SFBD square with a Cummins and custom chassis

Every time I've cut a corner on any of my trucks I've had to go back and redo whatever it was. There are areas of this truck I've tried to half ass instead of just doing it the right way the first time and I've had to redo every one. One of those areas being the rear section of the frame. I never could get happy with my attempts and the first attempt was just half ass. I know I can build the back of a truck I just did one from stock to a bag on bar system from scratch a few months back. For some reason though I am so ready to get this truck back on the road I kept rushing it. So I just saved my coins and gave them to Kyle to build the back half. Glad I did to. It looks so much better than anything I could have built.
I've always just done my best on my trucks and drove them with the mods being the best I could do. Sometimes the mods I was doing were right up my alley and sometimes they looked terrible I'm sure. On this truck I've laid my pride down and started utilizing this great group of friends and resources I've had around me this entire time and let them do some of the work if I thought they could do better than me. It has paid off for sure.

Sorry for the long rant. That's just I think the biggest difference between this truck and other ones I've built in the past. I learned that valuable lesson building this truck.

I couldn't agree more. I have my dad help we with some stuff on my cars whenever he is free. He was a diesel mechanic back in the day. He is still one hell of a wrenchman. He will definitely help me on my dually build, especially when I swap to a 5.3L LM7 vortec motor with a turbo. I'm probably a better welder than him, just because I took classes in college on welding and I can tig weld good enough to melt it all together. It may not be the prettiest but it will hold. I'm sure by the time I'm done with my dually I'll be laying down great looking beads but I am 10 years out of practice. And I have a friend who is an electrician who will help me with all the wiring, since that is the thing I hate the most. Wiring makes me so mad I could pull my ball hair out one by one.

If I can give you one piece of advice it would be to reconsider the boosted 5.3 L'S engine. That's a great engine to power a race car down a 1/4 mile but not so great at producing the type of power you want in a 7k+ pound truck. If you just have your heart set on an LS engine use the 6.0 with no turbo. The turbo is just going to cause you to have lag low in the rpm range where these trucks and any tow pig need the power. If you want a turbo, big power, great mileage, simplicity, and an engine that's tough as nails just get a cummins diesel and be done with it. It's a super easy swap as long as your not body dropped and it'll be the best engine you could ever put in one of these trucks. The setup cost is usually a lot cheaper than a turbo built LS and you'll get a lot better mileage than a 6.0 ls engine.

I have 4 letters for you... They are feared amongst all car enthusiasts in Commifornia... C.A.R.B. California Air Resource Board. It is kind of a pain in the ass to get any swaps cleared by them unless you happen to have a hookup with a ref. Which is why I'd love to get a pre 75 dually. No emissions in California. If I do, yea a Cummins will go in. But if not, its going to be a 5.3L. They are decent motors and for my usage (90% daily driving) it will be fine. And I can tune the trans shifts in a 4L80 to work well with it. Plus if you can piece together a turbo system yourself, I happen to have some experience in this, you can literally boost an LM7 for less than $4k. I can procure a complete motor from local yards for around $500-600. I'll scoop up a harness off eBay and I'll be ready to rock and roll. There is a local guy selling a LM7 and a 4L60 for $1300. Its not an ideal trans which is why I want an 80 series. I'd love to have a Cummings with a 5 or 6 speed manual. But unless I get a pretty 75 it won't happen. And if I get a 96 or later with a big block I'll just leave it because I can tune that with hptuners just fine. I'm trying to stay in those two eras. Real old school, or newer fuel injection.

By the way... I'm not trying to detract from your knowledge on the matter. You know exactly what you're doing and what your talking about. Its just that the laws here make it a little more difficult to play the game with cars and trucks.

It's worth doing whatever you have to do to run a cummins. I very literally made money on my swap lol. I bought the entire donor dodge 1 ton. I got the engine and trans out and some the rest of the truck and at that point I sold what was left of the truck and than I sold the big block that was in my truck when I bought it. After I sold both of those I had broke even and had a bad ass cummins and dodge auto trans. Than I sold the auto trans for $1200 and bought an NV4500 5 speed trans for $500. So I made $700 profit going to the Cummins. It makes a shit load of power set up like it is right now and I still get 18 mpg lol
Sorry for typos. Using my phone to post.

Guess I'll be waiting til I come across a clean 75 or earlier truck then. I would love to have a stack rollin coal through the bed

Are you close enough to the border to run across to another state without carb and get your truck licensed? No anyone in the next carb free state over?? If not I'd find the 1975 truck. I drive as far as I have to for the right inspection lol. Currently my drive to get an inspection is about 350 miles round trip but I never have to worry about anything failing. I put into the parking lot and my buddy slaps a sticker in it. Easy as that lol.

I live near San Diego. So inspections are kind of a pain. I have a hook up for my car that is $200 to get smogged. Granted, it won't pass so it takes a bit of a bribe lol

I love living in Missouri when it comes to that stuff. If they did smog in Missouri it would take half the vehicles off the road lol. According to my interpretation of Missouri law I only legally have to meet the requirements of whatever diesel laws they had in 1987 which weren't really any at all. Missouri doesn't care what kind of swap you do at all. The inspector doesn't even check what engine you have other than is it gas or diesel so they can be sure the exhaust is legal. Missouri say the engine of the vehicle only has to meet the standards of whatever that might have been when the vehicle was produced. Sooo...I basically get to run my 1995 Cummins with no smog or anything since the state now sees it as a 1987.