Dodge 95' Cummins Expedition build

[Scott39]

looks good man, next year me and a friend are going to do a week expedition in moab, out in the boonies where no one it. your more than welcome to come along. ill post when it will happen

Thanks, and the Moab trip Sounds good. I missed my Moab trip this year.
Yeah, keep me posted on the dates, it will probably be just me and my Dodge:sombrero:

 

[acousticrawk]

hows the sleeping platform coming? i have the exact same truck (with a little more rust on the cab, a white hood and a few more miles) planning the exact same thing!

 

[Scott39]

I plan on starting to build the bed in it this week. My plans are to build the bed frame mounted to the bedslide, so the bed and everything under it can just slide out when I need it to.

 

[trust]

Nice rig, I have that topper on my 01 and have found the side windows to be real blessing. I had no idea I wanted them and even thought they were going to be a mistake (first topper on anything I've had) but I was wrong, I use them alot!

Looking forward to seeing how you build it out as mine is going to start seeing more camping/travelling use as the wife and I go more and she;s less up for riding in the scrambler

 

[Scott39]

Well I haven't been on here much or building my truck, because my wife and I got her sons to little girls dumped on us just after my wife and I being married 8 months.
A lot as changed in my life in just the last few years, supporting 2 kids and a wife in my late 40's now, oh well, they need me

So the plans for my truck have changed, it will become an SUV, and I got a great deal on a topper that was made for the Dodge bed and it fits perfect.
I still plan on taking weekend trips with it when the grandkids are with thier mother, but when all four of us go, I will be towing a camp trailer.

So I sold the bedslide and got a seat out of a Dodge minivan for the girls, and that seat will fold down so my wife and I can sleep in the back, or if I just go alone it will work out well.

 

[Heavy44TRT]

Change in plans

Family always change our plans. Glad to see you are keeping the truck and adapting it for your needs. How do you like your Gear Vendor? I also have 4.10s and have thought about an overdrive. I really like the 4.10s for off road. It would be nice to have the 6 speed for the mountains, but that would not help my top end. When I go somewhere with my wife, she wants to go a little faster. Would you recommend one? When you tow your trailer, do you use double overdrive?

Thanks

 

[Scott39]

Family always change our plans. Glad to see you are keeping the truck and adapting it for your needs. How do you like your Gear Vendor? I also have 4.10s and have thought about an overdrive. I really like the 4.10s for off road. It would be nice to have the 6 speed for the mountains, but that would not help my top end. When I go somewhere with my wife, she wants to go a little faster. Would you recommend one? When you tow your trailer, do you use double overdrive?

Thanks

The Gear Vendor works great, It came with my truck when I bought it. Gear Vendor told me it should outlast my NV4500 and it can handle more towing capacity than the NV4500.
I can split 3rd to 4th gear and split 4th to 5th gear, then I have another overdrive gear after my 5th gear, so it works as a double OD.
With the GV. and my 4:10 with 35" tires, I can tow at 80mph without putting much strain on the truck. I towed a 94" Cummins Dodge on a heavy duty trailer 800miles from Oklahoma to Denver and only dropped to 5th gear a few times on a few hills.

The engine is running 2000 rpm at 85mph in my top gear. I still might go with taller gearing, 3:73 or 3:55 then add about 200 more horse power. I will have great topend with lots of power when I need it and still get good mpg when cruising on the hwy. Cummins motors were not made to run high rpms, so I want to get my turbo to spool up quicker using more power in the lower rpms, and upper rpms.

With no trailer or hauling much in the bed, I pull Eisenhower pass here in my double OD, and the pass is 6-7% grade for about 10 miles.
I would highly recommend a GV if you have the money for one.

Scott

 

[Heavy44TRT]

Thanks for the info on your experience with the Gear Vendor. This will help me make my decision. Now I just have to save up the money.

 

[Seabass]

Lovin on your truck! The more I cruise around this site the more dodges I see. Not many duallies like me...but lots of cummins powered rigs. I've got 3.55 gears and have grossed 38,000 pounds with some big loads. Tall gears and bumped up motors work fine! In fact off road I find first gear plenty slow 90% of the time. The rare times it's not- I put it in 4-lo. It helps that I have a cable actuator on my front axel so I can use 2-lo. Like what your doin though, I hope I can figgure out the best direction to go for me.

 

[Scott39]

It has been a bumpy road since getting the granddaughters, moving twice, and getting laid off all last winter, but now I can start working on my truck again to make it comfy for all four of us, and be great off road at the same time. I should be able to start working on the reinforcing the bed hopefully in a few weeks.

I need to reinforce the bed and bring that tubing up to the bottom of the bed, then tie it in with the roll cage and seat mounts, it should be pretty tough in a wreck or roll over. Safety First!

Then I plan on cutting the rear cab wall out and the bed wall to make it a walk through. After all that, I hope I can start building the mounts for my air compressor and work on getting a spare under the truck.

 

[Wh1t3nukle]

Good to see this thing getting back at it. I would never have come across the bed slide. Well done on the build thus far!

Any chance, if you don't mind, providing more details on it? Hardware, ~cost, tips, what you've (dis)liked since install, etc.? I've been curious about such a system. Is there already a thread out there dedicated to such a mod? If so then please kindly redirect me.

Thanks!

I finally started my bed drawer system, not really, just a bed slide, and I will put totes on it strapped down.
It is a cheaper design, and it extends all the way out of the truck, so I can get to the things in the front easily.

Plus it can hold 1200 pounds when it is all the way out.
I bought it off of the great craigslist for about half the price of a new one, plus it is almost like new.:sombrero:

Now I just need to clean all the dust out of the back of my truck.

Time to build my bed over the bed slide. I will probably build the bed just below the bed rails.

 

[Scott39]

Good to see this thing getting back at it. I would never have come across the bed slide. Well done on the build thus far!

Any chance, if you don't mind, providing more details on it? Hardware, ~cost, tips, what you've (dis)liked since install, etc.? I've been curious about such a system. Is there already a thread out there dedicated to such a mod? If so then please kindly redirect me.

Thanks!

I sold the bed slide since I will be turning this truck into an SUV so the two little girls I inherited will be sitting back their. I liked it for the reason I was going to put all of our gear on it and I could just slide it out and get to whatever I needed. I bought it here in Denver off of Craigslist half the price of a new one.

I do plan on making the rear seats come out, kind of like a Dodge Caravan rear seat mounts, or have some seats that will lie all the way down or fold forward so I can make some type of foldout bed in the back, for my wife and I when it is just us two in the back country.

 

[Scott39]

Here is the truck now with a better matching topper. This topper was made for the older Dodges, so it matches up to the cab more flush which will make it easier for the cut out.
I'am also going to move the exhaust pipe up so it will come out through the sheet metal just under the body molding kind of under the tail pipe so it will not get smashed while offroading. I will be taking all the body molding off later also.

 

[Regcabguy]

Lot's of suspension enhancements out there from Carli/Thuren and you got a 5-speed. Stoked.

 

[Scott39]

Lots of great suspension stuff, but the only thing I want to do, is lift the back a few inches, and would like to find a long arm kit without much lift, this truck rides pretty good now.
I do have a Thuren track bar I need to get on, and I will probably go with some better shocks in the future.
The way this truck sits now, I can wheel the hard trails here in Colorado, but not the extreme trails, which I don't care to do.

Lot's of suspension enhancements out there from Carli/Thuren and you got a 5-speed. Stoked.