Nice find.  Truck and CB. 

Where is this junkyard full of dodge trucks? Thats awesome!

Nice score. That isn't a CB that looks like an early VHF High band repeater.
Think commuication gear for foresty police fire etc. You may be able to sell it to some short wave geeks that convert them to 2M radios depending on the wattage

Nice find!!!!


 

sweeeeeeet!

Your yard is kinda looking like the back 40 of Davis Monthan AFB!  What are all of the other mothballed items back there?

ya I'll likely just sell the thing - I'm sure not gonna need it.

So the plan is to do a simple 6BT/727 combo, but pull the 727 tailhousing (factory mated to a 205) and swap it out for the 203 unit, which will allow me to mate the doubler straight up to the 727, eliminating the fancy adaptors and stub shaft.  I'm thinking I won't even have to swap output shafts - I think it'll be a bolt-up.  I think the 205 tailhousing is longer than the 203 version, hence the extension housing and coupler sliup shaft for the 205, and with the shorter 203 housing there should be bueno spline engagement.  I'm pretty sure I won't miss the overdrive, plus that'll be one less 'thing' to screw with.  Sound logical?

Anyone have a 727/203 tailhousing that can take a measurement of the tailhousing for me?  I'll compare it to the 205 tailhousing I have now.

the cast np203 tail housing adapter is 8 3/4 inches long.

if you need a 203 output housing ill trade u straight across for your 205 one. ill even pay shipping cuz mines heavier lol.

i had a radio kinda like that in a blazer one time, it was for talking to chopper pilots in the forest.

Most likely it'll be all 'stock' but without inner fenders.  Too much of a pain to keep from shaking and WAY too much fabrication to duplicate.

well today was pretty fun and I made some interesting discoveries.  Among many reasons for doing this truck, 'simple' and 'maintainable' are among the top 5, maybe top 3.  I've been pondering all manner of leaf spring theory, looking at possible applications and different makes, lifts, spring rates, etc blah yadda, and so today I wanted to test a theory I had so I did a little experiment with the equipment I already had.
I propped Nacho's right side up on stands, pulled the wheels, and pulled both front and rear leaf packs, and shoved the rear 56" leaf pack up under the front - just to see if it could actually fit...at all...and to see how much it compressed under Nacho's heafty weight and how much it compared to the custom front leaf pack that was in there.  What I discovered was actually pretty interesting - here it is:

First, the stock 56" pack did in fact 'fit' - here it is simple shoved under the frame, not mounted to shackles, etc - this is roughly how it will look fully extended (again this is just WAG'ing) -



and here is what it looks like with full weight - it compressed pretty well but not as much as I thought it would -



...so I'm looking at it and I was surprised it didn't compress further than this and I wondered how it would react with less leafs (remember this is the standard 5-leaf ProComp 4" lift rear spring for a Chevy - they're cheap and 'available'), so I pulled off the lower two leafs, and reinstalled it -

yeah...it lost 1 inch of overall lift - that's it.  This 3-leaf, 56" spring is fully suspending Nacho's weight easily - easily doing the same job as the uber 7-leaf short pack that was in there.  And oh by the way, I tested the gushiness of the suspension by pushing down on the front bumper - yeahhhh it fealt GREAT - plenty of nice 'give', good and bouncy - plenty capable for suspending this much truck and it's nicely 'in' the spring - not 'on' it like a buck-board ride we're all used to.



and to show what would need to be done for the rear shackle, here's the basic idea -



shoule be a piece of cake - I'm moving the body mount up, probably making one from scratch and mounting it upward so as to eliminate the 3-inch lift block all together, and that should make plenty of room for the shackles to do their thing.  Here's what it looks like under weight with a 36" tire - not a bad lift at all



....and yes...that's SNOW piling up on the hood   - nice way to celebrate the last day of summer, no?!!    I love snow  

This is what I'm gonna try, and once I get the caster angle figured out I bet this thing drives really, really nicely, AND it should have crazy compression/extension potential for wheelin'.  Important to remember - while the truck needs to be streetable this isn't going to be a daily-driver...although it si very likely I'll be taking this dude to work now and then - the gate guards should love it!.  This is gonna be a big, heavy, trail rig, and I think big, long leafs may be the key to giving it some real 'suspension'.  PLUS, if I need more lift I still have those two bottom leafs that I can reinstall, AND it's using off-the-shelf inexpensive leaf springs from my local 4-wheel parts.   I'm diggin' it

- Sam

Just remember that when you remove leaves you decrease the spring's ability to resist axle wrap.

Pretty cool

We thought it was a bit early too, but fortunately we love the winters out here...and we also think it's gonna be a serious winter this time.  S'okay tho - we be ready.

Fortunately the weather a bit south of here wasn't too bad, and it was a great day for a parts run -

found an '82 Ram dually D350 with a nice little (read HUGE) Dana 70 dually rear axle with factory 4.56's, and elsewhere hiding in a big 'transmission garden' I spotted an A-518 Cummins 4x4 tranny.  The axle looks great inside - it even smells good - it was behind a 318 and not a Cummins so it isn't all shredded inside.  I'm hoping it only needs some fresh seals...and a Detroit , and what's also cool is it's about 2 inches wider than normal and I want the extra width to help compensate for the extra wheelbase - should work good, and it has huge drums - bonus.  I'm gonna disect the tranny and see what makes 'em tick, do some voodoo on the output shaft to get more oiling to the o/d, and that'll be Bud's tranny and rear axle.

beefy.................................................................

   a'yep

Good luck. Can't wait to see more of this build.

yup...'swat I wanted to find.  It's about 2 inches wider than a standard 70 and that's also what I wanted.  Some folks want to stay as narrow as possible, I want to be a bit wider.  After a quick call to my buddy Matt at NAPA he confirmed that the 5/8" studs can be replaced with 1/2" studs - same shank for the hub, different thread for the lugs, and that way the front and back lug nuts will match{cool}....although I am thinking of leaving the back alone and converting the front to 5/8" lugs.  More beef is better than less

Max I'm guessing that its a C&C dually rear? I found out the hard way there is a difference in width on a C&C dually and PU dually. C&C dually being the narrower.

The reason the front is wider than the rear is to give them a better turning radius.

You killing me Sam I have just about made up my mind to do 52" F & 56"R springs on my Crew to improve the ride and now you come up with this  I'll have to stay tuned about the longer rears but I don't think I'll do the fronts as I have a set of Jungle's hangers to use.

I'd leave it as-is.  It's a factory hole and it's nice and smooth.  You can always weld it closed, and so long as it's an older frame (...pre-98(?) when they went to the hydroformed frames) you can weld on 'em all you want.  IIRC the hydroformed frames don't like to be drilled or welded...can anyone confirm that?  Joe?
These older frames are pretty dern'd tuff and they're user-friendly - I'd have no worries about an open hole (Nacho's full of 'em), especially a factory one.  Now, that said, I wouldn't drill any more than you have to...and what I would worry about is if you mis-mark your new shackle mount, drill, and discover they're off by 1/2 inch...well then you have a potential for a figure-8 drill hole, and that can possibly lead to a nut or washer pulling through, so in those cases I'd definitely weld the wrong hole closed on both sides, slowly grind flush alternating where you grind (a little on this hole...a little on that hole...), then re-drill.
Plus, I'm also a fan of welding the washer/nut combo to the back of the frame - one less wrench to hold onto 

im dying to see this MONSTER.. cant wait .....

originally I was planning to go all Chevy but I think I'll try the 2nd gen Dodge (98-01~ish) systems first.  Bud is likely to be the guinea pig, and when I get it all dialed in I'll do the same to my other two trucks.  What I'm not sure of is how the full hydro steering will be affected by the hydro brakes.  For certain I'll need a good steering fluid cooler and good sized reservoir.