Hey Great project you have there...and I agree that you made a great choice going with a cummins/5speed set-up instead of the BB. I have always loved those early D/W Dodge trucks....I'll be watching with interest.

As for the power steering pump on the motor. If it's a Non-IC motor then they run a different Vacuum/power steeing set-up then the IC trucks. If you get an IC vacuum/power steering set-up it should work...since they used the same set-up from 91 to about 2000? on all the cummins trucks.

 

Nothing on the truck will require vaccum so can I remove the vaccum portion off the new pump?

 

Nice looking project! You most certainly can remove the vacuum portion of the pump, I stripped both diaphragms and fabed up some aluminum plates to block the ports and ran it. As you are aware the mount set-up prevents removing it entirely as the ps is driven off the back of the vac, but you can definitely streamline the system.

 

You can definitely do as Bearvally says....as long as it's the Non-IC style with the pods. But if you keep your eyes open on E-bay you can get a straight power steering set-up from a 4bt cummins motor, and some industrial 6bt set-ups. No vacuum pump portion, just straight PS.

 

nice project! you have my attention!

 

I found an engine plate and a clutch fork but I'm still looking for a bell housing.
Heading to the classifiedes now..

 

As an avid off roaded(last truck 93 dakota w 60's) and 4 door owner and ctd 92, i love this project. Look forward to seeing more

 

I appreciate the kind words and have some updates:

About three weeks ago I decided to link and bag the rear of truck. I've got high expectations for this truck and think the additional cost will be worth it. I admit it, I'm not breaking any new ground and linking/bagging a truck has been done plenty of times. As a matter of fact, take the time to read this thread in which the fabricator 4 linked and bagged a brand new F450 because the owner was really disappointing with how it carried a load. The truck is now 4 linked (w/ a track bar), bagged, has a simple air system and the owner is still happy with it about 4 years later and several 6K lbs payloads later.
http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthrea...highlight=f450

The tentative plan is to use a pair of Goodyear air bags (http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index....ducts_id=16373), a stand alone compressor, along with the same joints that I'm using on the front end. Will it cost more and be a hell of alot more work, absolutely. But I think it'll be great in the end and exceed my expectations.

 

My polybushings.com Cummins motor mounts arrived a few days ago, the air bags yesterday, front and rear trusses, link brackets, and more bushings, are on the way. I've emailed the .DXF files to about 4 places and am supposed to have some quotes today. My buddy Barrett, the CAD guru has done in a few more drawings for me including some adjustable bracket plates. I spoke to Dave and Allen Ballistic Fab about stepping it up on the motor mounts but I'm not holding my breath..

Motor mounts:
http://polybushings.com/pages/2710.html



Air bags:



Laminate plate drawing:

 

I've been making some progress behind the scenes but have not touched the truck for a few weeks.
I sent my CAD drawings to several local Baltimore companies who have CNC cutting capabilites. They either came back at over double my budget or never got back to me.
I then sent the drawings to Kert @ DIY4x.com who came in under budget and has been great to work with since. He's going to start cutting the plates on Monday and is making a set of mounts for the air bags too.
The bag mounts will be similar to these but super sized to fit the 11" diameter air bag.



The trusses arrived a couple of days ago and are awesome. My inner over killer is is very happy.

Also, Allen @ Ballistic sent me a finalized version of the motor mounts for the Cummins conversion.


Once I get the plates from Kert, and if the weather is decent, I might start welding 'em on the frame.

 

Kert @ DIY4x.com came through like a champ. He cut me an unbelieveable price for the air bag to axle mounts, air bag top plates, inner and outer frame plates, some tabs, and shipping. Here's just a sample of his work:




to

to


I'm looking forward to working with Kert again.

 

More of Kert's work:
Concept

Drawing

Final product

 

Since we were on the subject earlier:
A comparison of the vaccuum pumps from an early first gen versuses a later first gen:
1990 (non-IC):



1992 (IC'd):

 

Subscribed to this thread. Interested to see how it will turn out. Great work BTW. Awesome project!

 

Very cool! Keep up the good work.
I really enjoy watching big projects like this.
You will really have something when it is done.