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What I would be worried about is the front supension in the old 79 truck gonna beable to stand that much weight and if you truck has a dana 44 front axle I would consider swaping to a Dana 60.
Anything can be done it all depends on how fat you wallet is you would have to have a good shop to work in and have access to a welder and cutting torches. Finding a good used engine is another big task you can look at paying 4000 for a complete engine and finding a NV4500 transmission. Probably the easiest thing todo is find a junked Dodge with a good engine and buy the whole truck and go from there. You will have to gut the interior of your truck and insulate it for sound deadening a Cummins in a 79 would be pretty loud you would need to wear ear plugs.
Good luck on the project
44 won't hold up you will twist axels off been there done that I have a 78 ford w/cummins with short front end went with non I/C, noise is there not bad but no carpet or sound deading yet.
Originally Posted by gregdatech2
Well I have a 76-77 3/4ton ford. Its got a dana 60 in back and a 44hd up front. Id probably be leary of the 44 as well. Its solid axle sprung by leaves, so weight shouldnt hurt it as much. I like both motors, and have used both in the past to pull some heavy loads ,10 tons plus. The mechanical end can be fixed, with engine mounts etc, but the electrical end is my concern. How much more wiring is going to be involved, and headaches, cummins versus powerstroke? Itll be a manual trans config, either way.
pre 98.5 are non elctronic so wiring is easy no computors, I'm doing a swap now should be finnished this week, 2000 S/D w/PS zf6 4x4 putting in 96 cummins.