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Have to drive the old Dakota another year

7mopar

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Was hoping to replace the 93 this spring but money is short and could not decide what to replace it with.
So will just have to start replacing part. Today it is a front rotor and associated hardware. The old one was worn bad enough the caliper piston was starting to catch on the rotor. Should have been replaced at last brake job but was not planning on keeping it. Next will be engine ground straps to hope fully solve last summer's ignition problem.
Will more than likely have to find the thump every time we take off with it. Have not determined what that noise is yet ( drive shaft carrier bearing, exhaust or maybe a bad motor mount).
 
If it's a thump then I'd be looking at either the drivers side mount or maybe a tranny mount . And don't feel bad , I'm trying to get one more winter out of my Ramcharger myself . If I can dig up some money , I'll be building another one this summer . That is if I can find the right one for the right price .
 
Good Ramchargers are getting kind of hard to find here. They have either been modified beyond use or a basket case. That and I do not ever remember seeing a long wheel base Ramcharger.
Would be like finding a long bed Ram. Every thing has 4 doors and no bed. Guess they just do not want to build practical work vechicals any more, just silly 40000 for a truck and then another 5-7000 for a trailer so you can haul anything over 6 ft.
 
There getting hard to find here as well . The one's I find are either over priced and rough or clean and "way" over priced . lol Personally , I like the short wheel base because I can get into tight areas that other trucks either have a tough time getting into or just plain can't . Although , I have always wanted to build a Dodge version of the Chevy Suburban . My plan is or was to take an 80's 4x4 crew cab and graft in the back half of a Ramcharger . I think it would be a "beast" coming down the road with about an 8" lift and some hungry tires under it . ... I hear yah on the new trucks and I totally agree . I've always said if I ever come into serious money , that I still wouldn't own a brand new truck . I'd probably own something like a 77 4x4 long bed club cab ( Done of course lol ) and that would be my daily driver .
 
I have a 76 sportsman 1-1/2 ton chassis class c motor home setting here with the 440 truck engine in it less than 50000 miles on it and less than 2000 on a rebuild.
Snapped a cast crankshaft in to at #3 journal. Was surprised to find flat top pistons and zero deck. Was always told these were low compression engines. Must be in the head.
Anyway also have two full sized truck beds trailers setting around bed are in fairly decent shape. Been thinking about removing the coach body adding a sleeper unit and integrate the beds into one unit. 8x8 bed to cover the dualls. The van body still has its full floor.
Add an old aux box for od gears to get the 4:11s to road speed.
This currently weighs in at around 11000 lbs and has no problem maintaining 60 with the cruise set even in the mountains.
Anyway the thought is it would make on heck of a hauler if only the gas mileage would get into the 15 mpg range. Currently 8 has been the best.
If I can get one of the grandsons to photo chop this I will post a picture.
 
That sounds like it "would" make a hellava hauler ! As far as the flat top pistons . The stock one's might have been changed out when it was rebuilt . Does it look like the block was bored out ?
 
Did the rebuild myself. Stock bore and it had never been apart before. I was surprised when I pulled the heads, was expecting dished piston setting low in the hole. There is little smog equipment ( pcv and closed crankcase) on it. Other than a funny head design (RV head) the engine looks identical to any late 60's 440 except for the Thermoquad carb añd intake.
 
I guess it's just one of those things that make you go , Hmmmm ? lol
 
Replaced 3 Universal's and one carrier in the driveshaft today. Quietest it's gone done the road in a while and the thump is gone.
Center universal had one cap with no bearings left. Surprised it had not fallen out.
Now on to electrical problems.
 
Maybe they where high performance air gap bearings . :) lol .... Electrical issue's are always fun , Good luck with that one !
 
A lot quieter today. Thump was gone and no more drown whining noise.
Yes electrical issues are fun.
 
Well look at it this way . Your making progress . Before you know it , You'll have all the issue's taken care of and it will feel like a whole new truck again .
 
Yes progress. The list is getting smaller if nothing else brakes or wares out. So far nothing major. Just computer grounds, outside mirrors, dome light, heater core, AC recharge, reattaching the headliner and grafting some sheet metal to the drivers side floor pan. O and maybe fixing the cruise control.
We gave up on replacing it with a mini van. Not enough payload. Started looking at full sized vans.
 
7mopar I can somewhat relate, it's not anywhere near as old, BUT;
My old 99 SLT 4x4 5.2ltr auto is coming to the point
I finally will be changing brakes, shocks & other serviceable parts,
putting better parts or performance oriented parts when I do change things,
even maybe a tune up "finally", after all it's going on 58k miles...LOL

IMO it's been well maintained, just never really many issues at all "knock on wood",
I'm not planning on getting anything new in the near future thou...

I love this little truck, it's been really good to me for 16+ years now...

I do miss my ol' 78 Trailduster thou, not the fuel or tire bill...LOL

I did buy a 2002 F-350 7.3 Powerstroke 4x4 dually for a tow rig,
I hate driving that thing really...
I let my ol'Pops drive it, he drives it like a daily driver too, he's an old school bus driver,
he loves it, he's been using it to tow a travel trailer for 10+ years now too...
 
The 68-69 440's were 10:1, with a 0.020" steel shim head gasket
the 6bbl/Six Pack were 10.5:1 compression
in a 70 440 it dropped to 9.7:1 & 72 dropped to 8.2:1 IIRC,

unless it was a Motorhome it was like 8.8:1
even with a smaller valve/combustion chambers {?}

the decent 68-70 906 casting heads are open chamber design like 92cc
pistons & compression height changed almost every year too,
really depends on what style of car or truck the 440 is out of
C-bodies & Trucks had a lower compression & less performance "usually"

there are some decent closed chamber head designs before that,
if you want to boost the compression some

not sure about the combustion chamber on the Motorhome heads
I don't really remember the spec.'s {the MH spec.'s are on this list either}
http:www.mymopar.com/enginespecs.htm
they were Low Performance small valve, small port heads,
I never used them, they can be made a bit better easily thou,
but it's better to go with a decent head to begin with, the heads
are a lot of the area to gain performance, especially on Mopars...

good luck with your 93 project
 
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I will have to get back at it before it warms up much more. Problems will be starting up when temperatures reach 85.
Will be changing the battery ground cable and tracking down an open distributor ground.
 
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