Raymo's 3500-HD Rebuild

[Raymo]

Some of you might remember my old dually, "Big Otis" and the Cummins conversion I was doing before I bought a new truck. Well here's the new one!

I've been workin' on this since I brought it home back in February. It's gettin' there but there's still some long days ahead.

Specs:
'94 3500HD. Originally a 159.5" chassis- shortened 28" to utilize a pickup bed.
'93 Cummins engine, Getrag trans, NP205 transfer case
Dana 60 front with 8-lug 19.5's and 4.10 gears
Dana 80 rear, re-geared to a 4.10
Full 4" turbo-back mandrel bent exhaust

The day it was brought home


The rockers and cab corners were perfect, but the vinyl covering had "had it's way" with the floor, as usual > Just yesterday I had put down a very thick layer of a two part urethane bed liner, so after the 18 hours of prep work I'm hoping that last the life of the truck body. I still have to get pictures of the finished product.



So after the floors had been welded up, I had set the engine and built mounts. I used the factory dodge mounts, which, when trimmed fit perfectly into the frame. I built a simple trans crossmember out of some angle, 1.5" DOM and a Chevy 4x4 trans mount.



Then it was on to the core support. I used the Dodge radiator and intercooler. The HD core support really lent itself to the use of the Dodge pieces. I still have to take a pic of the intercooler mounting, but I used the Dodge pieces cut from the Dodge core support to mount the radiator in the Chevy support.





So once the hard work was done on the front half, I moved to the rear. I moved the rear end up 28" by cutting the rivets and using 1/2" hardware to re-attach the spring perches and overload stops. Then I fabbed up some bed mounts out of 1.5"x 3" tall rectangle tube. Luckily, the cab and chassis rear axle is only 10" overall wider from outside tire to tire than a single wheel bed. Bushwacker came to the rescue with their 5" wide cut-out flare, which made up the difference perfectly.


Then comes the 4wd conversion. I used a Dana 60 front from a '79 Dodge W300. With it's 32.5" spring pad width, it was a direct bolt in with the HD leaf sprung front end. I'm not too happy about the height gain, but for the direct bolt in, and leaving the engine crossmember alone, I can live with it. I also used a crossover steering arm on the 60 to keep with the same steering set up these trucks come with.


And with all that, comes to where I'm at now. The part in the build with the 1000 little things to slow down progress.

[Raymo]

I've been driving this truck for two months now, and it's been great.

I forgot to mention that I used a complete universal wiring harness and a full set of Auto Meter Phantom guages on the inside.

I also used UPOL Raptor bed liner on the floor of the cab. It's some good stuff!

Plans now are to bring this thing down 4" and give it a better looking paint color, but I won't mention what scheme until I have pics of it 

[BIG TODD]

great job man 

[D60KING]

 Good job !! Looks very good !! more pics please.

[redchevy11]

I've been driving this truck for two months now, and it's been great.

I forgot to mention that I used a complete universal wiring harness and a full set of Auto Meter Phantom guages on the inside.

I also used UPOL Raptor bed liner on the floor of the cab. It's some good stuff!

Plans now are to bring this thing down 4" and give it a better looking paint color, but I won't mention what scheme until I have pics of it 

looks good the way it sets just get new rims and bigger tires lol

[Raymo]

I've dug up some more pictures from the build.

This is the Raptor bed liner installed on the floor


Here's the guage panel and guages. I used the Auto Meter angling cups to turn all the guages twards me, looks pretty sweet from the side. The heater and headlight switches are mounted in here also.


The 4" downpipe before the new inner fender went on


And an overview of the engine compartment during reassembly


The IC pipe from the intercooler to the engine, checking fit.

[marshall]

great truck man!

[Big-Al]

WAY  KOOL  .... GOOD  JOB....

[Raymo]

Well after 740 miles, I'm averaging 12mpg loaded and empty, lots of mixed driving and 20 minutes to warm up everyday. I'm debating going toa 3.55 gear, and I think my K&N might be a little too small/restrictive.

I think next step tho, is an interior make-over. I need some carpet and a bench seat, cause I'm freezing my  off in this thing.

[KORNBREAD]

Bad ass truck. I love that stout stance it has. Tuff as hell looking!

[RedneckMudder]

i absolutely love this truck looks bad ass for sure!

[Raymo]

Well I'm tired of lifting 5' to put things in the bed of the truck, and jumping in and out, so I'm in the process of lowering my 4x4 3500HD 4" by removing the rear lift block, and doing a Spring-Under conversion.

The rear is/ was easy, I simply had to remove the 4" lift block, and install new U-Bolts. This step took about 15 minutes 

Before



After




And then I've been working on the front axle. I have a Dodge Dana 60, and it's much more narrow than the Dana 70 that was fitted into these trucks. So, in order to mount a spring perch on the under side of the axle, I had to move the differential towards the center. This is because the 60 originally had one U-Bolt on the differential, and two studs cast in the housing to hold the other half of the U-Bolt plate. I added 2.71" to the short side of the axle, and after making up the difference in spring pad widths, I'm able to move the spring pad center away from the differential 1.625". I used 2.125"x .120 wall DOM to sleeve the three pieces back together, and a piece of 3.125"x .500" wall DOM to match the original axle tube. The 2.71" is the exact measurement a Ford Dana 60 axle shaft was longer than my original Dodge shaft.





More to come tomorrow after I spend some more time out in the shop.

And on to the front! 

After welding in a new crossmember towards the front, I removed a large portion of the factory engine crossmember to resemble that of a factory K3500. Then I removed the old axle and all associated parts to make way for the new Spring-Under axle I had made. After playing with mounting options and height, I worked out a way to install the axle with the leaf spring in the factory position. This gave me a near stock height, and I couldn't be happier!!!

Again, here are some before and after shots.



Keep in mind, that those are 8R-19.5" tires, and measure 33" tall.

Here's a shot of how the drivers side sits.


There is still some work to do, I have a couple loose ends that need attention, and I have to make a new Panhard bar. But overall, I've had fun and it hasn't been too challenging of a job.

[TBigLug]

NICE! Makes me wish I had better fab skills and a shop!

[Cannaert]

Looks a heck of a lot better with the SUA then the SOA, IMHO.

[Raymo]

Thanks guys

There's a few benefits to lowering it, I don't have to jump in or slide out after a long work day, I can run a smaller tire to get more tread pattern options, and finally, I have a rake, rear is 3" higher so now the truck won't look so bad with a trailer on it 

Now that it's lower, I'm also going to be putting a plow on it, something similar to a Western Unimount so I can drop the pump and everything. Been missing out on plowin' money this year and the truck has to work a lil' harder to pay for itself lol.

[magic]

looks like a lot of time and effort paid off....very nice truck

[marshall]

your a crafty dude! great truck

[scottsdale]

you did a nice job on the truck I think

[Big-Al]

LOOKS  KOOL MAN.    MINES  UP AND  RUNNING  NOW..........LETS  HAVE  A  PULL OFF............LOLL

[cnoswalt78]

both of you guys can gain mpg and power by playing with your pump! my old 92 was gettin 25 best mpg