Last month Bill Cooke was well into the layout plans that involved a 30" cut on a Dodge frame, check his post here for some info. You can click on his name and ask him how the project is going.

 

the only thing i can agree with on this board relating to this engine swap is that i would not want to do it to make a profit. lockdown has the use of the equipment for the job. looks like he aint afraid of work. as for as engine swaps go it really is easy. the only thing i would change on mine would be use od trans which is in the works. problem is this 67 yr old man has gotten a tad lazy over the years. 18.3 mpg. in town. 8.73 1/8 mi. and a blast to drive. my first swap was a 58 pontiac into a 53 pontiac without a torch in 1960 in my back yard. that one was not easy but i drove that car over 100,000 mi. with only normal repair bills.

 

Well I'm glad Jeff never asked anyone about putting the 6bt in the Dakota before he did it or it would have never been built.

I don't see why the 1500 frame will not hold the weight of a Cummins. If the Dakota could, I don't see why a 1500 Ram would not. 2500 coil springs and Koni Coil overs was all it took. In all of it's days of drag racing and street playing, the chassis did well. As a matter of fact the factory disc brakes worked so well with the vaccume pump of the diesel Jeff actually spun the tire on the wheel on a very hard stop.

The frames of the 2500 and 3500 trucks are designed for payload. The 1500 conversion will not have this ability but for the street, I don't see where there is a problem.

There has never been a shortbed dodge diesel until 1998 and that was Quad cab only. In 1994, reg cab was the only option.

Good Luck

 

DavidTD : So up until 98 dodge never made a shortbed ext cab or are you just talking about a Reg. Cab Shortbox?

 

Yes Lockdown. No shortbed diesel.

94 was reg cab long bed only
95 - 97 was reg. cab or club cab longbed
98 - 2002 was reg cab long bed, quad long or short bed.

That is one of the reasons why the 98 Quad shortbed 12v is so rare. It was the only factory 12v shortbed you could get and only for a few months.

 

Here is my question.
Why would you want to put an incredible motore like the Cummins back into a Chrysler product? Put it a Ford. Don't get my wrong, I love my truck, but I hate trying to maintain all the parts falling off around it. Mine is a daily driver, unloaded, and hardly ever pulling anything but a boat or a motocycle trailer. I just get tired of fixing something one month just in time to fix it again or something else.

 

the cummins diesel weighs about 1100 pounds, a 1500 truck suspension and frame cannot handle this weight (very unsafe), not to mention the torque on the small rear axle

 

do the math. i think you will find the front axle will handle the load easily if one doesnt tow with the truck. gross axle weight is well over 3k. 9.25 axle seems to be handling the torgue well enough. been running well over a year with no problems. you will have to change front springs to help with the load.