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World Expedition Suburban Build - Cummins/NV4500/Dana 60 - Build back on?

53K views 118 replies 43 participants last post by  kkodet 
#1 · (Edited)
Here is what I am starting with: I picked up this 1999 Suburban 3/4 in Detroit off Craigslist for $1,600. It is fully loaded, it even has heated seats. The previous owner started dismantling the 454 because he thought it was bad. The truck has just over 100,000 on the ticker, is rust free, and appears to have been garage kept.



Here is the build plan:

1990 Cummins 12 valve motor
1998 Dodge Ram NV4500 and 241 transfer case
Swap in a Ford Dana 60 front axle
3.50 gears
H1 Beadlocks
ARB Front bumper/warn winch
Detroit Lockers Front/Rear

Here is a pic of the donor engine. I bought the entire 2wd truck that had been rolled for $1,200. It runs great and has 200,000 miles on it:



Bought this piece of crap for $350.00 from a local scrapper. Had a HP dana 60 front and a Chevy 35 spline Dana 60 rear. Much to my surprise, both axles ended up having Detroit lockers in them.




Lastly, I called Ryan at B&L auto wrecking out in Oregon. He has always gotten me great prices on late model stuff. He sold me this 1998 Ram NV4500 with everything else (flywheel, bellhousing, clutch, pedal assembly, slave, etc.) for $1,450 shipped to my door. This all came out of a Truck with 80,000 miles that had gotten wrecked.

I traded a friend of mine a junk low pinion 77 Ford Dana 60 for a 241 Diesel T-case (large 29 spline is specific to diesel sticks)



Now that I have all the parts, let the building began!

My end goal is to have a wheelable tow rig that I can also take anywhere with the whole family and tons of gear.
 
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#79 ·
Wow! I totally didn't mean anything about your truck Camo. I really would like to see some pics. Sorry if I came off wrong.

What I was thinking about was a magazine that recently did a Tahoe on 37's. I can't remember which one it was, but the thing looked ridiculous to me. They had enough lift on the thing to probably clear 40-42 inch tires (maybe with some trimming) I've also seen the same thing with many of the ORU kits. In fact, the ORU kit (If installed/used per ORU directions) nets a minimum of 6 inches of lift. That's why I decided to build my own suspention instead.

I have two kids and a very short wife. I'm trying to build this thing so she doesn't need a ladder to get into it :sonicjay:
 
#81 · (Edited)
Nice and rainy today, so I spent a few hours this morning out in the garage. After carefull measuring, I figured out that 78-79 ford rear frame hangers and shackles, mounted upside down, would be the perfect shackle setup for the front. I was originally going to recycle some used parts, but decided against it and just picked up some replacements. I could have mounted them up higher to lower the truck more, but I'd run into issues with the planned hi-steer setup, plus the springs may bottom out on the bend in the frame if I went any lower.



With the axle bolted in



And another shot from the front.



I may end up having to put an add a leaf in the 78-79 Ford spring pack to handle the weight of the cummins, but I'll wait and see. My goal is to keep the springs as flat as possible, with little to no negative arch. The factory drag link isn't getting used. I'm just temporarily using it to keep the tires from flopping around.
 
#82 ·
Got back to work on this today. Progress is slow because I'm back to work and we are in the process of moving to the next town over. I haven't sold my place yet, so I've still got the barn for now to work in.

Started prepping the cummins for installation. Replaced leaking rear main seal and re-gasketed oil pan.
 
#85 ·
O.K. guys.

Sorry for the long wait in between posts. This has been a really weird year.

I will not give up on this project, and will post more info as soon as I have some.

For now the project has been stale, as I moved, and have been fairly busy at work. Having my workshop 15 miles from my house has been a pain, and I don't seem to find the time to wrench. It looks like the house is going to sell soon, so I'll have to move everything to my new place, and hopefully I'll get more work done on it.

A second problem is that I don't have the internet at home right now, and it pretty much isn't available unless I pay some big monthly fees for dish net or one of those cell based deals. So, the only time I get online is when I use it at work after hours or from the in-laws or parents places. So until I get that straightened out I won't have pictures. But, I'll keep you posted as to what is going on and will post pics as soon as possible.

For now the truck pretty much looks the same, but it is down off the stands and rolling. I need to get the motor mounts mocked up and the motor set in place, which is my next project.
 
#88 ·
I do not plan to. The intercooler with a cummins motor only improves horsepower, but the stock intercooled motors get worse mileage than my motor due to different injectors, usually 2-4 mpg worse.

My old rotory pump motor was the most fuel efficient version of the 5.9 cummins ever made, and at this time, that is the most important thing to me. Plus I love the simplicity of this setup.
 
#89 · (Edited)
Small update.

I have been very busy with the move and several other things, so the build was gathering dust at my old house. Well, the old place sold, so now I am finishing up moving the last of everything.

I decided it would be easier to move the Suburban if the Cummins was in it and in place. I'm in the process of renovating my garage at the new place, so at this time I have very limited work space and tools.

So, today I went over and started fitment of the motor into the chassis. My original plan was to modify the original big block mount pads on the frame to fit the Cummins mounts. I decided that this would require too much work and cut them off the frame and ground everything down.

Then I sat the motor in place to see where everything fits. I ran into one small issue. The dodge A/C compressor hits the passenger side framerail where the original bump is that the factory idler arm bolted to. Since I no longer am using the original steering, I cut this bump off the frame and made up a plate from 1/4 inch plate and welded it in place. This gave me the extra 2 inches I needed. A lot of guys doing this sort of swap re-locate all the accessories, but I would like to keep everything under the hood as stock as possible. Plus, I really like the compact design and top mount alternator of the 1989 Dodge.

For a crossmemember I will be using a stock 1992 Dodge one ton 4x4 piece. By cutting approx 1 1/2 inches off either side of the stock dodge unit I should be able to easily weld this into the frame, allowing stock mounts and a very heavy duty full crossmember. My crossmember came out of a gas truck, as my diesel parts truck was 2wd. The gas and diesel crossmembers are identical.

I hope to get everything finished up in the mount department in the next few days. I forgot to take the camera with me to the shop today, so no pics, but I'll try to post some as soon as possible. After the motor is in, I'm sad to say that the project will probably see one more hiatus while I spend 1-2 months finishing up my garage.
 
#90 ·
Here is the section I had to remove from the frame. You can see the template I made in the background for the removed section.



Using a piece of 1/4 plate I boxed in the hole in the frame from the inside.



And now the A/C compressor fits with about 1 inch of clearance.

 
#91 · (Edited)
My buddy Jason (jsteinmetz on here) came over today and helped me mock up the motor and get it sitting in the frame so I can move the truck tommorow.

Brand new clutch.



The stock Dodge crossmember. I cut 1 1/2 inch off either side to make it fit between the framerails. I ended up cutting it approx 1/4 inch too short so I had to do some thick welds and use some plate for filler/spacers.



Crossmember welded in place. The diff hits it just slightly, so I'll maybe trim it a bit, and probably will need to add some leafs to lift the front.



And finally the motor in place. It sits very nicely, but I'm going to have to hammer the firewall slightly to keep it from rubbing in a few spots and/or slide it forward on the mounts a bit. As it sits, I can use the stock fan with the stock Suburban radiator. No electric fans necessary.

 
#93 ·
Thank you. You can do this as well. For me this has been an on/again off/again project spanning almost six years. I slowly collected parts, and was originally going to build a vintage crew cab Ford.

If I was to try and buy all these parts at once I couldn't have done it. Now, with the economy like it is and such, I am really glad I hung on to all this stuff because it would have been near impossible for me to afford everything now. As of now the only expensive parts left to buy for this project are tires and eventually a winch.
 
#95 ·
No progress, but here is whats going on:

1. After moving everything from my old place to my new place (which currently only has a 2 1/2 car garage) I figured out that I have no room to even walk around, much less work in there. So, I've spent much of my extra time designing my new dream workshop, and working with builders and the zoning board to build it. Right now we are a bit behind schedule, but should break ground very soon and hopefully be done by the time we get serious snow.

2. I ditched my old nextel for an AT&T android, which after extensive reasearch I figured it was the only way I could go. So now posting pics is simple, and I have the net not only at home, but everywhere I go. I'll even start a build thread for the new shop when time comes.
 
#96 ·
I ditched my old nextel for an AT&T android, which after extensive reasearch I figured it was the only way I could go. So now posting pics is simple, and I have the net not only at home, but everywhere I go. I'll even start a build thread for the new shop when time comes.
I have a a plain old Droid for just over a year. Never been dropped but it is turning into a peice of shit. I have never had a phone go bad beofre the contract (still got a year) was up either. Hope you got a warranty.
 
#102 ·
As many of you know, I am opening a vintage auto parts and off-road store. I have been thinking a lot about this, and I'm not at this time 100 percent sure I want to finish and/or keep this Suburban, as I have other ideas I'd like to explore. I am considering selling or parting this out. I really do not want to sell the motor, trans, t-case, or front axle, as I plan to use them in a different project that I feel will be more fitting to my new business. I would consider selling the rust free body/frame with rear axle already set up for your axle for $1,500. This will not include "extras" I've aquired for the project. If you would like to make reasonable offers that include other parts in this thread, you are welcome to do so. Do not consider this the "official" end of this project, just a change of direction. I will post in the for sale section when I know for sure what I'm getting rid of from this project.
 
#104 ·
It depends on what "it all" includes. I have uses for many of the parts I aquired. I don't want to sell the dana axles or trans unless I get more than their worth or we worked a package deal that I couldn't resist. I'd sell motor for $2,000 alone, or $3,000 with suburban, no front axle, no trans stuff, no extras. Anyone can call me at 810-614-8038 to hash out details.
 
#106 ·
So, I'm 99% sure this will be for sale or at least a part out. I've purchased what most likely will be its replacement (for a similar expedition-tow rig build) that I feel will be a better fit for my new business venture. I just need to get it home first and see what I have to work with (its currently in Philadelphia)
 
#109 ·
O.K. guys. I really hate to be wishy washy on stuff, but its eating at me that I didn't finish this. Plus, I need a new tow rig that I can haul the kids in. I'm leaning towards finishing this thing, even though it isn't "vintage" Which would fit better with my business. I'll keep you all updated.
 
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