Hello all. I'm doing a cummins swap. Don't have anything yet. But I'll make a build thread. A few questions I have. Would my Dana 44. Be ok under the 12 valve cummins? And I want to keep my c6. I read on a thread somewhere, if I modify my c6 for a shorter stall and a special torque converter, I would be ok with this transmission. I want to keep my inside of the cab the same. I don't want to change my steering column. And also I would put the overdrive to my c6 with gear vendors. Now, I want to do things right. I know I'm gonna be in for 4,000-5,000 plus. But I always wanted a diesel and i always wanted a crew cab. So I'm doing both. And I'm gonna be doing this little by little. Also I found a cummins 5.9 with a rotary pump with 125,000 miles for 1,000$. What you guys think? I want to the best for my truck and the cummins is going to be somewhat stock... Nothing fancy. All opinions are welcome and thanks for your time.

 

Yes, your Dana 44 will be fine for normal daily driving. Hard wheeling, probably not.

Cost can all depend upon how much of the fab work you do vs. buying conversion parts.

I've heard the C6 will work too, but I decided to go with the 47RH that was in my '95 Dodge donor rig. I'm using the stock tilt column, just had to fab up some bracketry to mate up to the Dodge trans. Got most of it from the donor rig.

Nothing wrong with the 89-93 rotary pump motors. $1k sounds like a steal. You see motors alone above $2k all the time. Does it come with all the stuff attached? It's nice to get an entire rig, you can get a lot of parts from it. There's a lot of different combinations to use and different opinions on both.

I'm in the midst of my swap now:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ld-thread.html

Ryan

 

First off what year is your crew? Looks to be 78/79. If so you have disc brakes that you need for sure. Drum brakes and a heavy cummins is not going to fly. The only bad part is your going to be replacing ball joints a lot more often with a cummins. You have to realize the cummins is over 300 lbs heavier than the probably 351 or 400 your taking out. If you go off road I would seriously think about a dana 60 swap.


Now you do realize that your rear dana 60 is not up to the task. A stock dana 60 rear will have issues eventually. You will need to swap in a much stronger rear end. I.E. A gm 14 bolt, 10.25 or 10.5 sterling ect.


You can also keep your c6. A 1:1 ratio 3rd is going to suck though, and a gear vendor is not rated to handle a cummins level of torque. You would be better off with the stock cummins auto with a beefed up torque converter. FYI Depending on your tire size a 1:1 ratio will limit you to 55-60 comfortably on the highway with the 4:10 gears you probably have now.


There is no need to change your steering column. Even if you swapped to a manual the parts are easily swapped into your stock column. That is providing you do not have the rarer tilt column.


See my thread below for a lot of info on my completed cummins swap.

 

I agree with co425 that running a Dodge trans would be simpler, but I have to disagree about the gear vendors not being able to handle the power of a cummins. I have run and installed these in some very heavy and very powerful cars,trucks, tow trucks, RVs, Drag racing.These can handle just about any thing you want to through at it. I am a transmission builder and have yet to see one go bad. On the other hand it would be simpler to just run a A618"Diesel version of the 518" with no electronics accept OD and lockup. There are some great converters for this unit that are not to pricey. Remember that running a OD with lock up trans will give you what feels like 2 more gears. The C6 was never made with lockup.

 

I ran my donor rig for a couple weeks before removing the drivetrain. It had a torque converter lockup switch. It sure was nice to be able to control the TC lockup.

 

What I meant was it is not rated for that much torque. Handling it is another story. I'd rather not gamble that much money and time. The longevity of it would be my concern. With an inline 6 diesel things get hammered a bunch more than the same horsepower gasoline engine. Also considering the torque is around double. At 400 horsepower a cummins is putting down around 800 ft lbs of torque. Also for some reason the inline diesels act like an impact wrench. Look up 5th gear nv4500 failures. It's simply more cost effective to buy the comparable factory dodge cummins trans.

 

I've been running a stock drive line in my Bronco for over a year now and I'm not nice to it at all.

The C-6 has held up great but is still going to be replaced with a ZF when I can find one around here.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Thanks for all the help. Especially you guys that have great experience with this swap. And I have read some of your's build thread. That's what motivates me on doing it. I have some fabrication skills. But I thought about going to diesel conversion.com kits. Now I have 3:73 gears in my rear end. And drum brakes back and disc in front. So I probably do disc conversion or just go for a sterling 10.5 or 14 bolt. Or Dana 80. Which is best?

 

The rotary VE pump is great as long as you're doing light mods to the motor.. I 've done one 5.9 conversion on an 85 F250 with a dana 60 front and dana 80 rear 3.54 gears.. My 5.9 was mostly stock, pulled decent and was great out on the highway, nearly 20 MPG.. Is your 5.9 intercooled? If so a super duty intercooler will work good with a stock 460 Radiator.. No movement of the steering column required.. C6 should be fine if theres adapters available.. Wiring of the charging system is easy. You'll need to plumb a return line from the pump back to the tank.. Power steering hoses can be adapted or fabricated.. Heavier drive shaft with 1350 or 1410 joints.. Theres a lot of small things to do but the end result is awesome..Im getting ready to start my 79 5.9 conversion.. Don't know where you live but I do have an extra super duty intercooler and I have a sterling and a Dana 80 both with trac lock and 3.54 gears available.. Good luck on your swap.. Keep us updated...

 

To many post lol

 

Is this rear end ok? He says its a Dana 70. But is Dana version of the 14 bolt. And it looks to be drum brakes


Dana 70 3.54 gears Locker $249
http://lakeland.craigslist.org/pts/4819516388.html

 

That'll due. That's what I'm running (same ratio too) for a rear axle, but the Dodge version. It came out of my donor rig.

 

How about the price? 249$?

 

Sounds like a decent deal. Offer them $200.

 

He will only take 225$. Well one more question would I have to move my c6 more back? Or that hasn't be modified?