89 resto-mod crew cab short bed

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by NITRO1977

I am going to cut out the factory hump in mine and put in a removable high hump. A bolt in crossmember would be nice, but I don't think it will be an issue with the boxing and extra welded crossmembers.

Not trying to be a jerk, or degrade your work, but, good luck with that front cross member. I wouldn't want to rely on 2 welds only supporting my 1200lb engine plus what ever weight of the tranny that rests there as well. I've seen a few of those dodge cross members crack, so keep an eye on it. On my 76 I didn't put a high hump in it and the only place I have clearance issues is right over my tcase. The tcase hits the floor support. I'm going to cut it out and redo it so I can keep the floor pan as close to stock heighth as I can. I used a 47RH/NP205 and 4" lift. No body lift. Keep at it man!

[NITRO1977]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Not trying to be a jerk, or degrade your work, but, good luck with that front cross member. I wouldn't want to rely on 2 welds only supporting my 1200lb engine plus what ever weight of the tranny that rests there as well. I've seen a few of those dodge cross members crack, so keep an eye on it. On my 76 I didn't put a high hump in it and the only place I have clearance issues is right over my tcase. The tcase hits the floor support. I'm going to cut it out and redo it so I can keep the floor pan as close to stock heighth as I can. I used a 47RH/NP205 and 4" lift. No body lift. Keep at it man!

No problem, The crossmember has about 12" of weld on each side. The hitch on the pull truck has a total of 8" of weld holding the ring to the 2x2 stock. If 8" of my welds will hold up to that abuse I'm not worried about weld failure on the crossmember. I suppose the crossmember itself could fail, and it might be a good idea to put a couple of support pads under the motor mount bolt. The frame is goint to be fully boxed all the way to the back of the cab, and it will have a welded crossmember between the spring hangers in front. I am also going to put a 1/4" thick skidplate on the whole flat section under the cab. There won't be much frame flex going on....especially with the soft suspension I'm running. I am going with a nv4500 so I will have to do something with the floor to make it clear. I actually like the removable floor hump.

[Dieselwrencher]

Yeah, the removable floor hump is sweet. Too bad Dodge didn't adopt that idea. Heck, I think even GM nixxed that in the early 80's didn't they?

[NITRO1977]

I think they did. Here are a few more pics of the brakes and some other stuff.

[84chevyguyid]

A few questions, what springs did you use on the front? I'm just learning about this 52" spring thing, are they 2 inch lift rear springs off of a 1/2 or 3/4 ton pickup? Since this is a 2 wd truck, what did you have to do to the rear springs to get the back lift to match the front? I am looking for a 3-4 inch lift but mine is going to be more of a daily driver/tow rig and I am looking for a soft ride so it doesnt beat you to death going down the road. I was wondering about having really soft springs and using air bags with them to get a better ride and raise the load carrying capacity with more air pressure when needed. Good idea or bad?

[NITRO1977]

Originally Posted by 84chevyguyid

A few questions, what springs did you use on the front? I'm just learning about this 52" spring thing, are they 2 inch lift rear springs off of a 1/2 or 3/4 ton pickup? Since this is a 2 wd truck, what did you have to do to the rear springs to get the back lift to match the front? I am looking for a 3-4 inch lift but mine is going to be more of a daily driver/tow rig and I am looking for a soft ride so it doesnt beat you to death going down the road. I was wondering about having really soft springs and using air bags with them to get a better ride and raise the load carrying capacity with more air pressure when needed. Good idea or bad?

In the front I have a set of stock 52" rear springs out of a half ton. I built the hangers. In the rear I cut the frame off about a foot behind the cab, and built a new one. The rear spring hangers are off a motorhome. The rear shackle hangers are stock 2wd spring hangers which after installing convert the tension shackle to a compression shackle(aka shackle flip). The 63" rear springs are pretty soft, and they are from a 2004 2500hd. If you want to haul a lot you should use airbags. I plan on installing a set.

[NITRO1977]

I installed another crossmember between the front spring hangers. It is built out of 2x4-3/16 wall tubing. I also drilled out the holes that mount the front hangers and installed 1/2" grade 8 bolts. Then I painted the front section of frame. I haven't had much luck finding a bellhousing. I picked up an old scattershield type for a gm with intentions of modifying it to work on the dodge setup, but had to scrap that idea when I realized the flywheel won't fit inside it. So I have decided to build one from scratch. I am going to have a ring rolled out of 1/4"x6" flatbar and plasma cut the rest out of 1/4" plate. After it is tig welded I will throw it in the mill and make it flat. I will have a little time invested, but not much money, and it will be much better than an aluminum one.