Project: Doitall Dodge

[Metcalf]

I guess everyone eventually falls into a project! I didn't really plan to ever build a full size truck for my expedition vehicle but that is what came my way. I would have much rather had a Unimog or an long wheelbase jeep in some respects, but all around I don't think I made a bad choice.

This is also my first Dodge, and what a beast it is! I grew up a ford guy, then messed around with toyota, jeeps, etc. I have been off-roading for the past 15-20 years now. I still have my old 1942 Willys jeep, and that was probably the number one reason I got this truck. I need something to tow the old Willys around. Since we moved down to Southwest Colorado it is absolutely killing me that Moab is only 2.5 hours away, not to mention all the high mountain Colorado trails right out my back door, montrose, and farmington....all close enough for weekend trips!

Now I didn't just run out and buy the first diesel truck I could find. I looked LONG AND HARD to find it. In the end it did fall into my lap being that it was local to me.

The number one thing I wanted was a diesel. Since college I have had a thing for alternative fuels. Diesel engines 'can' burn about anything in an emergency, and can digest a solid diet of cheap alternative fuels if proper care is taken.

The second thing I really wanted was a 'Rebuild-able' and 'Simple' truck. I didn't want a fluffy new truck that uses a lot of special tools and parts. I wanted something very simple that could be maintained and fixed with simple hand tools and no computers. The drivetrain needed to be very strong and also have serviceable wheel bearings, brakes, etc.

After looking around at just about everything produced since the 70s I decided on the 1st generation Dodge truck. I feel they are the last of the truly rebuild-able trucks.

Once I had decided on what I wanted to get....I had to find one. I looked locally in the paper, on bulletin boards, Craigslist, ebay, etc. I was pretty picky in what I wanted. I wanted a 1992 or 1993 since they came with the first of the Intercooled Turbocharged Cummins engines. I also wanted a manual transmission. I have gone back and forth over the years about transmissions......generally I always end up with a manual. The Getrag transmission in these trucks isn't the best, but I think it gets a bad rep most of the time. Its a decent all iron granny 5-speed. The transmission is backed by the last np205 transfer cases used in the dodge lineup. It also has 32 spline front and rear outputs. The front axle is the last of the King-pin Dana 60s with serviceable bearings. The rear axle is a 32 spline Dana 70 full floating axle. All in all I think its the best 'stock' drivetrain you can get in a pickup unless you want to start swapping stuff.

Anyways. I am sure you are all bored by now so I will get on with it. I ended up finding a very well used 1992 W250 locally. It was the truck that I would have ordered off the showroom floor back in the day. The 92-93 W250s have the same 8" tall frame as the 1-ton trucks. The only difference between the 3/4ton and 1ton as far as I can tell is the rear spring packs and perhaps some rear brake parts. The truck was WELL used overall, but I purchased it for $2000. I don't care who you are....getting just the drive train for that was a good deal!

Here are some pics of the truck the day I went and got it....





Its a project for sure....

Its a 1992 W250 manufactured in april of 92.
Intercooled Cummins Turbo Diesel
5-speed manual transmission
4wd
Regular cab longbed
Tilt steering, intermittent wipers
Air conditioning
Cruise control
Vinyl flooring
Bench seat
Manual window and locks

It was owned by the same family for most of its life. It was recently passed down from father to son. The son was very artistic and decorated the truck with lots of tags and stickers! Those where the first things to come off!

The truck also came with a nice reciever hitch, a gooseneck hitch, new front springs to level the truck, 16x8" aluminum rims, 315/75r16 worn out tires, 240K on the odometer, no front driveshaft, a very rough body covered in a thin coat of cheap bedliner, a cracked windshield, and no drivers side window in the door!

[Metcalf]

Since this truck has to earn a living it really needed a front driveshaft! Since it didn't come with one at all this opened the door to an improvement.....

The stock rear driveshaft on a 1st gen dodge diesel is a nice beefy unit that has huge 1410 u-joints at both ends while the front is an oddball unit with a 1330ish flange mount CV joint and a dodge specific u-joint at the front dana 60 pinion.

After some careful measuring I concluded that I could ditch the front CV joint and run a normal front drive shaft if I didn't lift the truck anymore. I don't have any plans to lift the suspension any more on this truck, if anything I might drop it an inch or two!

After some more looking I concluded that the pinion yoke off the rear axle will work on the front AND the same is true with the front and rear 32 spline outputs on the NP205 transfer case. So with the right parts I could have matching 1410 driveshaft parts for the front and rear of the truck. This means that I can swap a lot of parts front to back if I ever needed to for a trail or road repair. I can also carry less spare parts because the front and rear driveshafts use the same u-joint at all 4 places.

I looked long and hard for a used rear driveshaft and yokes to make a front shaft but didn't have any luck. With winter approaching I needed 4wd and needed it now! My driveway is just insane in the winter.

So after giving up on finding used parts I ordered all the parts I would need to convert the front over to regular 1410 yokes and all the driveline parts I needed.

After installing some new seals I bolted up the new yokes. Please excuse the oily mess I have under he truck!



Since I had to get new yokes I decided to get yokes with u-bolts instead of straps. I will modify the rear yoke for u-bolts in the near future.

Once I had the new yokes in I double checked all the measurements for compression, extension and static length. I built my own driveshaft to save some money. I felt it was short enough to not need balancing AND I can generally get the tolerance for runout much less than production shops at work. I ended up making the shaft with some 3" .120 DOM seamless tubing for a little extra beef. I didn't get too many shots but you can see it below on the table at work as I check the yokes to make sure they are in phase. The total run out on the shaft ended up being about .004-.006! Thats good enough for this old truck.



I ended up playing with having the slip yoke at the transfer case for the first round. I think this will help everything clear the cross member better. I will change it around after I build the new belly skidplate and cross member.





I have a few months on the shaft as I am writing this. It doesn't vibrate at all. I wouldn't suggest going 100mph in 4wd but I feel very comfortable going 60 mph in 4hi. In all reality this truck is heavy enough and has a long enough wheelbase that I don't use 4wd over about 30mph in most cases.

I really like the fact that one spare 1410 u-joint will fit either the front or rear drive shaft at either the transfer case or the pinion. The slip yokes will also swap front to rear if I ever need to do that.

Next.....Body work....ACK!!!!

[02TahoeMD]

We used one of these on the farm I worked on in college, loved the truck. Gobs of power. Welcome to the full size rig club! Look forward to seeing your build.

[KEENO]

Awesome Metcalf... Heck'uva a find! Kind of like a stray puppy... It found you!

I like to think of the Dodge/Cummins First Gens as being similar to a Ball-Peen Hammer: Simple, Functional & Robust... If you stare at one long enough from this perspective, you might even think sexy Also, back to the Ball-Peen Hammer analogy.... Somewhat difficult to tear up!

The beauty of these trucks is that someone has already had all of the problems and knows the fix. No issues are original.... They're just happening to you for the first time! (That's what Google & the TDR are for)

Hey, just one moment of unsolicited advice (my girlfriend sez I'm good at this sort of thing) regarding the Getrag G360. Good News - with as many miles as you have on yours, you probably have a good one! You can keep it alive longer by increasing oil level. The Getrag G360 uses regular 5W-30 motor oil as a lubricant.... Not Gear Oil. Here's the unsolicited tip: Change the oil in the Trans to Synthetic Oil (Mobil 1 5W-30 worked well for me when I still had the Getrag) and when done filling to the top plug on the Trans.... Pull the Shifter Boot (inside the truck) and top off with another Pint (16 oz.). The manual sez the G360 holds 3.5 U.S. Quarts, by adding more oil the Output Shaft Bearing isn't starved for lube causing it's early dimise.

Here's the Getrag G360 ratios if interested:
1st - 5.531:1
2nd - 3.017:1
3rd - 1.60:1
4th - 1.00:1
5th - 0.77:1
Reverse - 5.029:1

Note: I carried the decimals to 3 places in most cases, because precision matters!
Besides, Decimals are easier... It's fact: "5 out of 4 people have difficulty with fractions"

Feel free to give a shout or PM if you need anything out of the much used Service Manual.

BTW: I forgot to mention in all of the First Gen excitement, that I definitely have a severe case of Front Drive Shaft Envy! Still on my list & spinning the Slip Yoke Unit after all of these years.

KEENO

[Overdrive]

Wow, that's a humungus front driveshaft!

Just can't beat the early Dodge diesels for bulletproof. Like KEENO said, everything that can go wrong (and there's not much) is a known fix. I kick myself everyday for selling mine...I just had to get something "newer and better"...ya, right.

You know the old saying, "You don't know what you have until it's gone." Well, I learned that one.

And I have to say "Hi' to KEENO...now there's a ghost from TDR threads past. KEENO- you'll remember me...I'm the one who found out a '93 won't start if you put the air filter in backwards...
Scott

[KEENO]

Not to Hi-jack:

Hey Overdrive... I do remember you from the TDR, but don't remember the Air Filter Issue! Not surprising, I'm over 40 now and seem to have selective memory retention. Is it true about the airfilter??? LOL

I still love the Turbo Diesel Register and I'm a current member since January of 2000. But... How many questions can you ask/answer about First Gen's? It kind of becomes like watching reruns of "Leave it to Beaver"

I bought an old Alaskan Camper for the First Gen and really digging ExPo! Great Gang here!

KEENO

PS: I even stole my Truck Signature from the TDR instead of retype. Lazy?

[PapeCAT]

I have a few months on the shaft as I am writing this. It doesn't vibrate at all. I wouldn't suggest going 100mph in 4wd but I feel very comfortable going 60 mph in 4hi. In all reality this truck is heavy enough and has a long enough wheelbase that I don't use 4wd over about 30mph in most cases.

I really like the fact that one spare 1410 u-joint will fit either the front or rear drive shaft at either the transfer case or the pinion. The slip yokes will also swap front to rear if I ever need to do that.

One quick question, since the dodge D60F front axles were made to work with the CV style shaft, the pinion was rotated up to point directly at the shaft. I've got a fully divorced np205 and a 1990 W250 D60F on my crew cab and am just considering lengthening the CV shaft for that purpose. Did you stick an inclinometer on on the tcase and front axle yokes? What was the difference in angles? Currently I wouldn't consider running a standard shaft up front on my rig due to the yokes being out of phase. But the idea of having 1410 pieces on all of the driveline is nice...

[Metcalf]

My truck was slightly lifted in the front so the pinion angles where not stock.

I would say my t-case U-joint has a few degrees (2-3) more angle than the pinion U-joint. I haven't noticed any problems at all with it like that. I have run 50-60mph all day with the front hubs turned in without any issues. Other than a slight loss in power from the drag of the front axle turning, its not a big deal. Generally if I am going to be going over 60mph I turn the front hubs out.

Its not 100% perfect, but it works very well. I like the ability to have the 1410 front drive shaft for strength. Being able to use one u-joint for a spare is very nice also.

I really wish I could stop driving this dang thing so I could work on it more! This weekend is the first Moab trip of the year and its going to be the tow/haul/camp rig.

[PapeCAT]

Cool thanks for the reply. I'm sure you wouldn't notice any vibe issues when the t case isn't engaged even if the front hubs are locked as long as your shaft was balanced. Even though the yokes are out of phase by a few degrees, the tcase side will just spin unevenly (freely) in the case with no issue as there isn't a constant velocity driving the yoke when it is in 2wd. But engage the tcase under load and you might feel a vibe? I guess the worst case scenario would be front wheel drive only up a long grade at highway speed with a load, that would be the test... Nice rig, have a good Moab trip, I went there a couple years ago but haven't been able to make it out since.

[Metcalf]

I've run the truck up to 50-55mph towing in 4wd without any issues. You can feel the front end is engaged, but I don't get any big vibes. My shaft wasn't balanced, but I used seamless tubing and it was only 0.005 out at most after welding. The yokes where also aligned on a VERY flat surface.

I would go with the simple shaft and not worry about it too much. Its very nice not having to worry about rebuilding a CV in the field.

I also upgraded to u-bolt style yokes on the t-case and from axle which gives me a little more peace of mind. I will be adding u-bolts to the rear yokes when I get a chance.

With the dodge np205 I have the front and rear yokes are both 32 spline units so that part is also common front to back. I think I can even use the front slip yoke on the rear if I needed to. Its REALLY nice having strong and common parts on the truck, it just gives me that many more options in the back country if something where to go wrong.