TheMerovingian
A project that's been over a year and a half in the making, I want to share the progress of the truck I bought when my little shitbox NX2000 kicked the can.
I paid $800 for a 1989 Dodge W150 LE (all kinds of comfort options and nice rare stripes), with a dual fuel (gasoline/propane) 318 with god only knows how many kilometres on it.
First things first, that canopy came off and so did those ugly a** aluminium steps. Brought it home for a thorough look over to see what had to be fixed and what had to be replaced. In total I've put about $350 of new wear parts into the engine and drivetrain. I also had to replace the driver side wheel hub since the bearing was completely ******** and put a nice groove in the hub.
After looking closely at my axles, it looked as though someone tried to jump the truck at some point. I had some serious camber and a lot of loose parts. Time for an upgrade? Yes. Loaded up craigslist and after about a month I found what I was looking for, a set of axles out of an old 1977 chevy 3/4 ton.
14 bolt full floater with posi in the rear, and a dana 44 with new spyder gears and 9/10ths turn locking Warn hubs in the front. Price? $500. Still winning.
These axles sat in my yard in Mission BC for 3 months, then they moved to my friends yard in the country for 8 months and then they finally made their way back to my parking lot in my new place in Maple Ridge BC only to sit here for another 2 months while I gathered the remaining pieces. A year and a half later I'm ready (ish) for install.
Old rear axle out, new axle in!
Got my drive shaft measured, cut, had a chevy yoke welded on and balanced for a whopping $130 at Pat's Driveline in Surrey, BC.
All I had to do to make the chevy dana 44 compatible with my dodge was swap over the steering arm! Mostly pretty simple stuff, except that the arm is held down with cone washers and the middle stud on the dodge axle did not want to let go. Turned the stud and washer into swiss cheese and it finally let me take the steering arm off and install it on the dodge axle.
https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1375293_10153347413305048_331172503_n.jpg
Did I mention the axles came with the 4" lift that was on the chevy? Yeah, that fit on the dodge too, more or less (more than less). I don't need 7 leafs in the front though. Down to 4!
I also picked up a set of 4 brand new Bilsteins made for a Chevy Silverado, custom mounting brackets means they fit too!
Everything bolted up.
Dodge to Chevy axle swap complete! Had some issues with air in my calliper because I broke the ******** bleeder valve off trying to loosen it, but otherwise everything meshed up just fine when I had all the right pieces. Now all that's left is to change out some of the wear parts for good strong moog pieces and basically set it and forget it. Proper routine maintenance should ensure that I don't break anything on this little beast for years to come.
I paid $800 for a 1989 Dodge W150 LE (all kinds of comfort options and nice rare stripes), with a dual fuel (gasoline/propane) 318 with god only knows how many kilometres on it.
First things first, that canopy came off and so did those ugly a** aluminium steps. Brought it home for a thorough look over to see what had to be fixed and what had to be replaced. In total I've put about $350 of new wear parts into the engine and drivetrain. I also had to replace the driver side wheel hub since the bearing was completely ******** and put a nice groove in the hub.
After looking closely at my axles, it looked as though someone tried to jump the truck at some point. I had some serious camber and a lot of loose parts. Time for an upgrade? Yes. Loaded up craigslist and after about a month I found what I was looking for, a set of axles out of an old 1977 chevy 3/4 ton.
14 bolt full floater with posi in the rear, and a dana 44 with new spyder gears and 9/10ths turn locking Warn hubs in the front. Price? $500. Still winning.
These axles sat in my yard in Mission BC for 3 months, then they moved to my friends yard in the country for 8 months and then they finally made their way back to my parking lot in my new place in Maple Ridge BC only to sit here for another 2 months while I gathered the remaining pieces. A year and a half later I'm ready (ish) for install.
Old rear axle out, new axle in!
Got my drive shaft measured, cut, had a chevy yoke welded on and balanced for a whopping $130 at Pat's Driveline in Surrey, BC.
All I had to do to make the chevy dana 44 compatible with my dodge was swap over the steering arm! Mostly pretty simple stuff, except that the arm is held down with cone washers and the middle stud on the dodge axle did not want to let go. Turned the stud and washer into swiss cheese and it finally let me take the steering arm off and install it on the dodge axle.
https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1375293_10153347413305048_331172503_n.jpg
Did I mention the axles came with the 4" lift that was on the chevy? Yeah, that fit on the dodge too, more or less (more than less). I don't need 7 leafs in the front though. Down to 4!
I also picked up a set of 4 brand new Bilsteins made for a Chevy Silverado, custom mounting brackets means they fit too!
Everything bolted up.
Dodge to Chevy axle swap complete! Had some issues with air in my calliper because I broke the ******** bleeder valve off trying to loosen it, but otherwise everything meshed up just fine when I had all the right pieces. Now all that's left is to change out some of the wear parts for good strong moog pieces and basically set it and forget it. Proper routine maintenance should ensure that I don't break anything on this little beast for years to come.
