Author Topic: My 1988 W-150 to W-350 - Misc. (Read 53513 times)

sls001 · « **on:** January 29, 2013, 06:30:25 pm »

I've been putting off a project thread until I really had some work progressing.

But right up-front I want to acknowledge and thank those members that I've directly purchased parts from and those that have supplied me (and others) with invaluable information.

In no particular order:

Jungle (Jim): https://ramchargercentral.com/jungleshddodgecomponents/
Front Spring Bushings:
Cross-over steering plates
Shackle Flip brackets
Windshield Shelf
U-bolt flip brackets

Dodgeboys (Dean): https://ramchargercentral.com/dodgeboysfactoryservicemanuals/
1988 & 1990 FSM’s
1990 360, A518, NP205 transfer case

EY8S (Eric)
Judge Front and Rear Bumpers
Tailgate
Cab
Sheet of ¼” steel

Scoots
Rear D60HD

4x4 440
D60 Internal style front hubs

Tide Water Offroad -Chris https://ramchargercentral.com/tidewater-off-road/
Rear Springs
Soon – Shocks

73DodgeW200SnoFiter
Front D60

Information Vendors: these folks I've either asked directly for information or via searching found info they provided to others that answered my questions.

MadMax, Elwenil, KTaxton, mrpeal, joe s, and others

I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone.

Ok onto my project

Here she is; my 1988 W-150 I purchased in April 2010 from a member of the local Mopar club.

She had 304,000 miles on the 318\727\241 combo. At some point someone had installed 4.56’s with 35’s and the PO I purchased it from installed new BFG tires and repainted it. It had 4” lift springs on the front and double stacked blocks in the rear.

RamChargerCentral

sls001 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2013, 06:44:15 pm »

After buying it and joining here I started to pick up the various parts to upgrade her with D60's and my original intent was to build a 408 to replace the very tired 318. The truck was mainly going to be a toy at first...

First I found a D60HD here on RCC

Then drove to PA a couple months later to pick up a D60 front from another member

I spent a good deal of time cleaning up the D60's and even picked up a rear disk brake kit from http://www.tsmmfg.com/

Here is the initial mock-up on the rear

Since they had different gears I was going to rebuild and re-gear the rear axle to 4.10 to match the front.

sls001 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2013, 06:55:42 pm »

I needed a 360 for my 408 project and I also wanted a A518 trans and NP205 transfer case and Dodgeboys happened to have one for sale so my son and I drove to MA to meet Dean and buy the drive-train out of a parts truck he had. While on that trip we made a detour and went over and met Jungle (Jim) and picked up a number of his products as well.

Besides a new Alpine stereo and Infinity 6*9 speakers in all 4 locations the first little project I did to the truck was take out the worn and saggy front bench seat and install a set of buckets from an RC.

Now that I think about it I got the console from Jungle while picking up the other parts.

sls001 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2013, 07:15:01 pm »

After I got the drive-train home I tore down the engine in preparation for building the 408 but my daily driver, a 1997 Jeep ZJ was totaled when a texting teen driver pulled out in front of my wife. No one was hurt save for my Jeep.

So I had to start driving the truck 65 miles round trip everyday. That worked well until the 318 decided it had had enough and blew a head gasket and I found a cracked head.

So I found a 1990 360 on www.car-part.com with only 51,000 miles from a Dodge Van in MD and my son and I set about swapping it in. While at it we rebuilt the trans, transfer case, and did some re-wiring.

New\old 360

Dis-assembly, clean-up, reseal

sls001 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2013, 07:30:17 pm »

While I was prepping the engine I ordered a bunch of new parts with the proceeds from the totaled Jeep funds. I also ordered a set of Headman Elite truck headers and the B&M flex-plate necessary for the swap from 318-360.

sls001 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 29, 2013, 07:43:58 pm »

Well now that I had the parts and the engine cleaned up and resealed I needed to get the truck apart. I had wanted to get the A518 rebuilt and installed but didn't want to have drive shafts built twice (once for the A518\205 then again when I installed the D60's) so instead we rebuilt the 727.

Trans ready for rebuild, my son works at the local Ford Dealer and he took it into work and rebuilt it

The 241 was a greasy mess leaking from every orifice so I took it to the car wash, cleaned it up, then tore it down replaced the chain a couple bearings, and re-sealed it.

Now I got the engine and trans back together and ready for install

sls001 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2013, 08:02:39 pm »

Now that it was in the hole time to hook things up:

I replaced all the AC lines, condenser, compressor, and dryer since the old compressor had come apart internally.

As we all know one of the most important things to keeping a trans alive is cooling. I installed a Hughes Towing converter which holds an additional 2 quarts of fluid, the Dearle pan +4 quarts, and a B&M plate type cooler.

One of my concerns with the headers was the location of the fuel filter so I made a heat shield and covered it with reflective fabric.

sls001 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 29, 2013, 08:06:14 pm »

Upcoming...

mopar65pa · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2013, 09:23:09 pm »

Mike Barf · « **Reply #9 on:** January 30, 2013, 12:02:10 am »

some choice work going on there

sls001 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 30, 2013, 06:50:43 pm »

Thanks

While I had the nose all tore off I decided to fix up some of the wiring as at some point in the trucks past someone decided to do some "redneck" electrical work with lamp-cords and wire-nuts.

I also wanted to install relays and circuit breakers for a number of circuits, upgrade the lighting, and install dual batteries.

Here is the bracket I made to hold the new fuse panel, junctions, relay's, etc:

Since I don't have any "real" metal working tools I had to get creative

Some black paint and a vacuum hose I cut in half

And here it is mounted. On the front you can see I mounted the solenoid for the batteries

And an overhead shot. I don't have any pictures of it but I did "beef" up the stock battery box mount's.

I still have some work to finish with it and then I'll tidy up the wiring. I did crimp, solder, and shrink tube all connections.

sls001 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 30, 2013, 07:10:49 pm »

These are the Hella H4 replacement lights I used. They cam from: http://www.rallylights.com/

Dual battery kit from http://www.12voltguy.com/

Electrical Supplies from http://www.mcmaster.com/

sls001 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 30, 2013, 07:16:48 pm »

Next - the gauge cluster

mopar65pa · « **Reply #13 on:** January 30, 2013, 07:55:12 pm »

sherifflittle · « **Reply #14 on:** January 30, 2013, 09:52:20 pm »

this is a beautiful build. i had a 2x4 truck exact color combo. i miss it. but anyway you have a hellova job done so far.

Mike Barf · « **Reply #15 on:** January 30, 2013, 11:43:35 pm »

thats some nice work going on there.

EY8s · « **Reply #16 on:** January 31, 2013, 08:27:30 am »

i'm glad you started a build thread Shawn, i'll certainly be watching.
i know you'll have an awesome truck when you're done.

sls001 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 31, 2013, 09:37:10 am »

Thanks guys, Thanks Eric...

The one other thing I hope folks can take away from this is that this can all be done with no garage, shop, or special tools. Although, it would be nice to at least have a paved driveway

The dash work I did with a jig saw, a dremel tool, a drill and hole saw so to this point those are about the only "special" tools.

sls001 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 31, 2013, 04:01:10 pm »

I wanted better gauges and didn't want to add gauge pods all over so I found an extra gauge bezel at the local pick-a-part that had the wood insert to use as a template to cut out the panel.

I cut out the template with a jig saw and dremel tool

I had initially used a piece of cardboard to figure out how I wanted to lay-out the gauges and verify that they would fit and I tried several different layouts.

This is what I finally ended up with but still might add switches near the dual battery panel but I'll probably move them to the console. The one switch I might put there is the OD switch if I go with the a518.

I then added the small 3 switch panel next to the radio. These switches now are for the driving lights, cargo light, and the rock lights I've added.

Now the back side:
I crimped and soldered all of the connections and used weather-pack connectors to connect them to the existing wiring or new wiring I added.

I used bus-bars for ground, 12v +, and the dash lights.

I'm going to be pulling the cluster back out and installing LED bulbs, replace the oil pressure gauge with an electric gauge, and re-wiring the blower fan and doing the high-speed relay upgrade.

http://wiki.dieseltruckresource.com/wiki/Blower_Motor_Fix

sls001 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 31, 2013, 04:56:18 pm »

As most of us have found out these things tend to build up a good bit of heat under the hood. I know I need a bigger radiator but didn't want to mess with it until I find a new style rad support & grill in the truck. So I started looking at either fender gills or a hood scoop.

I know a couple folks on here have added fender vents or holes and I gave serious thought to using a set of Cuda fender gills but didn't want to spend the money on one of the repo-kits to find out it wouldn't work.

So I started thinking about a scoop mounted on the hood in reverse. I've always liked the Hemi-cuda scoops and my son bought me a SC-1023 from http://www.up22.com/scoopw1.htm

So here are a couple pics when I was trying to figure out how to mount it:

This way would require the least cutting of the scoop...

But this is how I wanted it:

...and while looking out the windshield

So after taking measurements, then taking them again, I pulled out an extra hood I had to give it a try. I laid-out the measurements on the extra hood, trimmed the center of the scoop to fit over the ridge in the hood and sprayed some primer to use as a template for later.

From the under-side of the hood I drilled the corners of the factory openings and scribd the cut lines for the opening.

Away I went with the jig-saw

I don't have allot of pictures of the install but I basically set the scoop on as shown and drilled up from the bottom and used the hardware that came with the scoop to mount it to the hood.

In this image you can see the cut-out in the front of the scoop to fit the ridge in the hood.

This hood had hail damage so it took a while to get smoothed out and I just used whatever cheap paint I had at first to fill, sand, etc. When I have the Truck repainted I plan on mounting a scoop on my "good" hood since this one was also bent at the hinge point but worked great for my first attempt at hood scoop install.

After feathering in the edges I primered the hood and put it on.

It was an instant 20 degree temp drop when sitting in I-95 bumper-to-bumper traffic! Anyone from NOVA knows what I'm talking about!

mopar65pa · « **Reply #20 on:** January 31, 2013, 05:20:04 pm »

DANG! That more wiring then I would want to do.........

Nice work, I like the reverse scoop much better.

Mike Barf · « **Reply #21 on:** January 31, 2013, 05:21:18 pm »

so, when do you want to stop by and redo my dash and wiring? that is a lot of tedious work that looks darn delicious.

mopar65pa · « **Reply #22 on:** January 31, 2013, 05:30:10 pm »

Quote from: Mike Barf on January 31, 2013, 05:21:18 pm

so, when do you want to stop by and redo my dash and wiring? that is a lot of tedious work that looks darn delicious.

Ha Ha! Yeah I'll be dropping an 89 Cummins in my 78 Crewcab and will need wiring work too........

sls001 · « **Reply #23 on:** January 31, 2013, 05:42:40 pm »

I actually enjoy the wiring...I admit I still have to finish mine. I left extra wiring hanging out because I knew I would be adding accessories and moving things around.

I am willing to work out some trade\barter...I'm going to need some body work. My roof is rusted at the windshield and over the rear wheel wells. I have another roof panel (and a cab just in case) as well as the replacement panels.

Mike you might be a bit far off but I could help you out with a dash...

sls001 · « **Reply #24 on:** January 31, 2013, 06:07:19 pm »

Well I always keep and eye on Craigslist and have an app on my Android Phone and was watching for W-250\350's hoping a diesel might pop-up I could afford or a club-cab which I really want.

Well this past spring this mess showed up:
1993 W-350 a guy in Northern VA bought up in NJ to make his D250 diesel into 4wd but got cold feet and I bought it for $1,300. It only had 86k on it but what wasn't rusted was dented. The 5.9 Magnum ran fantastic but only had 1 forward gear. The D60's had 4.10's, A518 and an NP205 x-fer case.

So after cash changed hands and a little white lie to AAA I had it towed home.

So now I had a matching set of axles and other "spare" parts

sls001 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 31, 2013, 06:22:01 pm »

So began the tear down...

While the cab roof was perfect, the rest of the cab was shot:

This was the floor pan I pulled out:

So I kept the roof:

It was so rusted I didn't even have to unbolt the rest:

I had considered putting my body onto this chassis but it was cracked and rusted in numerous spots

...and a little sawzall magic:

and it then fit into the back of my truck for the trip to the metal recycle'r (in 2 trips)

I ended up selling the engine for $500 and got another $350 for the scrap.

Here are a couple pictures of the cowl cracks:

Both doors has numerous stress cracks as did the fenders at the mounting bolts and the radiator support had a couple.

88raminator · « **Reply #26 on:** January 31, 2013, 09:05:34 pm »

{cool}Two thumbs up on a functional hood. Too many trucks run around with glue on nonfuctional hood scoops, another build to follow- all the more ideas for mine

sls001 · « **Reply #27 on:** February 1, 2013, 07:50:22 pm »

Well now that I got rid of the scrap it was time to clean-up the axles, put new bearings and seals in them and new brakes.

Front D60 - Before clean-up

Here is the rear D60HD after I wire brushed the hell out of it and shot some primer on it.

New Calipers, some of Jungles pieces, etc all cleaned and painted

After cleaning one side and replacing the king pins started putting it back together:

New rotors, bearings, and seals

Ends back on and the rest of the housing in primer and the KORE diff covers:

Outer Axle Tube Seals from http://mad4wd.com

All cleaned, rebuilt, resealed and ready for install

Now onto the rear axle and install the rear disks

Test Fit:

1/2 and 1/2 for fun:

Well in order to be able to use them I needed some new wheels and tires

Ordered Crager Soft 8's from Summit and these from Tire Rack GoodYear Wrangler DuraTrac's 315/70R 17's

All mounted and axles are almost ready:

mopar65pa · « **Reply #28 on:** February 1, 2013, 08:12:26 pm »

Super nice!

sls001 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 1, 2013, 08:33:34 pm »

Well I had ordered a set of brake lines from www.inlinetube.com for the truck when I first got it so I had to make them work with the D60's.

I also ordered braided stainless lines from http://www.egrbrakes.com

I figured I might have to move them around a bit once I get the axles under the truck so I left some extra room on them.

I also ordered my cross-over steering kit from http://www.offroaddesign.com/
I also picked up a set of spring perches since 1 of the stock ones was worn out and the spring had been welded to it.

And while I was at it I was concerned about a rear support on the NP205 so I picked this up from http://www.trailtechfab.com over on Pirate4x4

sls001 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 1, 2013, 08:37:11 pm »

Quote from: mopar65pa on February 1, 2013, 08:12:26 pm

Super nice!

Thank you

sls001 · « **Reply #31 on:** February 1, 2013, 08:53:04 pm »

Well a couple months ago the D44 had finally had all it could take. The ball joints were shot and it needed brakes so it was time to go.

So I put my son to work and moved it into the Cul-de-sac for level ground and we tore it out and threw in the D60

Gone

Let the air out of the new tires and rolled it under the bumper and hooked it up

Ok...the truth is I told the boy to do it

He's allot younger than me.

I didn't do the cross over at this point. I had a lift block (steering link) and adjustable drag-link. I also didn't have the front drive shaft in either as I needed to get the truck done on Saturday to drive to work on Monday.

I was just waiting for a good time to take the nose off to weld in Jungles cross-over plates and complete the cross-over steering and install the 93 radiator support and grill. I didn't have to wait long...

Ragman · « **Reply #32 on:** February 1, 2013, 09:42:38 pm »

Awesome rig! May I ask what you used for your paint on everything? Looks like it was brushed on and looks pretty durable.

sls001 · « **Reply #33 on:** February 1, 2013, 09:52:38 pm »

Quote from: Ragman on February 1, 2013, 09:42:38 pm

Awesome rig! May I ask what you used for your paint on everything? Looks like it was brushed on and looks pretty durable.

The black is http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-2k-ceramic-chassis-black.html

The red is http://www.eastwood.com/ew-ceramic-caliper-paint-kit-red.html

It has held up great so far and I have pressure washed it and used brake cleaner and such on it with no issues but as with any paint the prep is key!

Ragman · « **Reply #34 on:** February 1, 2013, 10:08:13 pm »

I wish I would of went that route when I painted my trans, tcase and axles. When I first hooked up the brakes and had a leak at the junction block on the axle it stripped the paint right off. I just used Rustoleum semi gloss black.

sls001 · « **Reply #35 on:** February 1, 2013, 11:55:48 pm »

As I mentioned I had been putting off doing the cross-over steering since I would need to remove the radiator support to get room to weld in the Jungle's plates. Well I got a good excuse when the timing cover started leaking coolant...I am probably the only person that would be glad to see that since it gave me an excuse to pull the front off the truck again..

Plus I just purchased a Miller 211 mig so it was a good time to give it a try.

So off came the nose...in went the cross-over plates

On with the cross-over steering:

This was also a good time to start figuring out my winch bumper...

While this work was still going on I had purchased the bumpers and tailgate from EY8's he had build for "Judge" and tossed them on (I bought the front bumper for my son's RC)

So here it is the day my son took it to work to do the alignment on it:

I only wished I had painted the hood with the same paint as the grill but it doesn't mater since I hope to paint the entire truck this next summer.

Next the Winch Bumper...

sls001 · « **Reply #36 on:** February 2, 2013, 12:16:39 am »

While he nose was off I got the basic measurements for the center section of the bumper. EY8's had picked up a sheet of .250 steel for me when I purchased the parts of his truck.

I had purchased a SuperWinch Tiger Shark 13,5000 lbs winch back in spring.

Here I had cut the side plates and the bottom plate and am checking it for fit before any welding:

Here you can see the cab from "Judge":

Once I was certain I had the side and bottom plates, I drilled out the 8 mounting holes for the winch base and started to fit the rest

I cut the opening for the fairlead and test fit it and a set of bumper clevis's from: http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/BCLEV.html

The sheet of steel Eric picked up for me was a 12 x 24" sheet and I cut all of it with cut-off wheels on my HF 4.5" grinder. While a plasma cutter would have made life much better, for those w\o it one, you can see it can be done with decent precision.

Here it is welded up:

I tack welded in wire loom's for the light wire

I now just need a sheet of 3/16" to finish the "wings" but I also want to incorporate storage bins for basic recovery gear. On the passenger side I'm going to extend the storage box back under the radiator support a few inches to get some extra room. I'm still working on the design to keep it as water-resistant as possible.

jungle · « **Reply #37 on:** February 2, 2013, 06:02:17 am »

Shawn,
I just found your thread this morning & all I can say is WOW!!!!! I love your attention to all the details in this build. The wiring is Awesome & I love the mounting plate for the relays. Is that the head light relay that Jim did over on DTR?
Jim

EY8s · « **Reply #38 on:** February 2, 2013, 07:54:43 am »

it's looking great Shawn. i think the integral storage for the front bumper is a great idea, especially for recovery gear. your winch mount setup should work well with that when you add the 3/16" plate. it was neat when i got to the rear shots and saw the tailgate and bumper - deja vu.

keep pluggin'! (or welding

)

mopar65pa · « **Reply #39 on:** February 2, 2013, 08:24:42 am »

Sweet.

sls001 · « **Reply #40 on:** February 2, 2013, 09:21:17 am »

Quote from: jungle on February 2, 2013, 06:02:17 am

Shawn,
I just found your thread this morning & all I can say is WOW!!!!! I love your attention to all the details in this build. The wiring is Awesome & I love the mounting plate for the relays. Is that the head light relay that Jim did over on DTR?
Jim

Hi Jim - Thanks

Yes, I followed the Jim Lane's write up: http://wiki.dieseltruckresource.com/wiki/Headlamp_Relays

The mounting plate idea I got from MadMax (Sam) from his builds.

sls001 · « **Reply #41 on:** February 2, 2013, 09:26:34 am »

Quote from: EY8s on February 2, 2013, 07:54:43 am

it's looking great Shawn. i think the integral storage for the front bumper is a great idea, especially for recovery gear. your winch mount setup should work well with that when you add the 3/16" plate. it was neat when i got to the rear shots and saw the tailgate and bumper - deja vu.
keep pluggin'! (or welding )

Here is some more deja vu for you: we just set the bumper in place on my son's RC to see how if fit. Hopefully next summer we will get going on it.

sls001 · « **Reply #42 on:** February 2, 2013, 09:27:21 am »

Quote from: mopar65pa on February 2, 2013, 08:24:42 am

Sweet.

Thanks

sls001 · « **Reply #43 on:** February 2, 2013, 05:04:39 pm »

Well this brings us up to the past couple weeks. It was time to get the rear axle in so here we go:

My son brought some help to give us a hand since there is no way I would be able to do it all myself plus I needed to get the axle and transfer-case in on a Saturday.

Here is the start

You have to love lift blocks

Out

IN

Shackle Flip brackets from Jungle and Springs from RCC vendor Tide Water Off Road

NP205 in its new home

I'm going to have to bend the exhaust a bit to clear the yoke

UPS Stopped by with my new rear drive shaft, Dynabeads, and custom e-brake cables from http://store.controlcables.com/servlet/StoreFront

The drive shaft came from http://www.tomwoodscustomdriveshafts.com/ - also great to deal with. I ordered it last Monday, mid-day, and they shipped it the next day.

The e-brake cables fit perfect - I highly recommend Control Cables if you need custom cables. I needed them made with the end specific for the Caddy e-brake calipers and the other to fit the stock bracket on the truck.

Here you can get an idea of the height with Jungles shackle flip and 4" lift springs

I was hoping to have the shock brackets welded to the axle housing today but the weather turned on me. As I suspected I'm going to have to remove the rear brake lines and re-bend them since they are right in the way of the shock brackets.

The shock mounts are from Rough Stuff Specialties. I have a couple sections of tubing to run in between the bracket.

Approximate location

sls001 · « **Reply #44 on:** February 2, 2013, 05:13:58 pm »

I had a PM asking about my exhaust routing:

I had it run completely down the right side: I want to install my on board air compressor and tank where the spare tire used to be...

mopar65pa · « **Reply #45 on:** February 2, 2013, 05:22:28 pm »

Looking good!

sls001 · « **Reply #46 on:** February 2, 2013, 05:24:02 pm »

Quote from: mopar65pa on February 2, 2013, 05:22:28 pm

Looking good!

Thank you

sls001 · « **Reply #47 on:** February 2, 2013, 05:27:30 pm »

Here are a couple pictures of how\where I mounted "rock" lights...

I had a couple pair of old halogen lights so I mounted to under the radiator support as you can see here (you can see the back of them). They do not hang down to where they can be noticed

And in the rear I put them in the big wasted space at the front of the bed\wheel well

sherifflittle · « **Reply #48 on:** February 2, 2013, 08:26:38 pm »

Quote from: sls001 on February 2, 2013, 05:27:30 pm

Here are a couple pictures of how\where I mounted "rock" lights...

I had a couple pair of old halogen lights so I mounted to under the radiator support as you can see here (you can see the back of them). They do not hang down to where they can be noticed

And in the rear I put them in the big wasted space at the front of the bed\wheel well

what is the purpose of the positioning of these lights?

SuperBurban · « **Reply #49 on:** February 2, 2013, 08:34:23 pm »

You want a studd mount, like the original. This type is for having the shocks parallel to the springs. Using this type, will cause the whole shock to bind up as the suspension flexes.

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Author Topic: My 1988 W-150 to W-350 - Misc. (Read 53513 times)

sherifflittle

sherifflittle