Looking for a cummins donor vehicle for 2500hd

[Vintage Windmills]

sounds like he's going to have the trans out tomorrow so I can pick up the truck after work. Weather is sloppy now and they're salting the roads... Man I don't want to get salt on my trailer or 2500HD but I guess one trip won't hurt it too bad. Gotta hit the car wash afterwards I guess.

Starting to learn more about the conversions, sounds like I will want to get a NV4500 bellhousing, use a 13" clutch, and then do an adapter plate on the back of the bellhousing to connect the SM465. And use a 1.5" input shaft out of a medium duty chevy.

[Dieselwrencher]

I would just use a NV4500 and toss the SM465. NV4500 has overdrive and you can use a NP205 29 spline from a first gen manual dodge and eliminate the hodge podge of 2 bell housing adaptive deals. Plus, if your truck has low gears, you'll hate that cummins swap with no OD.

[Vintage Windmills]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

I would just use a NV4500 and toss the SM465. NV4500 has overdrive and you can use a NP205 29 spline from a first gen manual dodge and eliminate the hodge podge of 2 bell housing adaptive deals. Plus, if your truck has low gears, you'll hate that cummins swap with no OD.

normally I'd agree but I've got the gearvendors I was thinking I'd use unless the rear driveshaft would be too short. I think it would be fun to split the wide ratios of the 465 with that. Plus, the nv4500 isn't without issues and the only weakness on the sm465 appears to be the input shaft. Maybe the output/tcase input but will it really be an issue with this stock 1st gen cummins? Its only what 400 ftlbs? Rear gears will either be the 4.10's I have now or the suspected 3.54 in the D60 front. GV OD ratio is .78 if I recall correctly. Tires will be 31 to 33. Time for me to calculate RPM's with this info.

[Vintage Windmills]

How far back would I have to slide the driveline to fit the cummins under the hood of the K20?

With the storm we had here, it looks like Sat is the day to retrieve it from the urban jungle in the heart of Minneapolis.

[Vintage Windmills]

got it home, took some effort though. It was a tight fit getting it out of the tight alley/backyard, and inch was froze up at first and so was trailer jack but I managed and all went well. At least the roads weren't sloppy, just some hard frozen pack.

Now to figure out what the heck it will take to get the SM 465 connected to it. THink I'll park it out in the field until spring, then think about yanking the engine and front axle out and scrapping the rest.

Speaking of front axle, according to the BOM number stamped in the axle tube, its a D61 with 3.54 gears. I have a D60 rear 3.54 sitting here so I'm starting to think that may be a good solution. The D61 may actually work out very well for me with that gear ratio. I was afraid it might be a 3.07 which most D61's seem to be. As long as the joint and brakes are the same as a d60, I'm going to be in good shape.

[Vintage Windmills]

More pics. Of course, it came with the obligatory junk tv in the back. I could have *****ed about that but I still got a good deal so whatever. It has a good 7500 lb hitch on the back I didn't see before and AC, which may be nice in the truck its going into.

Wonder if there is any value in the narrow dually rear..

[Dieselwrencher]

Jud, that truck looks to be in pretty good shape for a first gen dodge. I also found out that according to Quad4x4 they did offer 3.54's in some D61's. I never heard this before or knew that before. The info is about half way down the page.

http://www.quad4x4.com/DodgeDana60front1975-1993.html

[6BT 56]

Yep I agree. That dodge is a diamond up here in ontario. Most of ours you can stick your fingers up inside the roof pillars from the inside . Thats if the floors lasted long enuf for the roof to rot next. I didnt know what a D61 was till the other day . Everyone is learning here ! You will be able to use lots of stuff from that truck for sure .

[Vintage Windmills]

Its not as nice as it looks but maybe I can sell some of the body parts to some 1st gen fan around here.

It does have some other parts I can use, the two front tires, hyd clutch pedal, and wheels and the hitch. Its also got a decent mid 90's chevy bumper I may be able to sell. Too bad the Reading box is shot. (rusted through in all compartments).

Any thoughts on the D70/D80 rear? Would the 3.54 R&P be worth pulling? Suppose I should check for posi.

[6BT 56]

If you are scrapping the truck then you should just pull the whole thing . I dont think its a dually rear tho , you dont have the dually front hubs . Unless sumone has swiched it . I could measure my d70 dodge rerar that is in my 56 if you like .

[Dieselwrencher]

If you're going SRW with your chevy use the D70 as they aren't as wide as an 80. SRW to SRW. Just look how far out my tires are on my Longhorn, that is a D80 SRW in the back of it.

[Vintage Windmills]

the inside of brake drum to brake drum distance is only about 4', so it must be a dually rear that was swapped in when the box was put on. the rear springs are a stack of more than 12 each also!

I bet there are more of these dana 61.s out there in trucks who's owners think they have a 60. still wonder why it would have a 61 since a 60 was available with 3.54. perhhaps they had more inventory of 61 to use up?

do you guys think a d60 3.54 rear with the stock Dana Powr-Lok would hold up well behind this 1st gen cummins?

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Vintage Windmills

the inside of brake drum to brake drum distance is only about 4', so it must be a dually rear that was swapped in when the box was put on. the rear springs are a stack of more than 12 each also!

I bet there are more of these dana 61.s out there in trucks who's owners think they have a 60. still wonder why it would have a 61 since a 60 was available with 3.54. perhhaps they had more inventory of 61 to use up?

You could be right. I haven't heard of any D61's before with 3.54 gears. But I'm sure guys just assumed they had a D60 to begin with.

do you guys think a d60 3.54 rear with the stock Dana Powr-Lok would hold up well behind this 1st gen cummins?

If you keep the engine stock probably. I don't know for how long seeing how BBC's would brake these axle shafts. It wouldn't make me warm and fuzzy with a 60 in the rear.

[Vintage Windmills]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

If you keep the engine stock probably. I don't know for how long seeing how BBC's would brake these axle shafts. It wouldn't make me warm and fuzzy with a 60 in the rear.

So the axles are the weak link in those? Nice thing about full floater is the wheel wouldn't come off if an axle were to break, so a failure wouldn't be a safety issue. Since I already have the parts to make it happen, will probably give it a shot. I wonder how many of those BBC's were higher Hp than stock and probably doing some abusive brakestands and launches?


Now if there were a way to make the HO52 axles fit in the Dana The eatons look indestructible! Or get 3.54's to fit in a HO52 but I';ve never heard of that.

[ryanroo]

I would go with a heavier rear. the 60 is just smaller all around. brakes, r&p, shafts... being in farm truck country i cant think it would be terribly difficult to chase down a 14 bolt or a d70/80. i cant think of one truck that used a 60 behind a real diesel in stock form(excluding the NA6.2 and 1/2ton 6.5 trucks). but if you know the limits and dont push at them it would probably not really give you any issue just putting around. put a lot of torque through it with a load though and you will probably see some busted metal. or at least worn out parts quicker.

im going to recommend that you go ahead and swap the front pinion yoke to a 1350. any dana 60 yoke from a similar year i.e. a chevy ford or dodge dana 60 will work on the 61. i have replaced a few of those on trucks with owners that just wanted to be done replacing u joints. you will likely have make or find replacement drivelines anyhow so the yoke only adds a little extra cost. you can look for a 2nd gen dodge front shaft at the JY as they have the same saginaw style flange at the t-case as the dodge 205s and a 1350 cv joint as well as a 1350 yoke the other end.