Hey all, I've been looking at getting a ramcharger for the family (80 or 90s). I'm thinking about building one up with a cummins 4bt engine. I currently drive a subaru WRX and I get good mpg (21mpg) but my wife wants more kids. I looked at the new dodge durangos but I can't fork over 50K for a new vehicle. I also don't believe in electronics in a vehicle, the newer vehicles which detect cars in front of you and automatically brake for you is just another expensive fix. It seems this day and age you can't make it 90K without a plastic sensor breaking. I don't know anything about ramchargers, I don't even know if it is the right vehicles for a family. This spring I might sell my WRX for 15k so I'll have plenty of money to play around with. That way I can keep the truck clean and salt free, dumped way to much in restoring that W250 .

The biggest concern my wife has is the suspension and safety of the vehicle. This will be the rig we spend 15 or more hours in driving for vacations with the kids. I feel confident the 4BT will do the job. This will be my daily driver and the wifes will be the subaru forester.

What do you all think?

 

Fantastic conversion....... Some say 6BT, I agree with you on the 4BT.

I have a 1990 Ramcharger, Ex-Texas Border Patrol vehicle, I generally like it, I have never been a fan of Chrysler's over assisted power steering on a short wheelbase vehicle, but it really isn't that bad. If you like a first gen truck, I think you will love the Ramcharger......... I am leaning towards selling the RC and picking up another Blazer myself.......

 

Does the RC you own have a 4bt I see some on CL in the area which are dirt cheap. electrical issues but I think I can figure that out.

 

Hi,
I bought the truck that I used to build up my new one from a guy in South Lake Tahoe . He had taken the drivetrain and engine out of a first gen cummins and put it in a Ramcharger. I guess it worked out pretty well for him. He put the gasser and drivetrain from the ramcharger in the donor truck and sold it as a gasser. The great thing for whoever bought the donor truck is that it was registered as a diesel and did not need smog cert.
I believe I would go the 6BT route and just beef up the frame a bit.
Mike

 

I loved my Ramcharger and swore I'd never get rid of it. But,,, when gas went over $5 a gallon and parts became more difficult to find and expensive I had to let it go.
The stiff suspension didn't bother me any more than the bad brakes and loose steering. When I bought the 91.5, my intentions were to transfer the running gear over to the RC. That never happened, just liked them both the way they were.
My Subaru Legacy gets 30mpg. The Outback we had got 26 round town, the wifes grocery getter.

 

Gas is actually $1.87 here now, diesel is still $4 though. I have a lot of thinking, from what I'm reading online if I put a 4bt in this rig I would need to upgrade the complete drivetrain. Axles would need to be D60's at least or things will get messy. I found a RC and a parts RC for $1500, the only question is my brother and I share a shop and he has a chevy 89 chevy and a 57 chevy in there both sitting idle. blah!

 

Not yet, I have the 4BT from my 79 K20 that is rotted away.

I wanted to find a broke,twisted, rotted 90-93 Cummins to get all the little stuff that would drive you nuts finding, like linkages, wiring, etc. to make it look like Dodge had built it, but never found one for less than 3,000 bucks.

I kind of gave up on the idea.

 

I don't really think you would need to do the complete upgrade deal, the 4BT is about 750 lbs, and unless you were going to wheel the hooey out of it, the D44 should be just fine.

I would think you would have to add new front springs though.

I was just going to stick a 47RH in front of the NV241 and be happy.

 

I built a RC with a 6BT and auto that I plan to use it as a DD to replace my Cherokee with over 300k on the ticker. I bought a complete rusted out CTD plow truck with a blown auto trans for under $1500, a used trans for about a grand and other odds and ends to make it streetable. I used the donor running gear and underhood harness and cheated the gasser computer to make the dash work. Its not really a tough build as most of it is bolt on swaps.

If you are serious about this spend LOTS of time finding a decent RC body. I would bet that if you did not turn the screws on a 4BT you could use the half ton driveline. The 9.25 rear is tough and 44 fronts survive under big blocks, gears are cheaper and the 3.23 was a common ratio for the RC. If you haven't checked out the conversion forum, there are quite a few builds. Freightrain as a nice RC as do a few other members.

 

Why not find a crewcab ? and convert it that way you have plenty of room for kid's ?

 

The RC is a great idea...but having to swing kids in and out through a 2dr might get tiresome? The crewcab is a better idea I think.

 

True, similar to club cab limitations only with a real rear seat. The rear seat only holds two though. Some have roll bars which add to the safety factor. Fun vehicles to drive though.

 

Yeah, I'm having second guesses about this thing now. It's a pain in the butt to move child seats in and out of the subaru forester with all the clips and what not. Our seat is a quick connect but you still need to push forward with the button down.

I would love to own a crewcab but they're a rare gem. You could get single cabs all day long off CL here but club and crews are hard to find. I wonder if the wife would go for a roof rack or a cargo rack. That seems like a cheaper option. The forester does need a tune up and I think it could get 30mpg easy, but there is a motor knock, could be a timing belt bearing going on it. I'll have to rip into it this weekend.

 

get ready to pay twice what a 6bt salvage truck will cost for the 4bt, ive done 4 conversions, and all out of bread vans, what you get isn't what youll use, you end up piecing them together, my full size jeep pickup ran hard with the 383 stroker, but 11mpg's were the norm, when I installed the 4bt, shot right to 20mpg's on the road, doubling the range, worthy swap in mho, but the trade is a
unbalanced motor with high idle/high rpm vibration, not horrible, but worth noting, I only use it out in the desert offroading and rely on the bigger truck for around town. now im building a first year 1974 rc with a complete salvage source of parts, im going 6bt/nv4500 convert from auto/205 and strong box doubler/d60-70 axles, so far axles bolted right in, motor looks to be the same, im thinking with the light weight, maybe the 20's can be had, I don't think the 4bt will be that much different, but driveablity will, if I need to tow the bigger truck home, I wont stress the weight situation rolling the rc to get it, just my thoughts.

 

Sure is a shame the M880's were not originally built with diesel power.