360 gas to 12V conversion

2002nightmare

2002nightmare

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Joined
Jul 1, 2011
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133
I know I can't be the first to complete a project of this sort but I thought I'd share my story. I had a 1995 Dodge Ram 2500 360 V8 4x4. This truck was equiped with the HD 8800*GVW package including heavier duty coil springs/leaf springs and 4.10 gears. I bought it from a 1 owner older man with 126k miles on it. This truck was as plain as they come, manual windows, manual locks, no tilt, no cruise, no A/C but it did have remote start:clap:!! I decided to search for the perfect Cummins donor truck because I would not find one in as nice as shape as my gas. After a short search, I picked up quite a rust bucket with only 136k miles on it for $2800. I sold the 360/46RH/241 t case. Sold several parts off the Cummins and pulled the motor/trans for the swap. I had the trans completely rebuilt and selling parts paid for Cummins parts including new valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket, KDP kit, new filters, oil, AFE intake, Raptor 100GPH and the tranny rebuild. All in all, it took right at a month to complete the project. For those who haven't tackled a job such as this, the Dodge engineers made this conversion as simple as possible. I did no wire splicing and no fabrication whatsoever. The motor mounts match, crossmembers are the same, wire harness plugs right in, and to my surprise even the gas exhaust hangers matched my new MBRP 4" exhaust. When all is send and done, I've ended up with a 12 valve truck with tilt wheel, cruise, and A/C!! And the remote start fires up the diesel still!!! I put together a slideshow/video of the project to share with anyone who made be interested in livening up there gasser Dodge.

http://youtu.be/suOOKjBOUYk
 
Awesome job man! Ill be referring to your video when I make the swap into my half ton.
 
Just letting the guy know that he's not the only one. Its been done many of times.
 
Fine, fine. I retract my comment of "Been there, done that" and i will say "looks good".
 
But really i do like that 95. Very clean truck. Hard to find a truck of that year without any rust.
 
Front axle is the same, but rear axle is only a dana 60 and the front springs are lighter.
 
Thanks guys! I appreciate the compliments and the back up, but @17cumminsboy, no offense taken. I realize I'm not the first, nor the last and that this is not a super spectacular project. I just figured I'd share my story and put myself out there as a resource for those attempting to tackle the same job. It is possible and not as terrifying as it may seem. As he said, the only difference in the two trucks was the front coils and the rear axles. I left the rear as a Dana 60 (this truck is as "factory" as any other 95 Cummins aside from the 60 rear) because this truck was never intended to be a workhorse...yet. As any diesel enthusiast knows, this is a never ending project!!
 
Just checked out your thread!! You've definitely went above and beyond on the conversion!! Nice work!
 
Nice job man, just did this to my 99 1500. Wiring is different on the 98+ though. Everything does bolt right in
 
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