dparker

I have a 1985 D350 crew cab dually that I am going to convert to a cummins and 4x4. This is my 1st dually and I dont know much about the dually wheel adapters. My plan is to buy a 91-93 donor with cummins and 4x4 to have everything i need. Do I have to by a dually? Can convert single rear wheel axles to dually? Can I use the 2x4 dually adapters off my current truck? What are my options?

Thank you

90 power ram

you can use the same rear end if you have the same gears up front i would think i'm doing a Cummins swap currently i just bought axles of another guy that lives up the road and i just rebuilt them. i'm sure some one else will chime in here soon. good luck with the conversion!

Shane

dparker

I thought the rear axle from my truck wouldn't be strong enough. If I can use my current rear axle (dont know for sure what is is), how can I convert a front 4x4 axle to accept a dually wheel.

simplysmn

the current axle is a Dana 70 I believe just without the sensor like the first gen's have A buddy has that same rearend in a 93 DRW and it work's great all you have to do is get the front adapter's or a drw frontend

dparker

Whats the easiest way to find out what rear end it is? Whats the difference between the dually adapters on a 4x4 front axle and a factory 4x4 front dually axle?

PapeCAT

SRW dana 70s are more narrow @ ~ 65" hub face to hub face wide.

DRW Dana 70 are more around 73ish if I recall....

You can't just bolt dual wheels on a SRW dana 70 - the inner wheels will hit the spring packs.

You should look for a W350 dually or Cab and Chassis dually donor.

The front 4x4 axle is the same - except for the dually hubs which are basically spacers.

simplysmn

Dparker you have a dana 70 in the 85 crewcab it most likly has 410 gear's in it if you can find a front dana 60 with the same gear's you should be fine shoot me a pm if you need any idea's when you start your conversion to diesel there fun to do

Mark Nixon

What I get from his top posting is that the truck being converted is ALREADY a dually, just a 2wd.
It will already have a Dana 70 rear axle.

If you end up with a single wheel front axle, don't sweat it, there are guys on some of the 4x4 sites (Pirate 4x4 comes to mind) who will GLADLY swap DRW hubs for SRW hubs.
Also, Chevrolet and '90-1/2 up Dodge front hubs interchange, but steer clear of the "external" locking hub axles (Early '90 and down), especially if you are contemplating a SRW.
Those hubs would be hard to get an even up swap for, if you wanted DRW.

Mark.

dparker

Thanks guys for all the information, thats exactly what I was looking for. I crawled under my truck last night and it is a Dana 70 with 410s.

My biggest concern about buying a donor truck was SRW or DRW, looks like my search criteria just got much wider.

Thanks again for your help.