1978 F-350 crew Cummins and 4x4 conversion

[bigjake34452]

sweet, cant wait to see the progress! good luck!

[basketcase0302]

Average,

The way it sits, much of the engine crossmember is torched out to clear the front axle, looks very poor the way it is.

And just what's the matter with that?

Basketcase

[RedneckTexan]

COOL Can't wait to see it!

[RedneckTexan]

COOL Can't wait to see it!


Dang, I keep double posting

[averagef250]

It'll be next week for those pics. I'm not pulling it in the shop until I have the parts to go to town on it. I'm having a local shop form me some of the main frame/engine mounts and with the holiday there's a long wait.

BTW, after some very careful measuring the F-350 2wd frame is unbelievably close to the highboy frame.

[James72]

Is the Ford rad going to be able to cool the cummins, or do you need a custom one?

[mljjones67]

The recipe for this truck is a used '94 dodge 6bt, dodge 47RH auto tranny, likely an NP241 t-case, supercool radiator, 78-79 F-250 4x4 power steering box and quite a bit of fabrication.

[James72]

Sorry, what I meant was do you HAVE to change the rad?

[averagef250]

The Cummins diesels are extremely efficient and don't need nearly as much cooling as other engines. At this 5.9's stock 160 HP rating the stocker 3 core may have cooled it, but this engine will be making around 300 when the truck is roadworthy.

I'm hoping the supercool will do the job. If it doesn't I'll have it recored with 4 cores

[mljjones67]

cant wait for pics and a tutorial!

[RedneckTexan]

[averagef250]

Here are some progress pics.

[averagef250]

Here's a pic of the t-case I built for the truck.

I was unable to find a dodge NP241DLD pile of junk t-case anywhere for under a fortune. I called advance adapters to order thier $450 kit to mate a ford 205 up. They were out of stock untill march.

SOOOO... I set out to make this work with what I had laying around in my shop. I really like the fact that I actually did make something work with stuff I had laying around!

I realized the divorced 205 ford cases are small bearing inputs. Just like the dodge 23 spline input cases that bolt up to the 47RH I have here. I had a dodge 23 spline 205 from a 1990 cummins/auto truck. I pulled the divorced 205 down, installed 1/8" NPT plugs in the input bearing retainer holes and milled the case face down a smidge. I drilled the case to accpet the dodge iron t-case adapter/bearing retainer, cleaned everything up and assembled the ford case with the dodge 23 spline input and adapter. I turned the coupling shaft down to the diamter of the rear seal in the 47RH.

Fits like a glove!

This truck is almost done, I have some minor wiring left and a lower radiator hose to plumb.

The engine is a tight fit, but boy does it look good in there! I have learned a ton with this project and really feel good about putting these engines in old Fords. The biggest thing I learned is the vast selection of cummins exhaust manifolds available out there and what's needed if you have an AC truck because the dodge stuff sucks and doesn't clear anything.

There is 1/2" between the head and firewall and 1/2" from the fan to the radiator.

The 2wd to 4x4 conversion was fairly straightforward. Someone just welded a highboy front crossmember in and bolted in the rear spring mounts. I built the frame stands for the engine mounts, the inner frame boxing pieces and the engine crossmember.

The mounts took a lot of measuring and triple checking, but the crossmember was real easy.

For a real highboy the conversion would be different. Mounts would be simple to make bolt in and the crossmember would be pretty much the same.

[RedneckTexan]

Lookin' good Dustin You do some good work, can't wait to see the finished product

[averagef250]

I will update with more pics soon. I forgot about the fuel tank and had to drop the tank yesterday, clean all the old gas out and install a return line.

The owner is a great guy, but this project is being done on a somewhat tight budget. Little expenses jump out all over with projects like this one and the exhaust is something the owner didn't budget for. So I'm just scraping pieces together from what I have laying around.

It'll be up and going soon, I'll get it outside and take some good pics of everything. A longbed crew barely fits in the shop so there isn't any room to get decent pictures while it's inside.