if it were closer i would ask for an invite to give a hand. but being in the nw thats a long trip.

 

It aint nothin' but a drive in the country! Uh, I mean ACROSS the country.

 

10/26/2007
Swapped steering wheels
Swapped centerlink and inner and outer tie rods

 

Ceejmo, caught your thread over on RCC too. You got me motivated. I started tearing into both vehicles last Friday, and will hopefully get alot done in the next 2 weeks.

Hopefully, the rain will let up, so you can get after it again.

 

You will need to use the D250 frame as well !!!!! The R/C frame will bend with the first speed bump you hit!

 

What are you going to do with the body parts when your done ? My neighbour might have swapped you a extremely rusted 91 with a getrag for you to have used for the donor.

 

I don't think so. Jughead's been running around with a Cummins in a D150 for years.

 

It seems to me that the weight of the engine is on the crossmember and lower control arms and not on the frame itself. The weight of the frame and body are also on the crossmember. I would think that towing a heavy load or putting a lot of horsepower/torque to the rear wheels may try to twist the frame. But, average (my average) daily driving shouldn't be a problem. The D250 frame is .203" thick. The Ramcharger frame is .156" thick. ~23% thinner. The distance from the engine mounts to the rear axle in the Ram is ~132" and the Ramcharger is ~107". ~19% shorter. While the thinner frame is a minus, the shorter wheelbase is an plus. It's harder to twist a shorter beam. It's still not an even wash but I think it brings the strengths of the two frames closer than they may seem.
Then again, I may just be full of fecal matter!

 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the leftover parts yet. I may sell them. I may give them away. I may cut the frame and make the bed into a trailer and then sell it. I may give it to a friend that makes extra money by collecting scrap metal and taking it to the scrap yard. But I'm not doing anything with it until I'm sure I have everything that I need. I'll keep the rear axle and the front suspension and spindles in case I decide to put them on the Ramcharger later. I'm going to try to make the 30 gal fuel tank fit my wife's F350.

 

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!.......breath in........breath out..........O.K. I'm all right now.

In case anyone is wondering, if you try to install the Cummins engine and the Getrag transmission into a 2WD Ramcharger while the the engine and tranny are still together they will not go in as a unit. Top of transmission hits the cab floor, the rear valve cover hits the firewall (because the engine is tilted way back) and the oil pan is still on top of the cross member. I either have to temporarily raise the cab about 4 inches OR separate the transmission from the engine and install them individually. I was so close to having the engine in. I could see the project being completed soon. Oh well??? I'll giver her another shot on Saturday.

 

i pulled the front clip on my 82. it went if it had had another coat of paint would not have gone.

 

i have read that many time before. jack the cab up or pull the radiator support or put them in as two pieces. i need to fix my getrag so i am going to go the two piece route.

 

I started off this morning with intentions of lifting the cab and installing the engine and transmission as a unit. However I discovered that in order to remove the cab mounting bolts I had to remove the seats and then remove the carpet and the cab mounting access plugs in order to get to the bolts. My D-250 bolted upwards to the cab but the Ramcharger bolts downward through the cab with a nut underneath. So, my son said "It's not that hard to take the transmission off and install it after the engine is in, Is it?" I had to agree with him. We separated the engine and transmission and installed them one at a time.

O.K.!!! The Cummins is in. It was really easy to do without the transmission attached to it. It was not so easy to put the transmission in without a transmission jack and on a rock driveway. It's still better than removing the seats and carpet.

The vacuum pump is connected, the power steering lines are connected and the throttle linkage is connected.

The Cummins fits in the Ramcharger just about the same as it did in the D-250.

With the Cummins and the G360 installed it sets pretty level. It's actually a little higher in the front now because of the 3/4 ton springs (with one coil cut off.)
I'm lovin' it!!!!

I cut the hole in floor for the shifter and the transmission is installed now. I used the crossmember from the Ramcharger's automatic. It was identical to the D-250 manual transmission crossmember and the mounting position was perfect. It bolted right up.

Today I also swapped the fuel filler necks and connected the fuel lines.


Still need to do
1 Replace front clip
2 Connect remaining electrical
3 Modify and fit driveshaft.
4 Fill with diesel
5 Put Cummins logo stickers on

 

#5 is very important.

 

Nah leave the decals off make em wonder