81 Crew Cab Dually Build

[TheDirt520]

This is my 81 crew cab dually build, I picked up the truck June 09 for $400, Motor and tranny were gone but the rest looked good other then the ugly red checkers on the side,, got the truck home found alittle rust on the floors didn't look bad thou, I then put a 350 which my blazer gaveup, th400 behind that out back is a dana 70HD, its heavy, I cleaned up the engine bay alittle, cut the coils and added 3in lowering spindles, did a axle filp and removed some leaves in back and got rid of all the extra metal-will show in pics- that i didn't need, i'm going to run a three tank fuel system for now, the stock side tanks and a blazer tank in the rear later I will put a 43 gallon Suburban tank in rear and the side tanks will make way for air tanks with 25ft hose reals behide the gas doors, The truck will end up being flat black bumper to bumper not a spot of chrome or any other color, will be bagging it later on with a 4 link.

[502ss]

Congrats on your find! This should be another great dually build. I have a few questions....

I noticed you chose to get rid of the rear sway bar, any reason?

Do you have any pictures of it lowered?

How much did you remove from the front springs?

Did you go with a 3" drop spindle?


I just finished a 4/5 drop on my 84. I am hoping to remove a few leafs I think because right now the nose is lower then the rear which I real don't want, you can check it out in my build thread located in my signature below.
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[TheDirt520]

After starting to work on the truck a year and two months after getting it,, built a 94 Burban, 95 bronco(crapy ford) and a 78 chop top chevy 4x4 pickup,, work was back on, pulled the bed, and started to work inside the minor rust turned out worse then I wanted to deal with so I found a new cab for $250 with back doors,, it was in great shape not a spot of rust, I would have spent 200 just on the panels I needed and would of only gotten 70% of the rust problem, since in Az the title belongs to the frame i'm swapping the dash with vin in the new cab,, went out today and started stripping the old cab down, cut out the dash, removed the doors and windows all the inside trim, tomorrow i'll cutup and recycle the old cab.

[TheDirt520]

Thanks, it'll be a fun build, my first frame off rebuild,, I cut a coil and a half off, i did go with a 3" spindle,, the reason for the sway bar is i'm c-notching the rear and am adding a sway bar that will mount to the frame and will attach to the axle with swaybar end links like used up front,,, sorry i didn't take any pics of it sitting after the drop before I took everything apart,, I didn't join this site till after I removed the body, but with 245/75/16's the crossmember sat about 6 inches off the ground, 10 under the middle of the frame, the back sat about 3 to 4" higher since it isnt notched yet.

[502ss]

I also noticed you have an air saw! How do you like it? I am thinking of getting one but they look kinda fragile. Are they as useful as as a sawzall?
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[TheDirt520]

Heres the cab I got for it,,, The guy who owned the red truck traded it in for the Cash For Clunkers program, it was a 91 Crew cab dually 4x4 beautiful paint flawless interior, hi-po 454, not a dent ding scratch nick rip or tear on this ride, damn shame, If I ever met this dumb schmuck i'd wanna punch him,,And from everything i've heard every car/truck in the CFC program is to be crushed and recycled, but the junk yard i got the cab from didn't listen, lucky me...

[TheDirt520]

I use the sawzall, and the air cut off wheel the most, both air tools i got at harbor freight and they suck,, the air saw doesn't cut for crap, and the cut off wheel starts turning as soon as i put the hose on, my hose leaks at the end so when i unhook the cut off wheel i put the air saw to stop the leak

[TheDirt520]

A good brand air saw might work better, but anything harbor freight sells with moving parts isn't worth the money

[502ss]

I used a cutoff grinder a cold chisel and a 3lb sledge hammer to perform the whole rear drop! Had to cut 36 rivets, what a PITA!
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[TheDirt520]

I cut two battery trays apart and welded them together my batt is pretty wide,, the cardboard on the firewall is the template for the firewall plate I made, it came out really nice but i then decided on the cab change and the had to cut it back off for the new cab,, I will be cleaning sanding and painting every single piece of this truck it'll look like a new old truck when i'm done,,,, should take me about 2 months since i'm doing everything myself with help only for the heavy lifting

[TheDirt520]

Originally Posted by 502ss

I used a cutoff grinder a cold chisel and a 3lb sledge hammer to perform the whole rear drop! Had to cut 36 rivets, what a PITA!
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Most of my rivets i cut the end off with the sawzall then pounded them thru,, I didn't count them but every rivet except the ones for the front spring hangers came off the rear frame area

[502ss]

Originally Posted by TheDirt520

Most of my rivets i cut the end off with the sawzall then pounded them thru,, I didn't count them but every rivet except the ones for the front spring hangers came off the rear frame area

I noticed you already have a burb tank. I pick my 31 gallon tank up tomorrow and will fabricate the mounts for it this weekend
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[TheDirt520]

502ss I just checked out your truck , NICE I like it, what size tires do you have on it, I'm sits right about the same as yours maybe alittle lower, not much tho, mines a toy hauler also except my toy is alittle smaller

[TheDirt520]

Originally Posted by 502ss

I noticed you already have a burb tank. I pick my 31 gallon tank up tomorrow and will fabricate the mounts for it this weekend
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Thats the tank from my Blazer its only 25 gallons and its a snug fit width wise, if the 31 gallon is anywider you'll have to trim the frame alittle,, i have 2 Burb tanks but from the mid 90's tho they are in Cali with my 96 and 94 burbs they are both 43 gallon tanks

[502ss]

Thanks for the compliment!

They are the factory size 235/85-16. I plan to run a 245/45-19 once I get my bolt on 19's. Right now the lower control arms are the lowest part on the truck so I definetly need to go with a bigger wheel.

Can you do me a favor and get me a dimension from the ground to the bottom of your frame rail (as close to the axle as possible) and then tell me how many leafs you removed. I want to drop the rear another 1-2" and need to do it with leafs even if I need to do a bag assist for towing. I know your running a different size tire so I will take that into consideration.
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[TheDirt520]

I'm running well my rear tires are 235's also but my trucks completely apart so I cant measure that for you I went and took a pic of the rear, best i could at night,, I have 6 leafs in the pack,, with the missing leafs and the rear flip kit I have about an 3/4" between the frame and axle after lowering the rear spring hanger 3",,

[Devillusion]

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[87 chevy silverado]

looks good. cant wait to se what u do.

[TheDirt520]

Thanks its just one of my many projects, other then my dually I have a 78 Blazer, 85 1/2t pickup, 73 3/4t pickup, 94 Burban, 08 Arctic cat prowler, and a 33 Chevy 5 window coupe, I'll be busy for awhile.

[TheDirt520]

Went out and cut up my old rusty cab today, needed it out of the yard, got $46 for about of rusty metal and some bondo

[Hulk Will Smash]

Great project. Good luck dude! I love cutting cars up with a sawzall! Cutoff wheel on a 4 inch or 9 inch electric grinder works like a champ too. Have fun!

[TheDirt520]

I'm thinking of taking a couple week break from the dually, to get another project done, I'm going to pull the motor from a 99 Suzuki swift and put it in my 08 Arctic cat prowler, alota work but my prowler will have twice the power and 3 times the gas mileage,, I wreaked the swift a few years back it only has 46722 miles on it, I roasted the prowler motor after putting 3888 miles on it in 8 months, 1928 of those came in the first 17 days, we'll see how it goes... i only have a total of 1200 in the dually 2600 including the audio/video system, I have over 20K in the prowler

[gtdownonit]

How hard/long did it take to get metal dash out?

[TheDirt520]

Originally Posted by gtdownonit

How hard/long did it take to get metal dash out?

It wasn't too hard to get out, I started by stripping everything out, the dash bolts on on the sides and is spot welded up at the base of the windshild, theres about a dozen or more spot welds across, I didn't want to mess up the channel for the windshild seal so I cut it about 2 inches down theres a curved dip across the dash i cut it there so it will sit on the piece i will leave on the new cab, i'll spot weld it then cover it with my dash,, no one will ever know,,,, I used an air cut off wheel whole thing took me about 30 minutes

[BrooKLyn]

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