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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond

Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
The other side is installed.

20250330_183703.jpg

I pretty much just have all of the filler welding left on both sides. One of those projects you regret having a crew cab. And then decide if I want to add some additional bracing. I'm leaning most strongly towards bracing the back. I could do something similar to @skunked setup for his bed sliders and tie the back of my sliders to the rear cab body mount support that goes across the back of the cab. The front of the sliders are better supported than the rear.

This time I actually weighed the old and new slider on a scale instead of just using the listed material weights. The new sliders are each just 10lbs heaver than the old.

Another fun part of DIY hobbyist fab; the angle of the kicker is 4° different between the sides. :whistle: Did some measuring and I think it's mostly due to the bed being about 1/2" lower on the one side. I kinda remember noticing that when I originally built the bed. Luckily the spare tire kinda breaks up the horizontal plane so it's not obvious.
 
Tried to push out the latest dent in the driver rear door, but it's pretty much set where it's at.

Before:
20250407_144349.jpg


Very small difference in the after:
20250409_152235.jpg

The big dent near the edge of the door is just not going to pop out. I use @70jimmy's football trick and when I try to pop that big dent out it just pushes the inner door skin out.

I have another set of rear doors but I keep thinking that if I change out the doors, it's just a matter of time before they look the same. These doors still function just fine as far as the windows and latches go. On the flip side I've had the crew cab almost 13 years now and I keep thinking it may not be in use too many more years so maybe I should just swap doors and run them for the remaining life of the truck.
 
I just remembered the other rear doors I have are electric. It would be kinda cool to have electric windows so it would be easier to roll them up and down from the front.
 
They will function really really bent. Also, you can bend the inside of the door trying to do the football trick, so be careful. With that said, even bending the outside so much the inside panel gets bowed too, can still have them function fine. Leave 'em as is.
 
I'm trying a little experiment. Since the only transmission cooling I have is the remote cooler in the bed, I thought it would be interesting to try a frame rail cooler to see what effect it has. I'm curious what a little passive cooling might do since I have none now that the cooler isn't in front of the radiator. Since I needed to fix the fitting that failed last month, I figured it was a good time to try something.

This is a little 24" dual pass cooler. I thought it would work well for being able to keep it clean with a quick hose down. It was only $45 so I thought it was worth testing out.

20250413_172433.jpg
 
I'm trying a little experiment. Since the only transmission cooling I have is the remote cooler in the bed, I thought it would be interesting to try a frame rail cooler to see what effect it has. I'm curious what a little passive cooling might do since I have none now that the cooler isn't in front of the radiator. Since I needed to fix the fitting that failed last month, I figured it was a good time to try something.

This is a little 24" dual pass cooler. I thought it would work well for being able to keep it clean with a quick hose down. It was only $45 so I thought it was worth testing out.

View attachment 501939
You don't run a pinion guard?
 
No, I don't have a dirt shovel.
You know, it's funny, I never noticed it before, but several guys at FSI last week were running full driveshaft sliders. It looked like a belly pan attached just under the pinion and (presumably) to a crossmember up by the transfer case.

As long as it could move freely, It probably would work pretty good for long wheelbase trucks.
 
You know, it's funny, I never noticed it before, but several guys at FSI last week were running full driveshaft sliders. It looked like a belly pan attached just under the pinion and (presumably) to a crossmember up by the transfer case.

As long as it could move freely, It probably would work pretty good for long wheelbase trucks.
set it up the same as a ORD or DIY4X style anti wrap bar it would work good .
 

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