I have a '94 2500 CTD auto 4X4 RC/LB
330hp Bosch Injectors
Injector pump rebuilt and turned up
#8 banks fuel plate
dual straight piped 5" exhuast
K&N stage 2 intake
dual optima batteries
Suncoast triple lock billet aluminum torque converter
Suncoast rebuilt tranny w/ extreme duty rebuild kit
Suncoast extreme duty valve body
4.10 dana spicer gears
10" skyjacker/custom lift
38X15.50 R18 TRXUS STS tires w/ 2" spacers

That's what I got now. This truck won't be a daily driver, it's main purpose will be for offroad recreation. I want it to be a great all-around truck. A little bit of pulling at a local event, or with buddies, towing my boat to the lake, having some offroad fun, or a little racing to show what a 7000 pound diesel truck can do.

Here's some items that come to mind, that I want to do to the truck, over time of course:
44X18.50 R16.5 tires on beadlock rims for offroading (need more lift i realize)
front and rear bumpers (front mounted hidden winch)
skid plates
Compound turbos
hydro-assist steering

Goal for engine is 500RWHP and 1000 ft/lbs torque.

Just wanted to give an idea of where I want to go as far as modifying this truck.

If you had to design the ultimate truck for the examples I mentioned earlier, what would it be like?


Thanks for the ideas

I like the way mine is coming along so far, I got 40 inch Iroks, beadlock wheels, 4.10s, ford front D60 axle, custom steering setup, DT track bar, 6 inch d*ck cepek lift, Atlas rear leaf springs, shackle flip, stainless brake lines, Trailready front bumper, Speedliner on the whole truck, a few engine mods, K&N, straight pipe, 100 plate, GSK, pinched wastegate. my plans for future are a roll cage, custom rear bumper and sliders, Twins, GB tranny, lockers, winches, some belly protection, on board air, etc.

My truck is similar to lances except I have a dodge d60 trussed upper and lower and its open and the skyjacker arms. I dont know how much you really wheel your current setup but I have never ran into hard clearence problems which would need larger tires and so I downsized my tires. My friend put hydro assist on his ram it it works great, I highly recomend it if you are going to wheel hardcore. Our trucks do great, the only thing that has ever limited me are weight (heavy diesel) and how large my truck is.

You're paying a lot of attention to your motor. Don't forget a big front winch bumper + 1000# diesel + 1000lb tq + 44's = totally grenaded front axle shafts. The first thing I would do is upgrade with some usa alloy or superior 35 spline end to end and some 300m u joints. Pay now or pay later.

Don't forget lockers.

I'd stay around 40's if I were you.......they will clear most obsticles on the trail but still keep you somewhat lower to the ground..........big tires and a tall truck gets kinda tippy when crawling over rocks. Also if you plan on pulling and racing and stuff like that, 44's are just too dang big for doing stuff like that IMO.

And like yarddog said......will them big meats on there trying to put some big power down.......you are gonna break more times than not unless you throw in some 2 1/2 ton military axles.......and then you'll be good!!!! [guitar]



~Nick

Just steer clear of the rocks all together and keep with the mud. If you wanna crawl by a smaller rig. Have you thought of hacking a few feet out of the middle of the frame and flat beding it?

You never mentioned what diffs you have, if you can't get traction to the ground (open diffs), you are going nowhere. Larger front axles will be in order. Axle truss will be necessary, especially with our 3 piece design [yuk] . Stronger control arms will be needed if not already installed from the lift. The higher you lift the truck, the more power you lose due to the angle of the driveshafts. With real high trucks, things disappear quickly as you approach them.

Axle truss will be necessary, especially with our 3 piece design

Very true, I bent mine in 3 places. At the CAD and both places where the tubes went into the diff. Truss it before it bends. In some of my pics you can see the truss if you look close enough. Its trussed on the bottom and the top.

Just steer clear of the rocks all together and keep with the mud. If you wanna crawl by a smaller rig. Have you thought of hacking a few feet out of the middle of the frame and flat beding it?
a diesel wouldnt be my first choice in mud either.

Figured I should be alright if I stick to hard trails, rock crawling, and a little light mudding.
Not to sound too dumb but I take it axel truss is a way of reinforcing the axel? Could anyone elaborate a little more on this?
Thanks for the help

Google "axle truss", there is a ton of info there that is a lot easier to read and learn about rather than trying to explain it here. Go from there.

Figured I should be alright if I stick to hard trails, rock crawling, and a little light mudding.
Not to sound too dumb but I take it axel truss is a way of reinforcing the axel? Could anyone elaborate a little more on this?
Thanks for the help

Here ya go, this is mine after my buddy and I finished it.

http://pnrfab.com/dana100/IMG_0086.JPG

The higher you lift the truck, the more power you lose due to the angle of the driveshafts. :confused: Huh???

The best power transfer is along a straight line. Stock, 2WD, the transmission is about the same level as the differential. The driveline is straight between the two. Lift the truck and you lift the transmission, the driveline is now at a steep downward angle to the differential, depending on the lift. The higher the lift, the more loss of power, also very hard on the "U" joints. Take a ratchet, 12" extension and socket and put it on a bolt, check how easy it is to put torque to the bolt with everything in line. Put a universal on the socket, another on the ratchet, move the ratchet off line 6" and see the difference. If you want some of your power back, rotate the rear end so the diff yoke is in line to the transmission, not easy to do.

The best power transfer is along a straight line. Stock, 2WD, the transmission is about the same level as the differential. The driveline is straight between the two. Lift the truck and you lift the transmission, the driveline is now at a steep downward angle to the differential, depending on the lift. The higher the lift, the more loss of power, also very hard on the "U" joints. Take a ratchet, 12" extension and socket and put it on a bolt, check how easy it is to put torque to the bolt with everything in line. Put a universal on the socket, another on the ratchet, move the ratchet off line 6" and see the difference. If you want some of your power back, rotate the rear end so the diff yoke is in line to the transmission, not easy to do. [laugh] [laugh] [roll] [laugh] Right,... Okay,... [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

Nice attitude.

Dude, I wasn't trying to be negative, your theory is okay, just not really applicable as you describe it with the wrench. In a driveline the tranny or t-case output (the ratchet in your theory) is fixed, as is the rear pinion (your socket). Now as you said in a straight line (no universal) it is very easy to turn the socket with the wrench. This is because the wrench is in a relatively fixed position (can't move more than a few degrees in any direction relative to the socket) and easily transfers the torque you apply to the ratchet directly to the socket. Now add your universal to the mix, and now the rachet is no longer in a fixed position relative to the socket, as you apply torque to the ratchet not only is it trying to turn the socket but it is also trying to move the ratchet. Now in a driveline since the input and output are fixed (can't move relative to each other, excluding suspension movement, which generally doesn't change driveshaft angle that much in street use) the output (ratchet) is only trying to turn the input (socket), not also moving the output's location. Yes u-joints do create parasitic loss and increasing the angle will increase the parasitic loss to the point of bind. This is a very small percentage of your power output though, and I don't think you would even be able to measure the loss on a dyno, consistently enough to attribute it only to the u-joints. Take a bone stock truck, put it on a dyno, then take it off, lift it, do nothing to try to correct the u-joint angles, and make no other changes (same tires as before) and I think you will see little to no change in power output, and it certainly won't be repeatable enough to attribute only to u-joint angles. Sorry if my post sounded negative.

I would also add, that the "hard to do" part referred to by Baja WRT to the pinion angle is not anything like simply rotating the axle with shims or re-welding the perches to reduce the driveshaft angle relative to the diff pinion. The pinion angle is the pinion's angle relative to the tranny or transfer case output shaft. Any radical changes in that regard would call for shifting the entire drivetrain engine and all. That would of course, be very difficult to do, if not totally out of the question. :o

Good replies from both of you. I, and I may be wrong on this, have understood that street/drag racers will modify their rear ends to eliminate a few problems of real high horsepower and torque, and to add efficiency. One of them is power transfer. You may be right about the dyno test, it would be interesting to see one. I only mentioned the rear end, I know it is all but impossible to change the angle of the tranny or x-fer case, and have never heard of anybody doing that.

Yes, drag racers are very careful with pinion angles, mainly because extremely hard launches on slicks can twist the axle so much that the u-joint can bind. The rear is absorbing so much power and the slicks refuse to spin, so the pinion actually tries to climb the ring gear, causing the pinion to twist the housing upward.

That is what I thought, axle wrap. Now, if we lift a truck 10", aren't we changing the pinion angles by changing the relationship of the tranny to the diff? If so, that angle change can be measured in degrees, and cars/trucks lose about 5hp to every degree of change. I always thought if you lift a truck, you change the pinion angles. How many degrees of change there is in a 10" lift, I don't know, there are many variables, but my guess is that it would be a lot (if my earlier thinking is correct). That is why I suggested power loss.

No. There is only one pinion angle. It is the angle of the pinion relative to the tranny output shaft, NOT the driveshaft. Lifting the truck increases the angularity of the U-joints, but the difference between the front and rear u-joint angles (i.e. "x" number of degrees down = pinion angle) stays the same.

Thanks. Again I learn something from DTR. [coffee]

Pro shops and high tech joints use alot of expensive, fancy angle measuring tools to determine/set pinion angle. Fact is, within a degree or two probably won't make much difference in anything but the most demanding application (top fuel, whatever). Here's a tip for an easy way to check the pinion angle if you can get the vehicle on a lift: Take the drive shaft off and U-joints out. set the yokes on the trans and rear vertical and stick a broomstick in 'em. Use some duct tape or something to sleeve them up tight. Now step off to the side about 10 or fifteen feet and just look at it! If the sticks are parallel, you have zero degrees pinion angle.

One thing that's important as far as vibes go is if the pinion flange and output flange are not parallel, you need a cv at the output side or it will vibe like crazy.

II = 2 u joints
\I = CV

Everyone has brought up great points. The best thing to do is go wheel it and when something breaks upgrade it. That up grade will move the weak point somewhere else so you upgrade that. If you keep upgrading, eventually you'll have a bullet proof truck.

Personally a full size Dodge is way to big for me, the turning radius would suck and I'd be dragging the rockers and sides of the body on everything. I like my Dodge as a tow rig to pull the little crawler :D