by bartonmd » Mon May 03, 2010 8:49 am
Wow, where to start...
For the record, for everybody else...
- The Cummins 4BT is the inline 4 version of the 6BT in the Dodge trucks. Cummins is not Dodge, and is not owned by Dodge. The 6BT also goes in all kinds of ag equipment.
- The 4BT wiring is nothing... I mean literaly nothing... Most of them that you run across are all mechanical like my '90 Dodge CTD, and just require an on/off switch to the pump solenoid, alternator wire, and starter wires (and grid heaters, if you live somewhere cold)
About the project...
- 4BT is your best bet, by far, with a D44 front end... The BONE STOCK 3/4-ton Dodges came with a Dana 60 front end to support the 1500# 6BT (Your stock engine weighs ~500#, as does any truck engine with a D44 under it..., and even the 4BT weighs ~750#), and a Dana 70 rear end for the torque (and towing/hauling capacity)… A D44F/D60R would PROBABLY survive a 4BT if you didn't go crazy with the fuel, but be careful with all that torque, all that weight, and a locker… Don't expect either to be as fast as your stock 4.2L I6, though, unless you fuel and run the piss out of them...
- Our frame is going to require a ton of reinforcement for either, but you would basically have to build a frame over our frame to hold the 6BT, at 3x the weight of the stock engine. The 4BT is still heavier than the stock engine, but reinforcements would probably be doable...
- You will want to put a different (non-computer controlled) Automatic, or better yet, a manual trans, behind the 4BT, and I'd run a 205 behind it... A regular 205 should be plenty strong.
- Good luck keeping the ABS if the axle didn't come from an ABS-equipt vehicle... The reluctors are at the wheels in the front, and I think with your year, you just have one at the rear output of the t-case. Even if you do have reluctors in the front hubs, You've got to put a reluctor on the output of the trans, with the correct number of teeth such that the computer gets the ratio of pulses that it's looking for… That is if the BCM (body control module) doesn't freak the hell out because it's not getting any information from the PCM… This is doable, but you'd have to literally build an ABS system from the ground up, and then calibrate it, which is much harder than it sounds…
- Steering: One thing you'll DEFINITELY have to watch about the steering setup with a car/truck recirculating ball box is; trucks and most full sized cars have a frame that's made for a recirculating ball box, and is much thicker than our frame… Even on the trucks, especially with larger than stock tires or off roading, the steering boxes are known to crack the frame… you're going to have to do some serious reinforcment to keep the frame alive with a steering box mounted to it… The other opion is fully hydro steering… It's not street legal much of anywhere, but it saves some fab on the frame, and keeps you from having strange steering angles while flexing…
Mike
Last edited by
bartonmd on Mon May 03, 2010 9:25 am, edited 2 times in total.