New to the board, not new to Dodge tho. Been driving one on and off since my 90' W150 that I never should have sold...on that note, I joined because I'm back in the family. I picked up an 88 D150 and a 89 Ramcharger as a 4WD donor .
I'm doing some poking around and found one thread on the subject but I'm open to pointers, never done a project like this before.
Quick Q? whats the easiest way to get the rivets out of the frame? So far they're winning. TIA guys

HI and Welcome,I am 30 miles north of you in Pasco 85 stepside for daily driver/88-440 truck for weekend cruzer.

I use a 1/4" drill bit to drill into the head of rivit frame deep,then swap to a 1/2 drill bit and drill it out again. then take an airchisel and cave the head in on itself and drive the rivit out.

or drill all 4 rivets/chisel head off and pry bracket off,then whack the rest of rivit out of frame.

smokewrench is the fastest but still need to drive rivits out of frame/pry brackets off.

are you swaping the 4x4 stuff to the 2x truck?

I have always fabed up stuff when converting over a 2x, but mainly for lift reasons.

if you want a cheap 4" lift for the rear the shackle flip is nice for the rear for not adding more blocks to the 3.5 blocks it has in stock form.

you would use a set of front spring hangers from the donor truck on the rear shackle to flip it.

this also lowers a truck like on my 88.

are you swaping out the frame part under the engine as well to remove the coil spring pockets makeing room for the front diff and drive shaft?

going higher could solve/save a lot of work but does not look nice IMO.

Sounds like I have to swap the cross member under the engine, not doing any lift.I'll add that to the list, glad I kept the whole rolling chassis.
Just looking to get her up to normal 4x4 ride height. My daily driver right now is an old H1, my other bad habit. I got the 88 so I'd have a pickup and then the RC fell in my lap and I figured why not...fun project for my son and I.

Yep. Drill & chisel like scratchy says. Welcome to the board!

Torch

I also have some 4" Front lift springs Im willing to get rid of

WELCOME!!

Welcome to the madness Matt

Rickster

welcome and post up some pics of your project!

Torch or cut an X on the head with a grinder & knock them out with a chisel & hammer

Not staying like this for long, found out today that the springs have add-a-leafs in them so I am getting some lift out of it over stock height.
Also the front cross member looks to be the same other than the pickup version is "boxed" in and part of the front suspension bolts to it. Still not sure if I need to change it out, I'd rather not since it has the motor mounts and such...

Here's a axle flip & van LCA's

Anyone know if i can pull the cab/front clip off as one assembly? I'd like to do this so I don't have to lay on my back to drill all the holes in the top of the frame.

yes you can if you have a way to slig/lift it/balance it.

on mine I pulled the front clip as a unit then the cab with no doors at the time.

rolled the cab over back down/no glass to sandblast the bottom and under coat.

IIRC if you do not change the crossmember/engine support and get rid of the coil spring pockets the diff/shaft has no room to flex around.

it is a little more work unless you go up with lift to clear stuff.

look it over good on the 4x4 in that araea and you will see they way it is made different.

Thanks, it is hard to get a good look at the pickup with the stance it has right now. I'm going to put it on jack stands this weekend and do some measuring. Still driving rivets out of the frame in the evenings when I have time..

Also for rivets, I've taken a cutoff wheel and made an X in the rivet or even another grind across it, and then taken an airchisel and knocked out each cutout section if that makes sense!

-J

Update, down to the old frame, next week I tear into the pickup...pulling the front clip and the cab to make the new build easier on my torn up neck