I was always a big fan of build threads and having done a couple "builds" in the past with no threads I thought might as well do one for this.
Fair warning. I like to talk and story tell so this might be long winded
Starting out I bought a 1984 M1009 which is the military version of Chevy's K5 Blazer. All M1009 came with the 6.2 Diesel, TH400, 10 bolt front/rear with the G80 in the back and 3.08 gears. Truck had been stored inside and only had one tank of fuel ran through it in the last 7-8 years.
Pretty well kept rig and I used it as my daily for almost a year and really started to enjoy the utility of it. Being able to tow my SXS, carry 4 people and lots of stuff comfortably, 4x4, fuel sipping engine, 2 door classic look.
But, after putting close to 10k miles on it some age related issues started to show. The fuel system had many problems (probably due to running 7 year old diesel fuel) being a sticky governor and hard cold starts even with fresh glow plug system. The trans would not shift when cold. And a ball joint started going out.
Even though these would be pretty easy, cheap, and simple fixes I found a screaming deal on a wrecked 12 valve/nv4500/4wd Dodge soon after these problems arose.
It was as if it was meant to be.
Here is/was the plan
Past 3/4 years I've been wanting to do some road tripping/camping out west as I've never been West of the Mississippi and I wanted to build a rig to do it.
So I had a Chevy Kingpin 60 laying around I had bought for another truck, the 12v Cummins, NV4500 and the Dana 80 SRW axle out of the wrecked Dodge. Although I wanted this to be off-road capable I knew I was going to be just driving it up and down the road 90% of the time so I wanted to gear it more friendly towards the highway and daily driving. The rear axle was already 3.55 gears so I ordered 3.55 gears for the front and accidently ordered ARB air lockers for both axles. Oops
Before I ripped the Blazer apart I started getting the major components together so as to try and keep the vehicle downtime to a minimum.
The engine and trans were operating well before I pulled them so I opted for just replacing the gaskets and seals and things like water pump etc..
I completely rebuilt the Dana 60 though with new bearings, seals, kingpins, brakes, locker, gears. I see why people say that buying the axle is the cheapest part.
In the meantime the Blazer started to develop a bad fuel leak somewhere and when I drove into the shop to try and find it I decided now would be a good time to start tearing it apart. I pulled off the hood, grill, rad and doing everything else that's necessary to do the swap.
I got the drivetrain pulled and ordered the mounts and crossmember off of Agan Fab to hopefully speed up the process.
The kit came in and I welded it up, but the bushings for the engine mounts were the wrong size and had to be cut down. I also had to modify the frame plates to get more clearance under the engine. I talked to Ryan at Agan Fab and was very helpful with making the adjustments to his kit.
I also had to fab up the transmission crossmember. I used the factory 5 speed mount and cut a hole/notch in the blazer crossmember and put a plate in and I was able to just move the crossmember rearward a couple inches and drill a couple holes and bolt it back up. I had to put a piece on the crossmember to widen it out just a bit to reach the frame though.
In between doing all of that I freshened up the Dana 80 with new seals, brakes, and the locker.
Once the axles were done I pulled a 4 inch lift out of a parts blazer I had acquired and rolled the axles under and put the lift on which is springs in the front and just a block in the back. I had thought about doing a shackle drop but decided I'd try the block first. Soon after I found a guy selling some fairly new 315/75r16 Cooper's on like new American Racing wheel 16x10's and bought those and put them on
The transfer case was going to be a little tricky as the Dodge had a drivers drop T-case and I needed a passenger drop. A lot of guys use the NP-205. Doing that entails either locating one off of a 1st gen dodge and around here guys are asking an arm and a leg for, Or finding the np241c passenger drop which is also hard to find/expensive.
The other option was swapping the NV4500 mainshaft to 32 spline and rear housing to be able to use my NP208
Instead I lucked out and found a guy selling a NP241D out of a ramcharger for dirt cheap. I soon found out why.
So I thought something was wrong with using one of these cause nobody talks about using one in the squarebody cummins swap pages but I couldn't figure out why not.
So these NP241D usually come with the 23 spline found in most Dodge automatics and a fixed rear yoke. While no one lists a 29 spline shaft on the internet anywhere, someone mentions I call Midwesttrans and talk to them. I call them up and tell them what I was doing and they knew exactly what I needed. A new input shaft arrived a couple days later and I start tearing this T-case apart.
Now before I tore it apart it was evident that someone had been in it before because none of the bolts were tight but I could still spin the shafts and it shifted both range and mode fine so I had assumed it was all good.
First thing I find is the oil pump is junk, as well as no pickup tube. I continue on and pull the rest of it apart. Everything else seems good so I continue with the input shaft install and all new seals. I rob the pump out of another NP241 and fab up a pickup tube and start putting it back together. All goes well until I try tightening the bolts up. Its like there's an 1/8th inch gap on the right hand side and when I tighten it up the front output locks up.
Long story short after taking it apart and back together half a dozen times I discover that someone had put the wrong front output shaft in it. So I order the correct one off of ebay and after I slap it in there and begin to put it back together it bolts up just like it should. The best part was that it slid right on the back of the transmission with no adapter or clocking ring and the front driveshaft will still clear the crossmember
Now here is where I'm at a year to the day after driving it in the shop, and I told the g/f I was gonna have it done by last Christmas Well that came and went so now the new deadline is this Christmas lol.
Still have to do steering, cooling, clutch hydro's, wiring, new brake lines, driveshafts, t-case linkage, fuel, air, and everything else. But now I feel like the end is in sight lol
Fair warning. I like to talk and story tell so this might be long winded
Starting out I bought a 1984 M1009 which is the military version of Chevy's K5 Blazer. All M1009 came with the 6.2 Diesel, TH400, 10 bolt front/rear with the G80 in the back and 3.08 gears. Truck had been stored inside and only had one tank of fuel ran through it in the last 7-8 years.
Pretty well kept rig and I used it as my daily for almost a year and really started to enjoy the utility of it. Being able to tow my SXS, carry 4 people and lots of stuff comfortably, 4x4, fuel sipping engine, 2 door classic look.
But, after putting close to 10k miles on it some age related issues started to show. The fuel system had many problems (probably due to running 7 year old diesel fuel) being a sticky governor and hard cold starts even with fresh glow plug system. The trans would not shift when cold. And a ball joint started going out.
Even though these would be pretty easy, cheap, and simple fixes I found a screaming deal on a wrecked 12 valve/nv4500/4wd Dodge soon after these problems arose.
It was as if it was meant to be.
Here is/was the plan
Past 3/4 years I've been wanting to do some road tripping/camping out west as I've never been West of the Mississippi and I wanted to build a rig to do it.
So I had a Chevy Kingpin 60 laying around I had bought for another truck, the 12v Cummins, NV4500 and the Dana 80 SRW axle out of the wrecked Dodge. Although I wanted this to be off-road capable I knew I was going to be just driving it up and down the road 90% of the time so I wanted to gear it more friendly towards the highway and daily driving. The rear axle was already 3.55 gears so I ordered 3.55 gears for the front and accidently ordered ARB air lockers for both axles. Oops
Before I ripped the Blazer apart I started getting the major components together so as to try and keep the vehicle downtime to a minimum.
The engine and trans were operating well before I pulled them so I opted for just replacing the gaskets and seals and things like water pump etc..
I completely rebuilt the Dana 60 though with new bearings, seals, kingpins, brakes, locker, gears. I see why people say that buying the axle is the cheapest part.
In the meantime the Blazer started to develop a bad fuel leak somewhere and when I drove into the shop to try and find it I decided now would be a good time to start tearing it apart. I pulled off the hood, grill, rad and doing everything else that's necessary to do the swap.
I got the drivetrain pulled and ordered the mounts and crossmember off of Agan Fab to hopefully speed up the process.
The kit came in and I welded it up, but the bushings for the engine mounts were the wrong size and had to be cut down. I also had to modify the frame plates to get more clearance under the engine. I talked to Ryan at Agan Fab and was very helpful with making the adjustments to his kit.
I also had to fab up the transmission crossmember. I used the factory 5 speed mount and cut a hole/notch in the blazer crossmember and put a plate in and I was able to just move the crossmember rearward a couple inches and drill a couple holes and bolt it back up. I had to put a piece on the crossmember to widen it out just a bit to reach the frame though.
In between doing all of that I freshened up the Dana 80 with new seals, brakes, and the locker.
Once the axles were done I pulled a 4 inch lift out of a parts blazer I had acquired and rolled the axles under and put the lift on which is springs in the front and just a block in the back. I had thought about doing a shackle drop but decided I'd try the block first. Soon after I found a guy selling some fairly new 315/75r16 Cooper's on like new American Racing wheel 16x10's and bought those and put them on
The transfer case was going to be a little tricky as the Dodge had a drivers drop T-case and I needed a passenger drop. A lot of guys use the NP-205. Doing that entails either locating one off of a 1st gen dodge and around here guys are asking an arm and a leg for, Or finding the np241c passenger drop which is also hard to find/expensive.
The other option was swapping the NV4500 mainshaft to 32 spline and rear housing to be able to use my NP208
Instead I lucked out and found a guy selling a NP241D out of a ramcharger for dirt cheap. I soon found out why.
So I thought something was wrong with using one of these cause nobody talks about using one in the squarebody cummins swap pages but I couldn't figure out why not.
So these NP241D usually come with the 23 spline found in most Dodge automatics and a fixed rear yoke. While no one lists a 29 spline shaft on the internet anywhere, someone mentions I call Midwesttrans and talk to them. I call them up and tell them what I was doing and they knew exactly what I needed. A new input shaft arrived a couple days later and I start tearing this T-case apart.
Now before I tore it apart it was evident that someone had been in it before because none of the bolts were tight but I could still spin the shafts and it shifted both range and mode fine so I had assumed it was all good.
First thing I find is the oil pump is junk, as well as no pickup tube. I continue on and pull the rest of it apart. Everything else seems good so I continue with the input shaft install and all new seals. I rob the pump out of another NP241 and fab up a pickup tube and start putting it back together. All goes well until I try tightening the bolts up. Its like there's an 1/8th inch gap on the right hand side and when I tighten it up the front output locks up.
Long story short after taking it apart and back together half a dozen times I discover that someone had put the wrong front output shaft in it. So I order the correct one off of ebay and after I slap it in there and begin to put it back together it bolts up just like it should. The best part was that it slid right on the back of the transmission with no adapter or clocking ring and the front driveshaft will still clear the crossmember
Now here is where I'm at a year to the day after driving it in the shop, and I told the g/f I was gonna have it done by last Christmas Well that came and went so now the new deadline is this Christmas lol.
Still have to do steering, cooling, clutch hydro's, wiring, new brake lines, driveshafts, t-case linkage, fuel, air, and everything else. But now I feel like the end is in sight lol