Found a decent 2wd local, for a price I can deal with, and I have a very rusty 4wd driveway ornament with a Cummins in it , short of moving the body onto the old crusty frame has anyone hacked the 2wd front suspension mounts off the frame and put the 4x stuff on ?

nope---but my son is currenty putting an entire cummins running gear under a 2001 dodge dakota---he resisted the urge to cut off the mounts (of the donor truckl) and opted for clean steel plate---less fumbling around----he notched into firewall and also notched into the heater/ac box----his first build was a 89 dakota 2wd that was four linked into a rock crawler--the 2 wheel drive had less stuff to cut off---2nd build is a 99 dakota with a cummins rock crawler 4 link setup....

That would be a big enough project that I would give a lot of 2nd thoughts to it before I began. If your time is worth nothing, I would say go ahead. I am sure the frames are basically the same, with the exception of front suspension attaching points, but you may find that rust has eaten into the 4wd specific brackets along with the frame and the springs. At this stage of my life, I would rather have the 2wd with the Cummins than the 4wd and that would require the heavier front suspension to go with the much heavier engine. Good luck with whatever you do.

My time is free , if the frame of the is the same between the gasser and the cummins and all I have to do is change the front springs I'd go that route ... except I'd have to convert the truck to 2000 electronics to make it cost effective ... and then there would be the inspection aspect possibly ?

The gasser will probably have a Dana 60 while the Cummins has a Dana 70, so you will probably have to keep your rear axle. I have been going through this nightmare with my 96 2wd gasser. I can't believe how hard it is to find a used Dana 60 carrier, all I have found are Dana 70's.

Not too long ago, a Member had an issue with the lower spring pocket rusted out on his 4x4.

Seeing as how this holds the whole front-end up, I went out and had a look at mine, and sure enough, you can see why there would be trouble there. Since you mentioned lots of rust, you might want to get a look at that on your donor truck. The pocket is welded right to the axle tube and would be a total nightmare to try to weld on a new one as perfect as the factory. Not to mention trying to maintain correct pinion angle and squareness.

And, I don't think you can even buy that section of metal on it's own. You would have to have mad fab skills to build your own.

Jim I was going to swap the entire drivetrain from the '00 CUMMINS ram , axles and all. The frame on the '02 is a lot nicer looking than the frame on the '00, but I think it's going to be a bigger project than I really want to get into.

I know it would be easier to put the body and bed off the '02 on my '00 frame, but again another project I don't have time for as this body and bed isn't nice enough for me to consider it .

So bring the carrier/ring/pinion from the Dana 60 with you when you come to Carlisle, I am having a hard time finding one around here!

Sorry , I passed on the truck.

The rust color bleeding thru the white paint concerns me on how RUST free the truck really is being it spent it's life in Clearwater before coming to the northeast, then being driven thru 3 winters here it's probably going to look like my truck in a year or 2 ?