You have the pickup Ford should have built from the factory - a coil-sprung 3/4 ton 4x4 with a diesel. Do you think there will be an issue with the crossmember being farther forward, farther from the buckets? And how much different is a 1/2 ton frame? Never had one of my own....

 

I know! I dont think the cross member will hurt anything because I think the engine being bolted in is a cross member in itself in a way. But we shall see! The frame heights and widths are the same, I measured one in a parking lot haha. But where my motor mounts bolted arent fully enclosed like the 250.

 

Ah, had to go back and look at your pictures - I see what you mean. I've got a '79 250 4x4 in the works waiting for a 6bt, but I have an 85 bullnose 150 with a 4bt sitting in the back. I'm not worried about frame strength with the 4bt, was going to leave it 5-bolt and re-gear, but the transmission I got for it had an '88 light-duty 250 4x4 still wrapped around it . So, decided to do more what you did, and swap the 8-bolt outers to the existing TTB with bags in the coils to level it and put the flange-axle 8-bolt rear under it for now, since they're 3.55's and the gearing/tire height would be closer to what I want. But after seeing yours, I'm wondering what it would take to find a '70's front axle housing and switch to a solid axle, but keep the coils. Do you think you needed the lift for clearance reasons? I was hoping to stay more stock height.

 

I think it would have been fine stock but I wanted to run 35's so I went with the 4" lift. I ALMOST bought the coil spring air bags but I had read enough bronco 6bt swaps with guys saying they sit fine without the Air Bags so I called Bilstein and got shocks valved for my application so that should really help.

The solid axle is the way to go IMO. I had a 95 F250 powerstroke that I converted to a 60 front because I hate the TTB. One of the reasons I'm getting rid of my Duramax is the independent front suspension. I know its the nicest ride but I just like a rugged solid front axle.

I'm also running 3.55s with the 35s. Is the light duty 250 just a heavy duty 9inch? I thought about using my rear 9 inch but was pretty nervous with my driving style and the torque of the 12 valve. Then when I realized it wasn't nodular I said forget it and found the sterling axle.

 

I believe its a 10.25 pumpkin, just flanged instead of floating - no advantage other than cost when they were new, just figured I'd use it since I already have it. If it breaks, pretty easy to swap in a floater. They didn't use them for long, early '80's till about '90-something, saw them a lot with a 300-6 or a 302 in plain-Jane company pickups.


I was thinking about the air bags mostly because of the TTB, more to get alignment than anything else with the weight change on the frontend - probably could tune it in close enough with different coils, but bags might have been easier. With a solid, should be able to get close enough without.

 

Oh gotcha, yeah that makes sense. Yeah the FF sterling 10.25s like I used are everywhere cheap. Yeah I'm pretty happy with how my truck sits so far. If the front springs settle at all though I'll either get front bags or machine the rear blocks down some.

 

Made the first maiden voyage to the track last night! About an hour drive or so each way. Drove great! The trans mount I used it too soft so I stopped this morning and bought an aftermarket polly one that should help. Still have some little bugs to work out but its getting there! People are already going nuts about it, so thats a cool feeling

 

Looking good .

There's always tweaks to make, but it feels good to get it on the road. Always makes me smile when I'm driving down the street and get some doubletakes cause of the sound

........then they see the Cummins badges I have on the Fenders.

 

Just ordered this for the truck! Anyone looking for better performance, the turbo position of the common rail but the ports for the 12 valve heres the solution.

https://www.dieselpowersource.com/fu...ins-conversion

The common rail manifold I had worked fine but the flange was warped which was sending me for a loop with low speed boost issues. Turns out I had an exhaust leak which was preventing low boost around town.

Other then that having a blast with the truck. Gonna do the fuel tank mod to with the breather to help fillup next. Also updated the cross member for a 2nd trans mod now that the trans is all built and shifts so firm. Still need to make some adjustments for the front driveshaft to fit though.

 

Update:

Ive been running the truck a couple months now with the 60/68/14 BW turbo, 5x12 (90hp) injectors, #10 fuel plate, 191 DV's, head studs, 19* timing, valve springs, 3k springs, 2 piece manifold, 3" intake horn, 3 disk converter, billet 47RE build and now some traction bars and the truck goes great! Tows awesome too. Still have a lot of AFC tuning to do though. Way too much smoke before boost.

Also got the tcase shifter hooked up using all the dodge parts including the dodge shifter boot.



Also if I dont come to a complete stop the trans stays in 2nd instead of downshifting into 1st, which is not good especially with a trailer. Will tightening the TV cable fix that?

 

Is the tranny computer controlled?

 

Yes its a 47RE but I thought the TV cable controlled most of that stuff. The computer was just lock up etc?

Edit:
I suppose asking about a dodge trans on the ford site wont get me very far haha

 

For some reason I thought the computer controlled that stuff too. But now I'm not sure

 

i have alot of questions about using a 47re as stand alone im lokking to do the same on my crew cab i have a donor truck already

 

Alright well ask away! Haha I'll answer everything I can.