1967 Dodge D100

[0xDEADBEEF]

Welp, it's in there. I drove it a few feet forward and backwards. It might be a couple degrees out, but it's gonna work. Pretty damn close.

Now I need to get a sheetload of those little rubber line and wire holder clamp thingys and some self tappers, and check off my pre-flight checklist. I should be taking some short trips pretty soon, shaking it down.

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[618 Syndicate]

I've been thinking hard about getting those mirrors. I like how it looks without them now, but I need mirrors.

I'm gonna out a set on the square dually.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

I had this idea while I was underneath the truck trying to do everything right that there's a significant chance this all blows up somehow relatively soon, so I started just ziptying everything. Filled the transmission and diff and went for a drive. First impressions were that it's so much better than before, but still an old truck (which is good). It hasn't lost that old beater charm, LOL.

Not having power steering wasn't an issue at all. For a power steering rack, it's not all that quick.

It's geared way too low. 1st gear is almost useless. 2nd isn't much better, nor is 3rd. It doesn't really feel "normal" to me until 4th. I've never driven a truck with an NV3500 before, but it's definitely a truck transmission. This came out of V6 GMT400, I wonder if the V8s had different gears.

Lost all but about 1/8th of the throttle about a mile from home so had to ease it back, which wasn't a problem with low gearing.

I'm not a fan of the stink bug look (higher in the back) it has now, but I'm going to focus on making it more driveable before doing anything about it.

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[Erik the Awful]

It's geared way too low. 1st gear is almost useless. 2nd isn't much better, nor is 3rd. It doesn't really feel "normal" to me until 4th. I've never driven a truck with an NV3500 before, but it's definitely a truck transmission. This came out of V6 GMT400, I wonder if the V8s had different gears.

It definitely looks like it could use a larger diameter tire. That would help with your gearing.

Can you put dropped shackles in the rear?

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

It definitely looks like it could use a larger diameter tire. That would help with your gearing.

Can you put dropped shackles in the rear?

Agree on the tire diameter. Those tires are ~25.5" in diameter. I did the math for 30" and it's ~20% more speed for the same rpm. That would help bunch.

I did some comparisons and 2nd gear in the NV3500 is pretty close to 1st gear in most manual transmissions. It's kind of a 3 speed with a granny gear and over drive.

I think an axle flip and much bigger tires would go a long way to curing all its problems.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

The more I look at it, the more I think the pics exaggerate the stance. It's too high in the back, but IRL it's not as glaring.

Fixed my throttle cable. This cable is from Motion Raceworks, and it's really a nice setup overall, but it uses 2 tee-niny grub screws to hold the cable. I could not get enough oomph on them to hold before they stripped. In all fairness to Motion Raceworks, I could just not have the right size Allen wrench. I was going to put a big wad of solder on it to hold it, but I couldn't find my solder in my box of electrical stuff. I was about to head off to the parts store for the 1000th time, but I had an idea. I used a butt connector and crimped the bejeezus out of it. I did a bunch of simulated instant WOT and it's holding.

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[Caman96]

Are the cab mounts in good shape? Maybe, again, it’s the picture, but it almost looks to sag a bit.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Are the cab mounts in good shape? Maybe, again, it’s the picture, but it almost looks to sag a bit.

Yes, they are. The whole rear of the truck isn't really attached to the frame anymore. When the floor rotted out it left about 2" of slack on the bolts that hold it down. It's just kind of resting there now. I have some new bolts to go through the new plywood bed, but I haven't done it yet.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Back from test drive #2. She's a little spicey after 3000 rpm and I don't think I've made boost yet, it's just the cam coming into its range. Still doing a break in so I'm going very easy on it. Clutch needs to bed in before I even think about full throttle.

Did a bunch of stop and go, and 2nd is the way to go. 1st might be useful if parked on a steep incline or getting a trailer going, but otherwise is useless.

 

[618 Syndicate]

Back from test drive #2. She's a little spicey after 3000 rpm and I don't think I've made boost yet, it's just the cam coming into its range. Still doing a break in so I'm going very easy on it. Clutch needs to bed in before I even think about full throttle.

Did a bunch of stop and go, and 2nd is the way to go. 1st might be useful if parked on a steep incline or getting a trailer going, but otherwise is useless.

Could you go a numerically lower rear axle and take advantage of the deep first gear?