77crewcab
1/2 ton status
Well I have thought for some time about what MY ultimate truck would be and think I have finally figured out the path I want to take but need some input on certain areas.
I bought a 87 Crewcab last summer, 70s block 454 with carb and 400 trans that needs a rebuild. Got it cheap cause it wasn’t running at the time. I also got a Dodge CTD 5spd donor truck with the plans of doing a Cummins swap, more to have a diesel than some crazy power numbers. They sat without being touched for several months as I just never had the time. I eventually sold the Dodge to pay off the wife’s van. About a month ago I started working on the crewcab, got it running enough to move around and started getting motivated to modify it to fit the idea in my head. A couple weeks ago I bought a 80 C&C for the dually suspension, and it has a great flatbed I might use. This week I bought a 82 1 ton 6.2/400 with good front sheet metal and good bed with gooseneck hitch. I plan to convert it in stages until I have a 4WD stealth dually crewcab with a turbo 6.2. So here is the plan broken up into the stages I will be doing. Please help with the questions if you can.
Stage 1
Park the crewcab and diesel side by side, pull all the gasser stuff out of the crewcab and swap over the diesel stuff. Swap the bed and front sheet metal. This part is fairly straight forward with just a couple hiccups.
Question:
The diesel is a non a/c truck, I want to add a/c to it. So I will need the diesel brackets and a/c compressor. I would like to update to the 89-91 Suburban core support which has the bigger burb rear air condensor but it is a totally different style than the diesel condensor. The condensor fittings are on the passenger side not the driver side like the diesel setup I have no problems having new hoses made if need be. The crewcab already has a 4 headlight core support from a a/c diesel truck with the diesel radiator and condensor. Is the diesel radiator a direct bolt in or are the core supports different to allow for the bigger radiator? Will I have an interference with the condensor hookups when putting the diesel radiator in the 89-91 core support? Would it be best to try and use the 89-91 core support with the diesel style condenser/radiator rather than trying to use the burb condenser?
Stage 2
Converting from auto to manual trans and transfer case. I plan to use a ranger o/d and 465 with either a 205, 208, 241 or possibly a 203/205 doubler just for the hell of it.
Question:
Is it really worth doing the hydraulic bell when the truck will only be used off-road for driving through pastures to get to hunting locations or will the manual bell be acceptable? Should I just convert the auto hydroboost pedals I have or look for a hydroboost pedal set to match the bell housing I choose? There seems to be some conflicting info as to the trans hump when converting 2wd to 4wd. Some seem to do fine with the low hump and others have to have the high hump. It also seems to vary depending on if you are doing the conversion on a Blazer, Truck, Burb, Crewcab. Will I deffinately need the high hump or is it more a try it and see situation. Does the tranfercase choice play a major factor in which hump is needed?
Stage 3
4WD conversion
Question:
I have a 86 1/2 ton burb 4WD with a 10 bolt front. Can I use this as my donor? The 3/4 ton cewcabs came stock with 6.2s and 10 bolt fronts correct, so I don’t have to worry about weight issues like if I were to put in a 6bt. This will stay a SRW truck for a while until I get everything else finished. The last step will be to do the dually swap which will mean getting a D60 dually front axle. I am planning to run between a 31-35 tire, no bigger than 35s. I won’t be doing and rocks or serious off-road wheeling, it will be mainly street driven with the occaissional bad weather road conditions and some muddy fields when hunting. I figure that the 10 bolt will probably be fine for a while but really question if the 1/2ton spring setup needs to be beefed up. My main concern is the vehicle weight issue and not knowing if the 3/4and 1 tons had beefier springs and attachment hardware. As far as the swap goes I will actually be doing it twice. Once on a mockup frame and once on the crewcab. I am hoping that by doing this it will work out any kinks and prevent delays.
Also do I need to change the rear spring hangers to a 1 ton 4WD style or can I leave them alone and just use add-a-leafs or a zero rate?
Any guidance you can give will be greatly appreciated. This won’t be an overnight project, but I want to make sure that I plan each step of the process so that I collect the right parts to do the job. Just want to get to a point where I have everything ready to go before I begin each stage.
I bought a 87 Crewcab last summer, 70s block 454 with carb and 400 trans that needs a rebuild. Got it cheap cause it wasn’t running at the time. I also got a Dodge CTD 5spd donor truck with the plans of doing a Cummins swap, more to have a diesel than some crazy power numbers. They sat without being touched for several months as I just never had the time. I eventually sold the Dodge to pay off the wife’s van. About a month ago I started working on the crewcab, got it running enough to move around and started getting motivated to modify it to fit the idea in my head. A couple weeks ago I bought a 80 C&C for the dually suspension, and it has a great flatbed I might use. This week I bought a 82 1 ton 6.2/400 with good front sheet metal and good bed with gooseneck hitch. I plan to convert it in stages until I have a 4WD stealth dually crewcab with a turbo 6.2. So here is the plan broken up into the stages I will be doing. Please help with the questions if you can.
Stage 1
Park the crewcab and diesel side by side, pull all the gasser stuff out of the crewcab and swap over the diesel stuff. Swap the bed and front sheet metal. This part is fairly straight forward with just a couple hiccups.
Question:
The diesel is a non a/c truck, I want to add a/c to it. So I will need the diesel brackets and a/c compressor. I would like to update to the 89-91 Suburban core support which has the bigger burb rear air condensor but it is a totally different style than the diesel condensor. The condensor fittings are on the passenger side not the driver side like the diesel setup I have no problems having new hoses made if need be. The crewcab already has a 4 headlight core support from a a/c diesel truck with the diesel radiator and condensor. Is the diesel radiator a direct bolt in or are the core supports different to allow for the bigger radiator? Will I have an interference with the condensor hookups when putting the diesel radiator in the 89-91 core support? Would it be best to try and use the 89-91 core support with the diesel style condenser/radiator rather than trying to use the burb condenser?
Stage 2
Converting from auto to manual trans and transfer case. I plan to use a ranger o/d and 465 with either a 205, 208, 241 or possibly a 203/205 doubler just for the hell of it.
Question:
Is it really worth doing the hydraulic bell when the truck will only be used off-road for driving through pastures to get to hunting locations or will the manual bell be acceptable? Should I just convert the auto hydroboost pedals I have or look for a hydroboost pedal set to match the bell housing I choose? There seems to be some conflicting info as to the trans hump when converting 2wd to 4wd. Some seem to do fine with the low hump and others have to have the high hump. It also seems to vary depending on if you are doing the conversion on a Blazer, Truck, Burb, Crewcab. Will I deffinately need the high hump or is it more a try it and see situation. Does the tranfercase choice play a major factor in which hump is needed?
Stage 3
4WD conversion
Question:
I have a 86 1/2 ton burb 4WD with a 10 bolt front. Can I use this as my donor? The 3/4 ton cewcabs came stock with 6.2s and 10 bolt fronts correct, so I don’t have to worry about weight issues like if I were to put in a 6bt. This will stay a SRW truck for a while until I get everything else finished. The last step will be to do the dually swap which will mean getting a D60 dually front axle. I am planning to run between a 31-35 tire, no bigger than 35s. I won’t be doing and rocks or serious off-road wheeling, it will be mainly street driven with the occaissional bad weather road conditions and some muddy fields when hunting. I figure that the 10 bolt will probably be fine for a while but really question if the 1/2ton spring setup needs to be beefed up. My main concern is the vehicle weight issue and not knowing if the 3/4and 1 tons had beefier springs and attachment hardware. As far as the swap goes I will actually be doing it twice. Once on a mockup frame and once on the crewcab. I am hoping that by doing this it will work out any kinks and prevent delays.
Also do I need to change the rear spring hangers to a 1 ton 4WD style or can I leave them alone and just use add-a-leafs or a zero rate?
Any guidance you can give will be greatly appreciated. This won’t be an overnight project, but I want to make sure that I plan each step of the process so that I collect the right parts to do the job. Just want to get to a point where I have everything ready to go before I begin each stage.
Give me till this weekend. Right now I have the three trucks in three different towns. Hopefully all converging in one spot this weekend.
She doesn't get it.
