My 1993 1st Gen Dodge Rebuild thread

Thought some of you guys may enjoy the progression of my truck. I Traded for it roughly 5 years ago. She was in sad shape when I got her. clutch was slipping so bad it would barely move. All kinds a janky electrical work and the suspension was also a mess. with loose u- bolts and home made front shackles but considering I traded a 98 subaru with 200k and a salvage title straight up for it I think I did ok.arty018:

Here it is as I got it





So I put a clutch in it. fixed all the electrical issues fixed all the suspension. and drove the truck for a year or so.

Then I put a 4in sky jacker lift and some 35's on it. Put a stereo and some gauges and a stack.

sorry these are really the only pics I have of it in this state.









This is the only time she had to come home on a trailer

Next I had the injection pump rebuilt, replaced the tappet cover gasket. replaced all the brakes, wheel bearings, and rebuilt the T case. and put a flat bed on it.









Finally decided i was tired of the camo and dents so the tear down began









I ended up replacing both doors the hood and driver fender.
I had all the holes filled and all the dents taken out.

so as she sits today





coming home from paint



I am currently mounting new seats and reassembling the truck. more pics to follow

Looks good. I like the blue

Nice color!

My brother has a 1st gen that he bought last year, and i've spent some time wrenching on it and cleaning it up, and driving it. My OBS blows it out of the water in every category, but theres just something about driving a 1st gen that is enjoyable. Of course it might be that ours is a SCLB 5 speed, with a flatbed, no exhaust, and no doors. LOL

looks real good! def wowrth the trade

Fun project..

looks sharp man. i am a die hard ford guy but these 1st gen cummins trucks are the only ones i would buy. what color blue btw?

loooks good man!

Love the truck. Looks killer with the lift and flatbed...

Really nice transformation. Makes it look 1000x better. When it came home it was really damn ugly.

Looks damn good!

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JD3020 said:

Nice color!

My brother has a 1st gen that he bought last year, and i've spent some time wrenching on it and cleaning it up, and driving it. My OBS blows it out of the water in every category, but theres just something about driving a 1st gen that is enjoyable. Of course it might be that ours is a SCLB 5 speed, with a flatbed, no exhaust, and no doors. LOL

Click to expand...

Ha ha yea I know exactly what you mean. The white Ford that towed the dodge home Is a 1988 7.3 IDI with. It doesn't have the power of that old cummins but otherwise the truck is %100 nicer in every other way, and yet I still love driving the old girl.

The blue is a 2008 Mazda color Called "phantom blue mica" code 32c

Thanks for a ll the props on the truck. I have an appointment tomorrow morning to have the back glass and wind shield installed so most of the interior will be done today. I am mounting up seats from an 06 Ford in it right now. It had 2nd gen dodge seats in it which have always sucked and I like ford seats better then any dodge seat I've ever sat in. Pus I am installing a 10" sub in the center console and amp under the passenger seat. Now All I have left is rebuild the king pins and swap out all the wheel studs to longer 9/16 ones so I can run the OBS wheels i have for it. oh and not to mention fix the cracks in the frame by the steering box.

Sweet rig digging the flatbed!!!

looks awesome, were actually in the mist of doing a rebiuld on a 1st gen as well...single cab long bed. Did some freshening up of the motor, runs like a champ. We got a stainless flat bed for her, 5" bds lift, now working on the 3rd gen seat swap...some paint...then shell be ready for plow season.....these trucks look good all done up

ok sorry for my lack of updates but Ive had her back on the road for a while and then took her back off the road for some serious updates to the front end.

Heres what we got

Putting the interior back together.







Dynamat on the doors (Made a HUGE difference)






The truck had a set of second Gen Dodge seats in it when I got it and I always hated them. So I welded all the holes in the floor closed and custom fabed brackets which allowed me to bolt in a set of 2006 Super Duty 40/20/40 seats







The only picture I have of it all back together on its inaugural re-drive :thumbsup:

I so want a 1st gen. Two people in the thread say an OBS ford, which I have, blows away the 1st Gen Dodge Cummins.

Would anyone like to elaborate? The 1 thing that draws me to the 1st gen is the simplicity of everything being mechanical.

Drove the truck for a couple months and then the water pump let go so I pulled it back I the shop for some much needed maintenance.

Tore the entire front axle down to replace all the leaking seals and replace all the kingpin stuff.













My "custom" axle tube cleaner Im pretty sure there was still mud in them from when it got sunk in the previous pics

I took this opportunity to also do some upgrades. The frame has had cracks around the steering box for some time so I bought a kit from A guy over on Ramchargercentral.com that plates the frame on both sides in the front and then moves the steering box from the 4x4 location to the 2x4 spot. Doing thins allows me to run crossover steering. (notice the big new steering arm on the passenger side knuckle.


you use the frame plate as a template to drill 1" holes through the frame and then some DOM sleeves are welded in for the box to mount to.



passenger side before the plate has been welded in





Also Replaced all the Leaf spring hangers and shackles with heavy duty greasable ones.







When I did the crossover steering I had to rotate the pitman arm approximately 90 degrees so I had to get rid of the "indexers" in the arm.

Before



After

I also Upgraded the rear wheel cylinders from the standard single rear ones to dually ones. they bolt right in





I then also changed all the wheel studs out.The factory ones for this truck are only 1/2 diameter and to short to use the alcoa aluminum wheels I wanted to put on it. So I ordered up the rear dually studs for the same year truck which are 5/8 diameter and much longer. I used the rear dualy studs in the front and back. However the OBS wheels are designed for 9/16 studs and wouldn't fit the 5/8 studs so I drilled the holes out and then machined the taped bigger also using a 60 degree chamfer cutter.



And while the radiator was out to do the water pump I did The Killer dowel pin fix also.







repair sleeve installed on front crank.

PsRumors said:

I so want a 1st gen. Two people in the thread say an OBS ford, which I have, blows away the 1st Gen Dodge Cummins.

Would anyone like to elaborate? The 1 thing that draws me to the 1st gen is the simplicity of everything being mechanical.

Click to expand...

I own 88 and 95 OBS trucks along with my 99 Super Duty and this Dodge. Honestly pretty much everything about the OBS trucks is better then a first gen Dodge.

They ride better, have better brakes, they are more stable while towing, Frames and body are Waaay better. They are just better built trucks.



That being said I still love my first gen. imp:

Its kinda like driving a classic car. Its rough and loud and not very comfortable but its soooo much fun to drive and turns heads everywhere I take it. Biggest problem I have with my first gen is every a**hole in a newer Dodge (tow mirrors up of course) thinks I'm one of them and I hate being thought of as "part of them" ha ha ha