4 and as strong as a dana 60- dana 80 i want to haul with this brute but be comfortable. have no idea what the king pin is but i agree that the old trucks are a rough ride.

[JR2]

Originally posted by Matthew S. O'Bryan


wrong

Dodge used a 198 CID Mistubishi straight 6 diesel for several years in the 70's/early 80s

Well not that it really matters in the scope of this thread, but I stand corrected... Dodge did make em...

It just took me a while to find one..

Take a look: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1857050920

[tsm1mt]

Originally posted by ironpig70
good point about the ride question is is there a good riding ifs system out there that is 4x4 and as strong as a dana 60- dana 80 i want to haul with this brute but be comfortable. have no idea what the king pin is but i agree that the old trucks are a rough ride.

70s/80s Dodge W300 2wd should be IFS, right?

Big A-arms and coils... just like my '74 IH 1T 4door has.

Rides pretty darn nice.. sad to give up the nice ride, but rotors are not available for my particular version of the A-arm/strut/coils (very very similar to a Dodge setup, but IH added the strut rod).

Since parts are unavailable.. it left me with no choice (LOL) but to start a straight-axle Dana 60/leaf-spring conversion.

Lucky me, it's all bolt on.

The 1T coil setup rides nice, rated to 4000lbs, and works great.

Uses Dana 60 calipers.

If only it used a common rotor.. d'oh.

[jp junkie]

I have an 89 CTD auto, us gear underdrive, banks exhaust, etc that I will sell for 2500. It use to be our tow rig till my wife got t boned on and intesection. It has damage to the driver's door and the bed. The truck ran excellent prior to the accident.

[v6toy4x]

you can get a stripped ford 550 diesel crew cab 4x4 for around $37000 go to the fleet dealer and order it they usually will go $500 over invoice just go to ford truck price.com and they have all the options and invoice pricing to price out your ideal truck and a 550 at that 17,500 gvwr