I've got a good running '92 D350 Dodge/Cummins dually with a body badly eaten by the rustermites. I love the truck, it's a 5 speed with almost 280k on it, the motor seems hardly broken in, and it gets over 20 mpg to boot! I've been thinking for some time of doing some kind of cab and bed swap onto it. My favorite truck of all time would be a B cab Mack. Not too hard to find, but usually rode hard and hung up wet by the time they're put out to pasture! How well do you think it would fit on the Dodge? I'm thinking it would look silly unless I went to 20" wheels, but that could be done. I think for a bed any old step side could be altered to fit, or even a new one could be fabbed up from sheet without too much trouble. My second choice would be a '46 or older Dodge, but while the 1/2 and 3/4 tons aren't too hard to find, I'm not sure they would fit over Mr. Cummins. A long-nose heavy Dodge of that vintage would much harder to dig up. Anybody have any ideas? Any picture of similar swaps?
I'll be watching what you do I have 2 trucks,same year that we parked with a junk cab. I measured a early '50's chevy COE and it would work.
Measure, measure, measure. Cab width at frame, engine compartment length, width front-middle-back, track width, fender width, length from centerline of front wheels to front of body at the least. I would think if you moved some of the underhood stuff around or eliminated it (like AC) a '30s or '40s era cab would fit over a 5.9L fairly well. It's an inline motor so width isn't as much an issue as it would be with say a GM Detroit 6.2 or 6.5 -
The HAMB is dedicated to spreading the gospel of traditional hot rods and kustoms to hoodlums world wide. That’s right – TRADITIONAL. And we aren’t talking Beach Boys and poodle skirts here fellas. If you are into a-side 50’s pop, lawn chairs, ruler contests, and all things that make hot rodding warm and cozy then you might want to find another message board. If you aren’t sure what we mean by “traditional”, then you might think twice as well. If you’ve come here to set a rep, talk some shit, and make some fun then you had better turn around right now. We aren't patient.
A B Mack is what, 1962 ish? and last I knew, a 46-48 Dodge was pre 64 also? And what is more traditional then using what you have to build something? Do we all have to have a flathead Ford to make some of you guys happy? That 46-48 Dodge pickup came with a flathead 6, or a cab over engine truck would also work. Do some measuring. Gene
My 47 1-T just looks a bit small compared to the 80's / 90's, do you have someone nearby with a desired donor type rig to park next to ? Me thinks that the radiator and intercooler could be issues.
I know of 3 of these swaps.. one is a 33 chevy large truck made into a ramp truck.. The next used a late 40s or early 50s Mack truck cab with sleeper. It had no bed but was a 5th wheel bob tail.. It pulled a enclosed trailer.. The last is unfinished.. A 34 or so packard sedan so far so good.. One other thing you might want to go to the intro section. Read what the moderators have to do. The folks on the board like to know somthing about who ever is posting.. Its a lot like coming to someones shop and introducing yourself .. Bobby..
The introduction police? The "traditional" police? I don't get why some people are more interested in drama and bullshit than helping a guy out. Using a Dodge frame under early tin is no different than using an S10 frame under it, and there's plenty of people here doing that. If you're going to whip out the "it's not traditional" argument then all those dudes with '32 frames under their Model A are in trouble. I'm personally thinking about dropping a '54 Chevy big truck cab on my '89 Suburban when the body is finally too rotted to dare drive it. It runs great and the frame's fine, but the quarters and rear body brace are completely shot. I wouldn't be surprised if I can pull closer to 20 MPG out of it by dumping the bulky Suburban body, too. Only issue I see is the wheel opening size and track width may make the end result look wierd. Truck the '54 body is on already has a 283 in it, so engine fit shouldn't be an issue. There's a guy over to TheDieselPlace with a similar conversion, he has a 58-59 Chevy truck with a GM 6.2 or 6.5 in it. Not sure if it's original frame or late model though.
I recently located a late model Dodge 1/2 Roll over body is trashed ,cant sell it here so I am looking for a 40s cab to put on it .then I can post it. I am planning to use complete wiring computer AC ect. Only problem is after all that work I might get attached to it ! & turn it into shop truck,Also located a 49 chevy COE but I would rather put it on a motor home chassis @ a rolloff.showed pics to wife & she says buy the COE forget the Dodge
1. while an intro is good manners, realistically the intro police disappeared many moons ago. nonetheless, please show us those manners and tell us something about your past & plans. like what do you want to do with this truck when finished? 2. except for glendale i've been on here longer than anyone else that's responded. i think that this qualifies me to stick out my hand to welcome a newbie. welcome moTthediesel. 3. what's the name mean? 4. what's the difference between a crate 350 in a model A and a cummins diesel in a mack or old dodge truck? other than one's a commercial and the other's a passenger car? 5. i've been thinking about something similar to use when i retire. i wanna lengthen a flat bed long enough to haul a hot rod, a harley, and pull a 5th wheel trailer all at the same time with the same truck. that way sweety and i can just move around whenever/wherever we want and have the "T" roadster and harley to sightsee wherever we go. i've been keeping an eye open for a 40's COE to do this with. that's sorta why i asked what you wanna do with the truck when it's done.
A few years ago we started a similar project that never got finished. We used a 49 chevy 1 1/2 ton truck but we put the drive train in the chevy from the dodge.Had to make a dog house in fire wall to clear the cummins and the 5 speed shifter sat back a lot"no bench seat". Used dodge 4x4 front and rear axels with the factory dually wheels. The plan is to install a flat bed and goose neck ball to pull a cattle trailer. The reason we used the chevy frame was because it is straight so the cab sat right.The dodge frame is low in the middle so you have to put a body lift on it or set the bed up high on the cab.Sorry no pics. Good luck Joe
OK, so it was rude of me not to introduce myself before posting, I have now done so in the intro section; a thousand pardons! That said, I would think a B cab Mack is a pretty traditional ride. I had found a good cab on a retired snowplow truck near me, but before I could find the owner it disappeared. I only hope it didn't go to the crusher. I was going to take some digital pics of it with a scaling disc on it, but it didn't happen. One of the things that concerns me is that the frame rails may be wider on the Dodge than the Mack. I measured a REO of about the same age and the frame was quite narrow. I think I may have seen so pics of that AD Chevy/Cummins online a year or two ago, or maybe it was another one? I do remember seeing one with an clearance box built under the dash though. As for what I want to do with it, well, I just want to continue to use it as a working truck. I haul boat trailers with it at my job, I pull my car trailer and loads of stove wood with it too. No reason that it can't do those things with a better looking cab & bed than those butt-ugly things the Dodge Boys put on it! moT
Something like this 49 low cab Kenworth would be interesting. I'm not sure how easy one would be to find though. http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/pnwtm/2003/kw/dscn4759_sml.jpg
first welcome and here is a chevy flatbed that I took these pics of that is on a dodge turbo diesel chassis, it looked like it worked just fine Ron....
I don't have a pic but we have a local that put a 40's Diamond Rio cab on a 1 ton Dodge Cummins chassis. Stretched the frame far enough for a sleeper + a 16' Aluminum roll back. Killer truck.
B-model mack was made from around the late 40's (I think?) until the early or mid 60's. My dad's had three so far, and yes...these trucks were treated like shit and pretty much constantly "modified". But has to be one of my all time favorite trucks. I know a guy in another county that has a cab/sheetmetal braced up and sitting on a CK frame, but not attached. I dunno what hes going to do with it, i even contemplated trading a KB-6 to it for awhile.
I have a neighbor (non-HAMB) that is in the middle of putting a 59 Town Panel on a 250. Looks like a really good fit. He also has a 59 9ft 1ton with a Isuzu turboD and a 60 Town with Duals front and rear. He is ate up with "Mopar or Nocar"...Its incurable, you know! Welcome, and keep us posted on your progress. Some of us like something a little different every now and then.
Atch,thanks for having the cojones to put the tradition police in there place. I think it is laughable to attack an idea like this and support airbags,etc. 50 years ago when I was a kid it was far more common to see everyday cars and trucks modified to stay on the road than hotrods.The first custom '49-54 suburban body I saw was on a semitractor,in place of a burned out cab. The cab swap with a Dodge chassis keeps it on the road and the bottom line for a self employed person like you or me.
Other than what has already been said, isn't our 'hobby' all about mixin & matchin various bodies, frames and engines? How can one combination possibly be more 'proper' than another?? The proposed truck combo sounds very interesting, lets see some pics !!!!!!
theres one in every crowd... the mack sounds good. there is one around here on a pickup frame, im not sure the make of the frame but its 2wd, kind of low, it looks like a giant lil red express. a little doofy looking to me, but maybe if you get some wheel adapters for big rig wheels or at least runs some 19.5s it would probably look ok. the light truck tires with 16" ish rims just dont fit the mack body that well. i say do it. i think this one is on a chevy, it looked like a gm 1/2 ton truck rear to me, but i could be wrong.
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