ramp rebuild

69.5CUDA

69.5CUDA

Blah Blah Blah
so..ima toss this right here as i WILL and do have plenty of question...and plenty of head scratching WILL happen

so, anyway, the truck itslef some will remember some wont....from those ive talked to who knew the truck or its history..it seems to be it was a real deal race car hauler from day one..

its is a 1970 d300 and silly long with a 445 4spd(same as the granny mow but no granny low) and enemic 318...lets put it this way a 72 newport wagon fits on its back, due to rust, damage and uglyness ive grabbed a replacement "early" small window cab with the fridge door handles doors and quad headlight grill and factory louvered hood

pic's will come later as im not going to dig them up right now...

second addition has been a 1976(1974 frame) 27ft executive diplomat II with a 440 thats been worked up from stock with all sorts of goodies ..today its frame "remains" came home on a tow dolley behind a....01 explorer sport 2dr..spooky yes, got stuck on the gravel road trying to make a near 180 deg corner uphill at an ugly grade...4x descided to not work at all...but....my wifes lil yaris had traction up hill for a helping pull and got us going....someones going to ask or wonder how in the hell said wide front end fit the dolley..let me state this dolley is a BEAST and just neer the laws limit on width....someone built it stout as hell...the front axle of the MH chassis slipped into it with less than 1 inch to spare between the lugnuts and the 1/8th diamondplate wheelwells on one side..the other just touched...EVERY sharp corner wanted to or did push me HARD as in washed my rear out....downside of a dolley with no rotator

so the 440 me and doc have talked rounds with..see..i REFUSE to run that MH slush box..while ill squirrel it away(hell ive got a old early 60s bigblock pushbutton unit here i wish i knew how to unload)..i want to run that 445..so im on a hunt to know exactly what flywheel i need as i KNOW i have a couple bells for it..hell ive got a stack of flys too.......

so..i looked at the 440 good today and ya know what..the harmonic balancer looks exacly like what youd see on a 318...its skinny..whats that mean, i have no idea but i think thats good news, id LOVE to find out the brand new fly i have on the shelf would fit


i know i had a couple of good questions about the whole daisy chain brake system and rebuild parts for the brakes and possible bolt pattern/wheel swaps...but right now my heads a wash and sleeps coming
 
I should be able to check on that 440 flywheel for you on Wednesday, if that guy is there. He was out of town when I called him and he said he'd be gone for about a week and should be back on this Monday or Tuesday.

Oh yeah...
:nopics:
 
ok..so..ima try and put these in order...im missing some of the ones i cant find..like the overgrowth on the truck before id cut it part way out..or the pics of the springs so sagged they had hit the frame(had to jack n block the axle up to get it home...infact the blocks are still present but the right amount are in there to keep it level)

the trailer it came home on is 22ft.....and made the f350SD look like a toy

the rest of the pics are simply highlights..if someone wants some explanation ill fill it in but they kinda speak for themselves

day 1 cut it out
day 2 finish cut, drag, block , load, stop for fuel, drag home
day 3 more fuel, drag up to 40, unload










 
i should note that after unloading i tossed some fuel in the carb and it sputtered to life...and i left it at that

some many months later i came across my GRAIL of parts for the truck..the "early" hood and grill...course i grabbed much...MUCH more knowing i needed basicly ALL of the sheetmetal save for the fenders which are neigh on impossible to lay hands on the "big truck" flared units which come in 3 flavors 4 if you count the pickup units...as well as 3 flavors of OEM cab running boards which im on the hunt for more of...atleast 2 if anyone knows of any












 
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fastforward thru alot of shit...friends falling out screwing me over leaving owing me..lies desception..theft...not one but several all within months of eachother..lost the 40 tho it was never mine it had become home...much sadness and rage thru the bullshit...its hard to be the nice guy when your getting screwed..but ive held it together

so over the past year+ me and my wife started packin shit out and makeing impossible space fitments here at home..from the 10car shelft to scraping and liquidation of thins at dirt cheep just to make space for the must saves..and shes a hell of a trooper

i should note with ZERO funds spent just some fuel fuel line and a can on the inner fender and some tweaking to the carb adjustment(no i didnt clean out the carb or even file the points) i got it running...i attempted to get the brakes working(it had no master so stole one that was on an RV clip chunk) but had no lock..regardless the truck idled rough but ran...a drop into gear and the clutch even worked good..thats when i found out NO GRANNY LOW..i didnt even know such a thing existed..i ran it around the shop a couple times to get used to stop n go without brakes before we loaded it without the winch onto that tilter 22...which i must state ...the front wheels hit the end of the tilt as the rears touch it so the deck does tilt...which means jack n block of the deck in spooky ways



got it home unloaded using the clutch as a brake..pulled it into the driveway..loaded my fav alfa on the back to make more space and tucked it aside






 
now..this ole girl had been left behind on the 40 since ..well the tags expired in 97? and was neerly hauled off before the owner took possesion of the land..luckily it didnt...440, msd, hooker/headmans, cammed..its...ANGRY ran like a top with a lil fuel and tinkering..even the trans shifts out descent..the brakes..sketchy but functional(just found out the system has ZERO fluid in the master).....took possesion of it neerly 8 years ago..and its sat up there

few months back i got a friend (from 3 hours north)to gather me a wrecking crew to scrap and such the remainders on the 40..and we hacked down the MH to nothing...in the snow....the roof once the interior was out..was so thin the snow was all that was keeping the rain out LOL..yeah the aluminum was rotten..she still fired up and dragged her weight









 
yesterday became a BIG day..we headed out a lil late..with 1 goal...get it home....

the frame had been cut down of EVERY last scrap of anything cut off as possible, but we had other scrap in its way....i set out removing dangling wires etc

now id made plenty of measurements with my dolley..and still wasnt sure if this thing would fit...being 81 inches from well to well on the dolley and a rough eyeball of 78 inches(which turned out to be 80) on the front axle....you can only measure so well thru tires and brake to the ends of the nuts..the end result i wish ida grabbed shots of..kissed nuts on one side and not enuf room to get my knuckes past on the other..TIGHT

now this load i knew would be spooky at best...but i knew the 4x on the lil ...tiny...2dr explorer sport would get me thru especialy with the brand new tires

YEAH RIGHT..the 160deg very uphill switchback at the top of the 40 the dollay and MH chassis did its best to shove my ass off the road...ok fine kick in the 4x....i miss manual hubs or at the very least a STICK opperated tcase...i carry extra brains for the explorers 4x system...while i was getting clicking of the brains and the startup flash of the 4x..i was getting no tcase or axle operation...

plan b....theres a semi level uphill about 50 feet up...mind you ive gotta climb and turn with a beast pushing me the wrong way up a nasty grade...its a UGLY switchback thats got at the least a 8-10ft drop to it...had my wife pull the lil yaris up to the level area..pulled out 4 of the BIG yellow tiedowns daisychained together...with my doing the chirp chirp chirp spin on the loose gravel that lil yaris muled it like it was nothing..reminding me of my lil rolla wagon that pulled my RC off of being highcentered in the on its axles..never underestimate a lil yota

many a sharp corner later we got it home..mind you the MH and dolley tryed to make me hug a few cars and likely made that poor benz driver shit himselfe as i was pushed within a foot of him REAREND first lol..here let me sit on your hood...lol...

got it home and started getting more good looking over..im beat..and that ride home was TAXING on the mind and body..the whole thing wanted to swing sway and push..i blame the 1 flat dully on MANGLED rim(how do you do that to an inner?!??!?!?), lenght of chassis, shortness of exploder and the bulding tires of the dolley(car tires by the idiot who built it) i will eventualy cut off the wheelwells due to clearance to tires(3inches or less around and 2 inches inside) so i can step up to a REAL trailer tire..from the 195/65 15's to something like a 205/70/15









 
now for some really dumb feeling questions

how does one go about testing/bleeding this brake system....i have allready scored a MH chassis shop manual off ebay for a paultry 12$ shipped and in very nice condition..and i figure that may be in there but..my itch of curiosity is up...and id like to dig into it and see what does/doesnt work before i go ripping everything off to move to the other chassis

next of..cast vs forged 440....benifits etc....im not looking for a race engine..im just looking to build it up to make the most out of hauling a HEAVY truck with a car/truck on the back without being a fully gutless dog....
this said...and being the balancer is skinny(it actualy looks smaller than a teener unit)..i have a forged crank right?..so whats that mean for balance(yes my short term memory is shit thanks to the brain damage)

440-1 vs 440-3..whats the deal here...ive never once understood what this ment or how to tell them apart....

in all honesty this is my first real venture into RB's in any kind of depth other than working on or tuning for others

im in the process of pulling frame, engine, trans numbers...get this..the trans is soo clean i dont think its EVER leaked...i thought all 727s leaked


anyone know how to tell a 300, 400, 500, 600 chassis apart?..ive been told lug patterns lug counts etc etc etc..but nothing truely concrete enuf to genuinely belive....best guess is i have a 300, 375, 400 chassis here(the 375 changed to 400 later)

im all giggly over those massive twin piston front callipers
 
found some usefull numbers while being just wiped out today....as well as a shot of that dinky lil balancer

like what was stated on several other truck engines ZERO NUMBERS found on the raised pad at the oilpan ledge






 
The casting #'s make it a late '74 cast block, which would have a cast crank from new.
 
And the stamp on the front pad decodes as;

4-1974
T-Trenton plant
440- c.i.
T-truck
 
And that balancer would denote a forged crank. Combined with the headers, I doubt that the insides are completely stock. :hmmm:
 
And for the 440-1 vs 440-3, the 440-1 is pretty much a car engine, but the 440-3 is a more heavy duty version. The main differences are;


  • Rotating exhaust valves - supposed to help prevent 'burned valves' - under high rpm and heavy load conditions.
  • Heavy duty connecting rods (thru '74, even up thru '77 in some cases) - like in the 440 Six-Pack and other High Performance engines.
  • Heavy duty block casting - extra reinforcement ribs, etc.
  • Heads have extra cooling passages, so require a special head gasket
  • Special 'skirted' thermostat for coolant passage
 
add to that MSD, heavy plug wires, HUGE mufflers(blown out) and various race decals..who knows..god knows its rumbly angry and a bit lumpy...

i WILL be opening it up before i toss it in the truck(pan covers intake) and "if" the head numbers show to be something shity..ill dig thru my pile of bigblock heads for something gooder!,,,,plan is to toss on my mildon pan and pump, re-paint the engine)turqoise metalic preferably, toss on some(for now) MP chrome VCs that i have a bloody stack of...till i can afford/find/steal a set of pre "square pad" cal customs, swap out the intake for the wiend add either holley 750 or carter afb axing that thermo puke, add the hemi carter fuel pump(this ones hosed).....basicly..if i have a bigblock goodie laying around its getting it PERIOD....odd side note the VC's apear to be factory black..while block is baby corp blue and has clearly never been re-painted

...from my digging i have found notes that the forged crank DID sneak into HD aplications from the factory only on 440-3's on up to 80(leftovers?!?!?!)....sooooo who knows..ive even read a dozen times about 440-3's that were forged having 6pk rods...but hell if i know even mentioned in the MH chassis manual....but what bugs me is that potentiality of the 8:1 comp....i did see in the book tho 2.08/1.73 valves

my big problem is..its neigh on impossible to get med duty truck info/help

but hey..most of its internet found and we all know how trustworthy that can be
 
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69.5CUDA said:
....sooooo who knows..ive even read a dozen times about 440-3's that were forged having 6pk rods...
Click to expand...

If it does, it would have to have a cast crank......unless.......someone went to the extreme to have it internally balanced.
 
My understanding from doing a little research on my '73 NY, was that the factory was still putting forged crank 440s in the big motorhomes until '77 or '78. Your compression will be shit, as the factory dropped to an advertised 8.2:1 (I think) in '72 or '73. As for the brakes, peel back the rubber boots on the back of the master, the ends of the wheel cylinders, and the calipers.. If you see any wetness, they're pooched. If a side or the rears stay locked on, you could have a collapsed brake hose. I just fully rebuild the system when I buy a car now.. You know nobody's flushed or serviced anything on a field find in years, and I've crashed too many cars with shitty brakes in my youth to keep letting it happen. Especially on that big ass truck. I got the calipers, master, wheel cylinders, and all the brake hoses for the NY for something like $160 shipped from RockAuto.. it was worth every penny
 
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I'll bet there's a Dodge motorhome forum. Or a general RV forum that might help you sort out what you're looking at. There's a forum for everything these days.
 
TheIronSausage said:
I'll bet there's a Dodge motorhome forum. Or a general RV forum that might help you sort out what you're looking at. There's a forum for everything these days.
Click to expand...

the rv forums are only so much help..but worse when they find out your trashing an rv to build a truck they delete your account...and the thread where any info was.....i did get a lil help tho and a few usefull links like this one tho http://dave78chieftain.com/index.html

68R/T said:
If it does, it would have to have a cast crank......unless.......someone went to the extreme to have it internally balanced.
Click to expand...
thats what i thought,,,see the nets full of shit and its why i turn to you guys
 
69.5CUDA said:
my big problem is..its neigh on impossible to get med duty truck info/help
Click to expand...

I have the 1975 Dodge Truck FSM on CD from Detroit Iron and it starts with the D/W100-300's and covers everything all the way up through the 600 series trucks. Rock Auto sells them for about $22 IIRC, but I can look up any info you might need in a pinch (if it's the same between 74 and 75).
 
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