Projects 52 Dodge B3B Hemi Project

you can certiantly do this; the only issue you will have is where the Dakota frame raises for the rearend clearance I think, although I will have to go our and look at the back half of the frame to see how much of an impact it will have. I know that others have used the whole frame so obviously it can be done. I would say that if you are thinking of this, just use the whole frame as there isnt much back there other than the rear suspension which would be easy to modify/fabricate to meet the 51 body.

 

70chall440, I wouldn't rely on the hood for front sheet metal support. The curved part at the front eliminates any support the hood might have supplied. I welded 2 -1/2" round bar stock pieces under the curve on my hood center piece from where it bolts to the nose all the way back to where it bolts to the firewall. Laid them in right up under the hood hinges. That eliminated a lot of hood flex when you opened the hood, but did little to add support. I had to do that to my 54 Dodge pickup as well, the center piece tends to crack at the front edges of the hood hinges. It does look like you have a lot more radiator surround support then I had.
For the inner fenders, I made a short (about 6" high) piece that bolted to the nose, the top of the fender, and the firewall from sheet metal with a 3/4"-1" lip bent @90* to add strength. Then attached the rubber flap from the Dakota to the bottom of the inner fender and to the frame just like the original Dakota was done. Sure wish I had pictures of all this stuff.

Fargo52, There is a guy over on www.moparts.com in the "street rod" section that used the original rear frame from his 57 Dodge pickup and spliced it to a Dakota front clip. His truck rear frame was modified because he has huge rear tires, but I can't see why you couldn't use your stock frame. If memory serves me right, it seems there was a lot of boxing to join the two frames (height or width was wrong). The frames were joined under the cab. The truck is a pro-street, lime green, 57 Dodge step side pickup. The 2 or 3- 50s Dodge panels I've been around all had plywood floors behind the front seats all the way back to the rear doors, does your panel have metal floors? Gene

 

thanks for the information, I will take a look at it. Is the purpose of this support to keep the front sheet metal from bending forward, sideways or?

 

as far as using the Dakota frame, I just looked at the back half, it kicks up considerably which will cause some issues unless you bring them into the box or hang the frame below the box/truck. there is a considerable amount of room between a Dakota box and frame whereas the 50 series truck frame is pretty flat.

 

The bracing under the hood center part was to keep it from bending down and splitting at the front edge of the hood hinge.
The inner fender part was so I could mount my hood latches and add reinforcing to the outer fenders. The rubber flap was to keep road splash out of the engine compartment.
I believe the reason the fenders and radiator surround kept cracking was because the surround would consistently flex forward and rearward. I don't believe the hood center piece adds any extra support, and may make things worse if it is bouncing up and down from the weight of the hood 1/2s. The nose piece bolted to the front fenders and to the radiator surround is the only thing that hinder the froward and rearward movement of the radiator, especially with the radiator support attached to the frame on rubber mounts. I don't believe the sheet metal has enough strength to stop the forward and rearward movement and the whole nose was constantly flexing. I think the piece that holds the radiator needs to be braced so it can't move or lean forward and rearward, and that extra bracing needs to take place at the frame level unless you add something in direct line between the top of the nose and the firewall on both sides of the radiator. That extra bracing needs to be stout enough that the radiator surround can't be moved without the fenders bolted on. Gene

 

Gene - got it, good informaiton and now I understand what you mean. I have the radiator support (sides) welded directly to the frame, the frame overlaps the support to the outside; I intend to add some steel bracing in this area. Basically, I am going to run a piece of steal up the side of the radiator support and tie it into the frame. This will allow structural support up and down as well as fore and aft. I will get pictures posted once I do this. I really appreciate you taking the time to make this clear; I most likely won't have gone much further with the bracing if you hadn't said anything.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!! I havent had a lot of time to work on the truck but and trying to carve some out. I did get the hood ornament mounted today (its the small things). I would have gotten more done lately but my 98 diesel has caused me a lot of pain, however I am working on a solution for that....

 

...I think most projects slow down a bit this time of year, unless you're in a sunshine state..

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It was 30 in THE Sunshine State this AM!

 

wrong coast, going to about 80 here today

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

 

Or...you have a nice HEATED garage or workshop...
Time to go look for a heater... 14 degrees here this a.m.

 

It was 30 this am... as well as damp.. I d have 2 space heaters though...

 

So for those of you following this thread you know that I have been doing double duty between the 52 and the 3500 diesel; well today I fixed this situation....

 

2014 Ram 2500 5.7 Hemi HD w/towing package. My lovely bride hooked me up for Christmas...

 

I have managed to get the inner fender wells mocked up and the hood ornament installed.

 

Hmmmm..... a cabover hauler would look great on a 2014 ch***is! Also subscribing to your thread... I've got a 48 Fargo on ice that I would like to put on a Dakota 318 4x4 ch***is some day. Not happy with the comments about the rear frame interference though. Better to learn sooner rather than later though. Thanks for the info.

 

true but it would have to be a different 2014 than mine... LOL

 

with reference to the Dak, the back of the fram comes up signficantly. I tried to get a picture of it but w/o taking the tire off it is a little hard to see.

 

Think it could be dropped and boxed thicker sideways without losing too much strength? Or is the bottom of the arc too high as well?

 

I will have to look, but I dont think the frame comes back down. You could probably modify it to your needs, such as lower the portion over the axle or if you werent using a bed in the box let it just stick up, or make a shallow box.

 

I keep thinking of dumping one of these bodies on a 4x4 ch***is.

 

...Nice!!!!

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Thanks Gary (for the comment and the Hemi washers).

 

I think that is probably a better solution as the frame I cut up was/is a 4x2 variant. I think the 4x4 are flatter.

 

I'll stick my head under my 93 4x4 over the weekend and take a look at the rear frame, but since they used the same cab and the same boxes, I suspect the frames are very nearly the same.

My 48 Plymouth coupe is on a 90 2x4 Dakota ch***is. The 2x4 rises up and stays flat to the end of the frame. Top of the frame to top of the frame is about a 6" rise between the under cab part and the under box part on the 2wd frame.
If you don't want to raise the floor of your box 6", you probably will want to graft your original rear frame to the Dakota frame just behind the rear cab mounts.

70chall440, nice 2014! But is so yellow....

I have a picture of the difference in the frame step up on the 2wd frame, but i should explain the picture first. I used the Dakota cab floor on original style, repositioned cab mounts. I used the box floor, also still mounted on the original center 2 box mounts on each side. The vertical panel is actually a section of the box floor cut off and welded to the top of the cab floor and the top of the box floor. The difference in height is the amount of kick up the frame has.

 

I'm thinking more from a 3/4 ton 83, that way I can figure out why my lights keep blinking out. Just not a fan of most of the newer trucks.

 

The yellow issue has some history as I was in 1st Special Forces Group and our beret flash is yellow and black, so when I found my 01 in yellow it seemed like a good idea. Subsequently, I have come to really love it; so much so that my viper is also yellow...

 

this is actually my car, the first pic was of another one with black wheels I had before I painted mine.

 

i need to get back to the 52 soon, but this weekend I have to do some trailer maintanence because I have to drag it to Vegas in 2 weeks for a trade show. Maybe I will post some pics of my homemade trailer hitch lock I am going to make.

 

Ah, the SHOT show...gotta go some year...

If you need any ideas on the trailer lock, I made 'hobbles' for all of my trailer tongues. All are different since the trailers are different. I can post/send some pics if you need/want.

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