52 Dodge One ton

Hey thanks for the add. I have a 52 Dodge one ton thats been in the family and i swear we will get around to restoring it lol. Anyway one question of mine is an engine swap for some better power and performance than the flat 6. Would a 440 work or something similar? Has anyone ever done this and what do i need to know

I think the slickest swap would be a 318 or 360. You'd use the old bellhousing and the old bellhousing mounts, and everything behind the bellhousing stays the same. The LA motor is much easier to fit in there than a 440. The other thing is that your transmission is very likely a New Process 420 which is strong enough for a pretty stout 360 Your engine would need to have new mounts fabricated but they're pretty generic.

The Power Wagon guys have a lot of info on these older dodges.

The bellhousing in my '64 D100 has bolt holes for flat 6, Slant 6, and A engine which is same as the LA except for one bolt which you can easily add. Your '52 may not have the same setup for slant 6 because they weren't designed then, but it might have holes for V8.

R.

Doubtful that his bell housing would have the V8 patterns. No a, la, b or rb at the time.

That said, an la or Magnum backed by a 518 would be a nice combo, especially with the likely stump pulling gears.mounts would be easy to fab,

You're probably right, that'd move his date up to approx. 1960 - 68. I know my '64 had such a bellhousing. Weighed about 70 lb.

R.

Won't a 52 be a 6v electrical system? might need some work to get that switched over.

What is the frame spacing? It might be easier to adapt that cab to a more modern frame with modern driveline. All 3500 and 4500 cab/chassis trucks from the big 3 come with 34" frame spacing.

A 48-53 Dodge cab & front sheet metal can be mounted on a late model full size chassis, but the spacing between the front axle location, the motor placement and the cab firewall will interfere with each other. The older cabs and front sheet metal (up to about 60) are shorter, front to back, then the newer stuff 61-93) is. Also, the wheel track (tire to tire width) is wider (about 6") on the newer stuff then it was on the old stuff. Tire interference between the fender edge and the outside edge of the tire can become an issue.

I mounted a 50 cab & front sheet metal from a 2 ton truck on an 80 1/2 ton Dodge 4x4 chassis. The 80 motor set about 6" farther back on the frame then did the 50 motor sat on its frame. The 80 front axle set forward a few inches more then the 50 did on its chassis, and the frame overhang ahead of the front sheet metal was pretty significant. I had to cut the 80 frame off just in front of the 80's front crossmember and mount the front bumper there. To make it look right, I basically had to make front fenders by re positioning and re curving the fender extensions from my 50 front sheet metal (my 50 2 ton truck had 20" wheels, and the 80 4x4 chassis had 15" wheels). I pretty much shifted the wheel openings as far forward as I could on the 50 fenders.

The 50 cab sat forward of the original standard cab 80's rear cab mounts. I raised my 50 cab 6" off the frame so the motor would fit under the 50 complete firewall. Had I not lifted my cab, I would have had the full width of the back of the LA 360 motor 6" inside the firewall (or about even with the bottom of the 50s cab dash. The newer then 94 trucks have a longer nose then the 72-93 trucks.

If the OP is after a simpler frame swap, an 88-96 Dakota has a better engine on the frame setting then the full size trucks and would be a much better fit under a 52 truck cab, but then he will loose the big truck capacity. Gene