cost of a diesel

[Midgets50]

hi all, ive been looking around and a diesel sounds good to put into an AD truck. i currently have a 78 3/4 ton chevy frame and motor but i noticed the other day that where my tranny bolts to my engine there was some pieces broken off where there would be bolts holding the two together. so my question is; if i got a 4x4 diesel(either a 12 valve cummins or 4bt) how hard would it be to use my current frame and current 4x4 axles on it? thanks for the input in advance

[mknittle]

there are seveeal guys on the 67-72 side of the board doing 12 6Bt swaps the frame is strong enough. i don't know what axles you have.

ask this guy his name s Ryan he does a lot of cummins swaps.He even built a corvette with a 6BT. There are seveal guys that post on his thread that are doing the same type of builds.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=310493

[Midgets50]

unfortunetly i dont know what they are either all i know is that they are in my 78 3/4 ton gmc. and i wont be able to look until this weekend cuz im at school

[blackdiesel]

dana 44 up front could be a 60. and a 14 bolt full floater in the back of
the 78. sould hold if you don't get to stupit with it.

[Midgets50]

to be honest i just want the diesel for the gas mileage compared to the carbed 350 that i currently have in it. unless theres something i dont know about those carbed 350's to get them even close to the 6 cylinder diesels or even the 4bt diesel

[arturo7]

One question which you may or may not have already asked yourself: How may miles do you drive in one year? It might cost more to make the conversion than you will save on fuel.

[mknittle]

It isn't just the fuel mileage, there is no spark plugs or distributor to mess with. and the torque is way better in a 4wd! the only thing I have had to replace in 15 years has been one alternator rebuilt and batterys. the thing runs great. it is getting to the point that I need to replace the valve cover gaskets. I may get an extra set and polish them.LOL

[xpickup]

Midgets50, if it was me I would stick to the gas engine. I have a turbo 6.5 chevy daully as my DD. I have had it for 6 years, and it only has 110,000 and has ate an injector pump, 5 Pump mounted drivers ($275 a piece) and countless other parts. The parts are way more expensive. The bad thing is when it dies most garages do not work on diesels or they try and you have to take it somewhere else. Fuel is more and oil changes are more. Someday it will have a gas motor in it if I keep it. But that is my thought.

Shannon

[Midgets50]

thanks for the input, is the 2 broken spots on my tranny gonna be a problem that i have to replace. dont know when they were broke off cuz the PO used it for a snow plow truck

[xpickup]

Midgets50, can you post a picture? It may be able to be welded. My buddy did not put the convert in the whole way and broke the case and he had it welded and it worked.

Shannon

[mr48chev]

A photo works good in showing us what the problem is. If the case is junk you can probably find a good case pretty cheap get a seal kit and swap the insides of your trans into the other case or have someone do it.

Outside of a 6.5 you are looking at several thousand dollars for a Cummins 6 or even more for a Duramax plus the trans plus all of the extras.
The 4BT's out of the bread trucks work good but most of them are pretty well shot by the time they go on the market and have to be completely redone. You might want to look at this site as they are full of info on swapping them http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/forum.php

I'd price things out before I ever went hunting for an engine and figure out if what savings you might get would come close to matching the expense of doing the swap. Spending 10 K on a swap to save 500 a year on fuel might not be the most prudent thing to do in the long run.