WANTED Cummins 4BT or 12V 6BT

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patrick66

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OK, kids, I have my '69 Dodge D300 cab and chassis, finally. I'm thinking the original 318 and 4-speed aren't gonna really do what I want the truck to do, and that is haul a 24' to 28' Avion or Airstream travel trailer with relative speed and reliability. So, I'm searching for a Cummins 4BT from a bread van or such, or a 12V 6BT from a Dodge PU...preferably with a NV3500 or 4500 transmission to go along with. I'd prefer something within 250 miles of OKC, OK, but will consider others if within a day's drive (600 miles or so) of central Oklahoma.
 
If you're pulling a travel trailer definitely go with the 6BT, the cost of a used 4BT is so high that you can buy a complete truck with a 6BT for the same price. I'd look for a rusted out 94-98 truck with the P-Pump/P7100 injection pump, Stay away from the 24V motors with VP44 units..like playing russian roulette on when the injection pump will die on you. ;)

Don't be afraid to go high mileage on your cummins...seen motors with 500K miles on it pulled down for a re-ring and bearings and the block looks fresh!

Check out car-part.com, they list 1000's of wreckers across north america, or maybe Copart.com for a complete wrecked truck?
 
I'd look for a rusted out 94-98 truck

That's the route I'd be going. Then you also get a more modern front and rear end with disc brakes to swap around, of course at that point you might start considering just swapping the old sheet metal onto the newer frame.
 
There is a LOT of room for the 4BT. Lot of Jeep guys are running these for crawlers and such, hence the high price for what they are. The 6BT uses up a lot of real estate. Some swappers have notched the firewall and/or eliminated the stock fan, in favor of a large pusher fan on the outside of the radiator. I just don't know for sure how the clutch is going to be activated, since the '69-up trucks have a mechanical linkage, while the earlier trucks have a master/slave cylinder hydraulic setup.

Theramman.com offers a complete disc-brake swap for the D300 series that I'd use. I'm not interested at all in swapping the body to a later frame. The front end is plenty stout to handle the Cummins, plus it's simple.

I've owned three Cummins-powered Dodges ('93, '96, '06); that is why I want the earlier 12V, minus all that electronic crap the newer engines have. There is a Cummins remanufacturer near Dallas that I'm going to see what a complete engine, plus a NV4500 trans, would run, both carry-out and installed. And, there are two school-bus salvages within about 60 miles that seem to part out plenty of Cummins-powered buses from the '90s and up.
 
I run a NV4500 in My 84/93 Cummins crewcab, you will have to run a hydraulic clutch system since the slave cylinder and throw out bearing fork are all internal inside the bellhousing, no way to activate it with mechanical linkage.
 
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