74 Stepside

Back in January I came upon a Stepside for sale in Stockton, CA. Id been looking for quite some time given that Dodge short bed trucks in the Phoenix area are highly sought after. Anyway, came upon thos on CL. 74 Dodge stepside, 318 with a 4 speed conversion, 9 1/4 rear, 15x6 Steelies, bench seat etc. Anyway, started making changes and updates.

Overall the truck is mechanically sound. Brakes are good, engine runs good, has headers that need gaskets etc.

Scored a Little Red bucket seat setup which I had done. I’ve stripped the intake, fuel pump, water pump, alternator off with new parts ready to go on. Plan is to upgrade the cooling, install a Performer intake and a carter 9636, Carter fuel pump and a Powermaster 95 amp alternator. Already installed a Crackbacked HL relay setup.

The clutch appears to be pretty good however the Trans is a bit hard to downshift. It’s a 4 speedOD. As far as cosmetics, those can wait. I did score some aluminum slots which I think look good on these trucks. The front of the cab roof has some issues which I’ll address later.

Here’s a couple of pics so far

So far

I plan to lower it a bit, not too crazy. Going to install the B100 van lower control arms which have a sunken spring well. I also scored a truck 8.75 with axles which I’ll do the axle flip. The front suspension is shot so with all the fresh bushings etc. in had that will be updated when Lower it.

Here’s the seat and interior so far. I did score some metal door panels which I’m having powder coated in a textured black. The doors were hillbilly painted black so I need to get that addressed. Doors also need hinge pins which I’ll take care of this week.

The engine and engine compartment had a lot of oil residue, mainly from leaky valve covers. So far the pan gasket and the rear main is not leaking. Once I button up everything I’ll give it another wash.

Much to my relief it appears the motor is a reman.the previous owner told me it had a motor replaced about a year ago. When I popped the intake I found that the lifter valley extremely clean and it appears to bea later model 318 in that it has the bosses for roller lifter spider retainers.

I checked the brakes when I put the wheels on and they are good. Just is out on that MC. The fluid really needs flushing

An AC system is in the plans for this fall. Im also pondering a GenIII conversion.

very nice! Love the look of the slots...makes me want a set for mine.

I did not realize LMC was repopping those!

That's a good thing to see!

Red

whats the part numbers on those mirrors? i don't see them on their site..

As far as I know they are not being re-popped. Found mine through a truck friend of mine. I may have another pair by July. They are up in the NW along with other truck parts ill be picking up.

I have two other sets if interested. PM me.

Actually there are two part numbers. One on the base and the other on the mirror.

ok. i thought you got them from LMC

No, got them from a buddy. Finding the actual mirror was a PITA. The posts are also hard to find as well.

A little update. New manifold, carb, water pump, alternator, hoses and belts. Heater box will becoming out to make way for a new aftermarket AC.

very nice!

I love it! Keep it up!

Had a little set back. Got everything running when I notice the dampner wobbling. Took everything back off and removed the dampner

Well, been awhile since I updated this thread so here goes. In May a buddy of mine transported my truck up to Washington to my buddies shop. There it sat in line waiting it’s turn to get the top addressed. I went up in June and got a chance to drive around.

Anyway, the lift became available two weeks ago so they went ahead and rolled it in. They decided to not wait for me to get up there next month so they went ahead and did the front end. The past two days they decided to do the axle flip. Meanwhile, while getting so other work done the fab guy skinned the roof off the diner and prepped it install on my truck.

First two pics are the results of the front end rebuild and lowering using the van lower control arm. Front sits pretty good.

Second pic is the results of the axle flip. A bit too low so I need to figure out how to raise it about two inches.

As you can see the top has been addressed. The original top had been repaired due to rust. We went back and forth on how to make the repair. We looked at patching it but that would of taken too much time.

My buddy has a parts truck so he went ahead and skinned the top off of it. I’ll be taking a clean cab up to him to replace the cab he used for my truck.

Once the top was off my truck it was apparent the rot was confined to the front. Kinda odd since it’s a central California truck so rot in that area is unusual. We think water somehow got in and eventually pooled in the front. Since it will be now kept in Arizona that shouldn’t ever be a problem again.

We used raptor as a rust preventative

As you can see the replacement skin worked out. They decided the best way to seal everything up was to glue the skin and tac weld several places along the seam.

Finally got my steering box brace yesterday

from what I see the new skin looks "swiss cheesy" in the front corners too. Ive been looking for another D/W truck myself. my son has 3, and his 90 has the biggest issues with the roof. He has fiberglassed his a couple times and has had to strip it and redo it as the "cancer" has gown. He does have a better cab that he can swap onto that frame, it needs some work 1st though. like cutting out the tranny hump and putting in the big 4X$/manual trans one.... Im surprised that even southern trucks had that issue?
Up here in the north I have mostly seen cab mount structure rotting out, that 45* part that extends from the rocker inward towards the frame, I have had to rebuild a few of those over the years. have seen more and more top-rot issues as the years have gone by though. Around here it seems that as the D/W series trucks got "newer" the last few years of that series of trucks are the worst for top-rot (my name for the skin and rain gutter rot out issue) and rocker panels. seems the 70s and earlier 80s ones are still holding up better than 'ate 80s til the end of the D/W in 93...

oh I have done my share of floor pans in them....

currently looking for another D/W myself, should have never sold my 83 which was my last of that series of trucks (but not the newest of them I have owned)
looking on CL from TX to AL to GA and FL at the moment.... hoping to avoid having to do "too much" bodywork, mechanicals don't bother me as bad....
my son just had an 80 slant 6 stepside shipped here from Mississippi that he got off of EPay. wish I had the money he does to "play around"....

Yes, couple of places however those will be addressed. The metal was treated to Rustmort small places on the skin will be fixed..

the replacement roof looks much better. AMD really needs to make those panels.
Couple months ago I scored a set of slots local for a killer price off a '76 a guy is parting.

Slots look good

Looks like someone owned stock in Vise-Grip! That will make a proper repair.

The skin was glued. You need lots of clamps to keep it from separating. We’ve used high strength epoxy for years. You don’t have hundreds of tack welds to grind down and seams fit better which means you don’t have to use a lot of filler.