47-55.1 49 Chevy Power Wagon 3/4ton hauler build

[americanmusc1e]

Hello all. I've been a member here many years but I've been away for a while. Time for me to contribute again.

A couple of years ago I inherited a 1949 Chevy 3800 SRW 1-ton. My dreams for it are to do light/medium duty towing. Mostly taking my Turbo C10 race truck to the track or dragging home new projects. I'd like to match/exceed the performance of my bone stock 1998 C2500 with it's 5.7 gas motor.

[americanmusc1e]

In the past two years I yanked out the not original stovebolt 235 and SM420 and replaced them with a mopar 5.9 gasser and a built 46RE from a 2wd ZJ project I couldn't sell.

Since there are no disc brake 8 lug options, I also bought a 1/2ton front axle and converted it to 6-lug disc brakes.

So what I ended up with an 8-lug HO52 in the rear with 5.14 gears and a bastard 6-lug in the front converted to modern bearings and disc brakes.

I had the truck running and driving around the shop, but I was concerned about the entire front axle setup. The conversion tapered roller bearings were lawn mower sized and the brakes are 1/2 ton disks. The entire front suspension and steering was so outdated and cobbled together that I just couldn't imagine pulling 6000lbs with it.

[americanmusc1e]

The truck sat a year while our business moved out of the old shop and my boss and I bought a piece of land out in the country and started building new office and eventually a new shop.

After a year of not working on it. I just got really burned out thinking about how many compromises I made.




So I bought this. The guy I bought it from said it was a 96 Ram 2500 4x4. Several date codes and connectors I found show it's probably a 2001 Ram 2500. It has a "no good" Gas 5.9, 46RE, NP241HD, and Dana 60s front and rear with 4.10 gears and a limited slip out back.

[americanmusc1e]

I wasted no time pulling the old 5.9 and 46re out and rebuilding the 46re OD unit and swapping it onto my built 46re.

I then dropped my good 5.9/46RE in and dropped the cab on some blocks on top of the frame. I cut the stock dodge cab mounts off and re-welded them to mate up to the Chevy's cab mount locations and then used the stock Ram body mounts plus some poly spacers.

It became obvious that the Ram had a longer nose. In order to keep the motor in the stock Ram location. I had to move the cab back several inches from the optimal wheel arch centers, but to clear the transfer case I ended up with about 3" of body lift anyway. I also ended up with the water pump about 1" from the radiator so it looks like I'm going to get creative with the cooling fan.

[americanmusc1e]

Update time!


I figured out the Dana 60 might have issues. It does have a limited slip though. Im happy about that.

http://youtu.be/K6R7YM-ySfI

I also got the truck started

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxxQK9hcdNs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bzuLAmC7qY


two weekends ago I got some major work done! My cousin came up to help and we finished my exhaust. We did a stock crossover, cut the cat off, added a 3" v-band and then a 3" glasspack into a 3" magnaflow and turned down after the cab.

We wired up the battery and put some gauges in so we had water temp and oil pressure.

Then we went for a drive!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7d1Xww_qX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwcQhxOfX2A

Overall the drive went really well. We went a couple of miles and no issues on the road. The truck does overheat at idle with the way the pusher fan is currently mounted. I don't want to drive it too much more until I dive into the dana 60. some bolts in the front fenders also vibrated off and we almost lost the passenger fender.

[americanmusc1e]

This weekend I got the tires that I want to use mounted. Currently they are a 235/85r16. I got these tires used a while back and I wanted to see if I liked the size. I'm considering 255/85r16s as well.









I also re-mounted the fenders with lockwashers, Re-mounted the pusher fan, and fabbed up an exhaust hanger.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by americanmusc1e

I wasted no time pulling the old 5.9 and 46re out and rebuilding the 46re OD unit and swapping it onto my built 46re.

I then dropped my good 5.9/46RE in and dropped the cab on some blocks on top of the frame. I cut the stock dodge cab mounts off and re-welded them to mate up to the Chevy's cab mount locations and then used the stock Ram body mounts plus some poly spacers.

It became obvious that the Ram had a longer nose. In order to keep the motor in the stock Ram location. I had to move the cab back several inches from the optimal wheel arch centers, but to clear the transfer case I ended up with about 3" of body lift anyway. I also ended up with the water pump about 1" from the radiator so it looks like I'm going to get creative with the cooling fan.

Nice going Josh!

-Joe

[joedoh]

nice work!

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by joedoh

nice work!

Thank you! It's been a labor of love. We are starting on a new Shop this summer so maybe I'll be able to work inside again.

[Rusti]

Nice build. Looks like a beast with that axle and tires. What are you aiming at to do with the fenders to cover the tires?
So long Arnd

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by Rusti

Nice build. Looks like a beast with that axle and tires. What are you aiming at to do with the fenders to cover the tires?
So long Arnd

I'm going to see how much it annoys me

Texas has no enforced laws about how much your tires can stick past your fenders. They will for sure get dirtier. I can do a big truck front clip or I could do some type of flares if it bothers me.

[mongocanfly]

I had the same tire sticking out issue when I turned mine 4wd...I hated it...its going back to 2wd now..

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

I had the same tire sticking out issue when I turned mine 4wd...I hated it...its going back to 2wd now..

well the good thing about 4wd.. Dana 60s and Dana 44s are available in custom widths. If it ever bothers me that much I can shorten my axle or buy a whole new axle that's more Jeep width.

It's much harder to narrow an IFS front suspension. I looked into it because I have a 80's C20 front clip, but I decided it was too much for me to do.

[mongocanfly]

Yeah I considered narrowing the axles also... but I used the 3/4t frame..so I couldn't go narrow enough to tuck the wheels and not hit the frame when turning...so back to 2wd goes mine..
On my IH I used 3/4t axles on it, but with the stock IH frame..I used stock style rims with the most positive offset I could find...which isnt much...the tires are right at the edge of the fenders on it..after I get it back on the road and see what it looks like, I may narrow them a few inches...I've got room to do it on this truck..

[americanmusc1e]

Update time!

This past weekend I got some time in.

First thing I did was start the truck up and drive it to the most level surface I could to check the cab mounting. I quickly decided that the nose looked too high, I could raise the entire back of the cab up another inch, or do some cutting and lower the nose. I chose to do some cutting. First. a before and after shot.



I had to cut out part of the floor under the seat to clear the transfer case. I didn't grab a picture, but I now have to raise the middle of the floor under the seat by about an inch.

I also decided that I was going to have to cut the wheel openings a bit. I cut them so they would clear the 33's that I've pretty much decided the truck is going to get. This part was hard to do. I'm not 100% happy with it either. The transition isn't as smooth as I was hoping.



Then I took a break as we put a 40' tower on the roof of our shop to hopefully pull in some real internet.



That took most of the day Saturday, and Sunday I was back at it. First, I took some decent pictures.













Then I re-mounted my gas pedal (i forgot to take pictures) and finally I started filling some holes in the firewall, but before I got to that, I tried my hand at fixing some cab floor spots with trimmed/hammered 18ga mild steel. I'm fairly happy with the results. I'm glad I started on the floor because my sheetmetal welding skills need some sharpening. I also probably need to buy some .023" wire instead of the .030" i'm using.

[americanmusc1e]

Monday I went to the junkyard and measured a bunch of rear ends and picked up a transfer case shifter off of a 2nd gen Ram 1/2-ton. I took the transfer case shifter back and tried to bolt it to my 46re. The holes don't quite line up by about an 1/8" and the shifter geometry looks wrong. I'm still hunting for a transfer case shifting solution.


Wednesday, the wife and I drove 3.5 hours to central Dallas to buy a newer disk brake 14-bolt from a guy. The rear end looked great! In trying to spin the ring gear to determine the gear ratio, something didn't feel right. It was way too tight. I thought it might be the disk brakes dragging so we unbolted both axle shafts. Something didn't look right on one side. Turns out one tube was bent enough that the axle shaft wouldn't bolt back into place. I had to pass up the perfect 4.10, limited slip, disk brake rear end that I drove 7 hours round trip for.

I'm still on the hunt for another 14-bolt before I give up and rebuild this rear Dana 60. This axle is the only thing on the truck that's not road worthy. Once I have an axle and some basic wiring, I can actually drive the truck.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by americanmusc1e

Monday I went to the junkyard and measured a bunch of rear ends and picked up a transfer case shifter off of a 2nd gen Ram 1/2-ton. I took the transfer case shifter back and tried to bolt it to my 46re. The holes don't quite line up by about an 1/8" and the shifter geometry looks wrong. I'm still hunting for a transfer case shifting solution.


Wednesday, the wife and I drove 3.5 hours to central Dallas to buy a newer disk brake 14-bolt from a guy. The rear end looked great! In trying to spin the ring gear to determine the gear ratio, something didn't feel right. It was way too tight. I thought it might be the disk brakes dragging so we unbolted both axle shafts. Something didn't look right on one side. Turns out one tube was bent enough that the axle shaft wouldn't bolt back into place. I had to pass up the perfect 4.10, limited slip, disk brake rear end that I drove 7 hours round trip for.

I'm still on the hunt for another 14-bolt before I give up and rebuild this rear Dana 60. This axle is the only thing on the truck that's not road worthy. Once I have an axle and some basic wiring, I can actually drive the truck.

I just figured out why the transfer case shifter isn't "right". The half ton, at least the early ones, were NP231D which is 2wd, 4wd Hi, N, and 4wd Lo pattern. I don't know the pattern on the NP 241HD, but I'm betting it is different and is part of why it won't bolt up.

I know you're familiar with Marty Fletcher and the work he does on our "undesirable" 5.9L Magnum engines, but I'll throw the link up here for anyone else that thinks these engines aren't worth the trouble.

https://www.utawesomeperformance.com/index.html

No matter what the purists may say, this is going to be a great build. Keep up the good work.

-Joe

[americanmusc1e]

New rear axle acquired! It's a 02 Chevy 14-bolt factory disk brake axle

It has 4.10 gears and an open diff, but the 14-bolts have tons of traction aid options including fairly cheap and simple detroit locker upgrades.



unfortunately it's raining today and my lack of roof means that I can't work on it this weekend.

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by Purcell69

Nice going Josh!

-Joe

Thank you! I am very much enjoying your build. Though I will say putting the magnum motor in the original frame was my idea. The frame swap was heavily inspired by your build.

Originally Posted by Purcell69

I just figured out why the transfer case shifter isn't "right". The half ton, at least the early ones, were NP231D which is 2wd, 4wd Hi, N, and 4wd Lo pattern. I don't know the pattern on the NP 241HD, but I'm betting it is different and is part of why it won't bolt up.

I know you're familiar with Marty Fletcher and the work he does on our "undesirable" 5.9L Magnum engines, but I'll throw the link up here for anyone else that thinks these engines aren't worth the trouble.

https://www.utawesomeperformance.com/index.html

No matter what the purists may say, this is going to be a great build. Keep up the good work.

-Joe

I was just going off of it looked close when I was laying under the 1/2-ton in the wrecking yard. I figured dodge would have tried to keep the shifters the same to keep costs down. I guess not.

I'm going to go back to the wrecking yard and try again for a transfer case shifter soon. This one is very close but not quite able to bolt to the holes on my 46re but the geometry of the shift linkage looks very wrong.

[joedoh]

wow! i like everything you just posted

[americanmusc1e]

August has been a busy month so far!

For starters, My trusty white 98 3/4ton chevy developed a bottom end knock on it's 290k mile motor This has pushed me to get the 49 on the road.

I feel like i've been working on the bed forever now. Here's more pictures. It's pretty much done besides the wood bed floor and eventual stake sides.








Then came a lot of frustration building a brake light switch bracket that I didn't take pictures of and getting the turn signals working. I finally took it for a real, road legal test drive last weekend. I still have a host of things to complete, but it's very roadworthy. I had some trouble with reverse in the transmission, but a band adjustment solved that. Here's a picture from the first offical gas station visit.



Last night I swapped the 195* thermostat and 210-195* fan switch for a 180* thermostat and a 195-180* fan switch. My gauges indicated that the thermostat was actually opening about 210 and the fan was turning on at nearly 220. Now hopefully I'll stay below 200.

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by joedoh

wow! i like everything you just posted

Thank you! I'm getting excited to actually be able to drive this truck soon. It's been in project hell for nearly 5 years