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Posted by Tom in Indiana [32.166.148.198] on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 13:34:37 :
In Reply to: Re: 4.30s posted by clueless [201.202.22.114] on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 13:04:31 :
The Dana, complete, cost me $125. To install it in the truck would cost less than $500, total. The disc brakes are a either/or, for me; they just make pad changing easier and a HECK of a lot less rotating mass. I've never found a stock 4.30 gearset in a front Dodge Dana 60. One with 4.56s is a pull-out-and-bolt-in. The originals, I want to keep 100% original. They're going under my '54 wood-hauler, and could easily be put back into the other truck to be totally OE. I'm not thrilled about notching the frame for the Saginaw steering box, nor the small cut needed in the cab for the NP435 either, but they could be re-welded and made to look original, if someone ever wanted to revert it back. The previous owners' holes in the dash, cut-off bedsides and welded-on winch mount are far more "abominable" than what I'm doing to the truck. We can only afford to insure two vehicles at once, and I want to drive my truck every day. It's much more feasable for me to run readily-available parts on what I drive. My '54 is my "parts storage" for the '50. Also, the front socket on my '50 is cracked, which makes anything over 20 MPH a deathwish. Hitting an uneven spot in the road causes it to dart all over the place and it'd get someone killed, eventually. My six-year-old son isn't allowed to ride with me in it other than down into the woods, mainly for that reason.
If I had it to do all over again, though, I would have just bought a newer chassis and bought a body to mate to it. Since I don't think I could just trade straight across for that, I have to do with what I have. I'm torn about it in ways, but I haven't got the money to just do what I want. I do with what I have, and that's fine by me. As long as no Phord or Chebby parts come in contact with it, it makes the mods a little less bothersome.