That is a lot stronger design. They must have had some failures on the early Cummins trucks to have changed the design after 15+ years.

 

my thoughts exactly.

400+ extra pounds of motor is no joke. i wouldn't be surprised if chrysler engineering knew it was inadequate from the get go but were not able to cost effectively implement the new X member in time for the 89's.

 

I looked under mine and noticed that I have the old weak style xmember! That sucks!

Hey Jeepsuck, you're this far in man... Why not just bolt a D60 underneath there and be done with it???? You can even do it step by step and worry about adding the xfer case later ... even adding a divorced unit... But oh yeah you need a D61 3.07 right.

 

believe me, i would love to have a 4x4 dually, but right now i need what is fastest and cheapest.

if all those parts fell in my lap, it would be on. i think i would need a 4x4 X-member to boot.

 

Yes but D60s are everywhere, and any will bolt up if you have the springs and spring mounts. You'd have to drill the holes for the aft mounts. But that is easy. And any 4wd xmember will work from any truck w100 - w400 1972 -1993... So off to the Junk yard you go!

 

there ain't no gosh darn dodge trucks around here (oc). i looked in all the local junk yards

 

its true, he cant stay out of those filthy places

 

i like it dirty

 

the X-member is almost entirely in. i decided to go with some fine thread 7/16 grade 8 bolts with toplock nuts as they were affordable and readily available.

even after a good bit of wire brushing the thing was too filthy to even tack with the tig, so i did it all with the mig. my little Matco 180 kinda sucks, but i got her did. the paint is too shiny, but i dont really care. it was cheap. pretty soon i will be able to actually start putting things back

 

------Progress is always good.---------








.

 

well i have to move and i made a mad dash to get the ol' 89 back on the road. front end sits noticeably higher. not sure if its the new shocks (the old ones were very tired) or if the springs stiffened up a little after being out for several months. anyway it looks like it almost rides level now.

 

Its always nice to get them back on there feet. Feels kinda good when you do it yourself. I hope I never have to move again. When me and my wife first moved in together we had nothing. We moved all our stuff in 1 S10 chevy truck load. We moved a year later and it was 3 truck loads. When we moved into our house in 98 it was 3 box truck loads of stuff. If I had to move now it would be tractor trailer time. Good luck.

 

Yay!

I'm glad to see you got it back together again.