3rd gen Cab Swap/Rebuild

Holler at me if you need a hand, Nick!

Thanks Will.

If nothing else, we need to do some hog eradication soon.

More progress.

Frame progress.






Pull, heat, hammer, repeat.


Big thanks to dad for his help on this. With both of us on this, we spent 6 hrs straightening the frame. I would have spent 2 days with less results.




I am happy with the result.


Much easier removing the transmission with the cab out of the way.


Frame pressure washed and cleaned. There was a decent amount of surface rust showing up on the frame from the truck just sitting 3+ years. Hit the large areas with a sanding disk or wire wheel and scuffed the rest with a scotch brite pad.


Underneath view of the straightened section with good lighting.


The inside has two waves in the metal due to the amount of heat used during straightening. We pulled out the most we could and I will live with the rest.


Painted and back in the shop. Need one more rattle can of paint to finish up a few small areas. It's no show truck, but the rust is stopped.


Repaired area of the frame.


I am pretty damn proud of this crate I built for the torque converter. Little overkill, but it's safe. Sending it back to Phil at DPC for a re-stall.


I built the trans myself 5,000 before the wreck. Feel pretty good about the build, but I am having a local guy go through it and check things out. It still wants to hunt from 2nd to 3rd. TC going to UPS tomorrow.


Bed time.

Today was my first day back at work after 3 weeks off. Not much happened today except for phone calls and emails. I did manage to order some parts, and some parts arrived.



Also managed to plant 3 oak trees at my house this evening. 4 more yet to plant.

Bed time.

Looks awesome! Can't even tell there was a bend in that frame rail. Keep up the good work man.

DerelictDodge said:

Looks awesome! Can't even tell there was a bend in that frame rail. Keep up the good work man.

Click to expand...

Thanks buddy. I have seen too many shady frame straightening jobs and was not about to have one myself.


Pulled the engine up in the air to change oil pan gasket, rear main seal, and seal housing gasket. (Thanks Snedge) That is about the bottom of this journey, now the reassembly starts. Hope to receive the converter and transmission this week. Then I can focus on the cabs.

Been collecting parts lately. Trans converter, trans pan, steering gearbox, heater core, and evaporator.

This has by far been the worst part.
Glad I have a donor dash to tear up and learn from.

Been half way busy lately. Wrecked cab off and headed to a garage down the street to keep out of the weather.




Coolant bypass installed.


Engine lifted for new oil pan gasket.


Donor cab being removed.


Running out of room to store things.


Donor cab in position for dash swap.

Been splitting my time between work, the truck project, and my kind of recently acquired house.

Had a rotten Arizona Ash tree right next to the house that needed to come down.



It's going to take about three 20' trailer loads to haul off all the limbs from this trash tree.

Heck of a project, looks like a lot of work, but turning out great. Keep it up!

Replacing the evaporator core and heater core.


Straight can set on the frame and bolted down, hvac box and dash bolted/wired in. Steering column in place, and some accessories under the hood installed.

So far everything fits in the 03's cab.

Not much to update. Just some reassembly of all the accessories.

Does anyone have an answer to the infamous leaky power steering reservoir cap on these 3rd gen CR engines? I have not tried a new cap, but nothing seems to be wrong with mine.

I'd like to know how to stop the PS cap from leaking as well.

Dash complete and all wired in, including aftermarket accessories.
95% of the cab insulated with Sound Mat.
All accessories and coolers mounted in the engine compartment. Lacking fluids , freon, and batteries.

Wet sander the door jams outside today being the weather was gorgeous.


Engine all buttoned up and running fine.

Not much to update overall. Head liner and associated mounting hardware are installed. Truck moves under its own power. I have a milk crate seat for now.

Lots more sanding, priming, then paint. Once I decide on a color.

Things I've noticed from doing this swap so far, gas to diesel cab shells. There are some holes for battery box mounts that need to be tapped on the passenger side. M8 x 1.25 tap.

The SRS airbag module that mounds on the trans hump under the dash, mounts different from 03-05. It's easy to modify and I used a self tapping screw to make it work. Self explanatory if you see it.

Knocked out the hole for 4wd shifter. Had to move the rear seat back cab wall mounts from my 05 to 03 cab. The 03 trucks have a one piece rear seat and 04-05 have 60/40 rear seat. Very easy.

I noticed the seat belt material is different from 03-05. This would bother me so I swapped over all my 05 seat belts. Headliner also has a different pigtail where it plugs in at the driver side a-pillar by the dash.

Windshield wiper motor has a different plug, so I swapped over my wiper assembly from the 05.
That's it so far.

Not much to update. Just prep work for paint. Had the windshields removed so I could swap VIN tags. Bought special Chrysler rivets for the tag so it looks factory.

Sanding and more sanding. Still trying to narrow down a color. Some sort of dark red with metallic mixed in, but want to keep it a base coat/clear coat.

Pardon the derail, but how would one remove that lower core support you cut in half? Without cutting it....thanks