The Bigger Red Pig

[lstzephyr]

I've got a 91.5 Dodge W250 Cummins powered 4x4. It is a regular cab 5 sp, bench seat, long bed truck. Its nothing overly special but its in good shape for its age. The biggest attraction to it for me was the mechanical cummins. I wanted a truck that was as simple as possible.

The eventual goal with it is to be able to use it to camp out at different ski resorts in Colorado to do some snowboarding. I work for a resort and they buy my tickets to other resorts so I want a rig to take advantage of that.:victory: I've already slept in the truck about 10 days this year, but I'm wanting something a little more comfortable than sleeping on the benchseat with a blanket and a pillow. The plan is to get some sort of hard topper(I'd love a wildernest but I can't afford one yet), rig up some cabinets, some sort of grill/coleman stove, a heater, and probably an air mattress.

My trucks main job so far has been to move everything I own around or to carry dirtbikes so I actually don't have a picture of it without some sort of stuff in the bed but here it is.

This is the old mountain work truck I used for work that got me started on the mopars. I was so impressed by it that I had to get a truck like it after my blazer died. I drove this truck through all sorts of rocks, mud, deep snow, and up some seriously steep slopes. All it ever got was oil changes, a new belt every few years, and some new front tires after 20 years. Seriously beat up, but still worked perfect.

 

[4Rescue]

Hell yeah, if it's a Domestic, for me it has to be a MOPAR!!!! That is a great older truck and the motor alone is worth a mint to some. If/When the body fails take the drivetrain and swap it into something else...

Can't wait to see what you do with'er.

Cheers

Dave

 

[biglos454]

good luck with the build. i love anything domestic. im more of a chevy man but i have nothing against mopar. especially one with that work of art under the hood. cant beat an old cummins! keep us posted on the build.

 

[92 red cummins]

here is what I have done with mine. (except bigger tires)
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=31438&stc=1&d=1250716930

 

[inked33]

great looking mopar you have there. looking forward to see what you do with it.

 

[KEENO]

Cummins First Gen Love....

Welcome! I believe we speak the same language...

View attachment 26179
View attachment 26180

KEENO

 

[Rot Box]

Nice truck!

I wouldn't trade my 92 for anything! You just can't beat the mechanical 12v, bombproof drive train, simplicity and classic styling that these trucks offer :bike_rider:

The horribly ride quality is another story :violent-smiley-031:

 

[lstzephyr]

Keeno: Your truck is the one that convinced me that I need to find a wildernest sometime. I think that would rock for a summer race(bike) rig.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. You aren't kidding about the ride quality, the pig did some work today and I came out of the seat about 4 times offroad.:sombrero: Also I stopped by a couple junkyards today looking for a driver side armrest and it was surprising that the only first gens around have no more doors. Odd.

There probably won't be anything overly exciting happening to it until I find a topper. The goal is to have a stealth camper, so work truck style is the goal. Its also going to be a budget build as I'm a student currently so I'm short on cash. I usually travel by motorcycle so any type of roof is a major luxury when crap weather shows up. The current supermoto/dirtbike is the true "expedition" vehicle and any substantial money will go toward traveling on it anyway.

A little more history about me to complete the introduction. I traveled all over the southeast, across the country, into Cali, and all around arizona on this streetbike back in the day.

Then I was introduced to dirtbikes, and offroad by an older gentleman(who still smokes me offroad!)

Picked up a newer dirtbike and started racing/truck camping.(I like the chevys as well Biglos)

Worked for the ski resort and was introduced to big mountains and deeper offroad with the aforementioned old silver dodge. Also did a bit of singletrack and two track with the old honda. The blazer and the old honda were replaced with the dodge and new honda. Thats my story so far.

Now off to craigslist to find myself a cheap topper(to replace that tarp).:victory:

 

[KEENO]

SkyJacker 2 1/2 Front Springs

Thanks 1stzephyr.... I wouldn't part with my truck for much else either. She's Family!

The quick & easy fix for the ride quality is a set of SkyJacker 2 1/2" Front Springs. This simple mod levels out the First Gens and gets the springs off of the Jounce Bumpers for a better ride! After many years of use, the weight of the Cummins takes a toll on the already marginal OEM front Springs.

We've done a (5) trucks this way and all have happy owners!

Here's sweet 1992 w250 First Gen that my Ex-Girlfriend used to own. (A "double-Loss"? truck & gurl?)



KEENO

 

[deadbeat son]

That BRP had to be a LOT of weight on the back of your S10 Blazer! I upgraded my Range Rover to OME HD springs to support my little CRF250X.

Good luck with your search for a cap. You may be able to find a used shell at one of the dealers in Denver (A&A, Suburban Toppers, etc.)

 

[pint]

Sweet truck! I love old simple pickups! Never had one, but will one day. Good luck on the build.

 

[KEENO]

Brp?

Is the Honda XR650L still considered to be the original BRP?
KEENO

 

[lstzephyr]

That BRP had to be a LOT of weight on the back of your S10 Blazer! I upgraded my Range Rover to OME HD springs to support my little CRF250X.

Good luck with your search for a cap. You may be able to find a used shell at one of the dealers in Denver (A&A, Suburban Toppers, etc.)

Yeah that old brp was a bit much for the blazer. I only used it to run the bike a couple hours down the highway to the track so it worked ok. The truck and the hitch carrier were free so I wasn't going to complain. I made the hitchcarrier, but I was given the materials so that worked out well.

I'm currently in Tucson, az so there are a few shells laying around. No luck so far but its only been a couple days.

Keeno, thanks for the recommendation on the front springs, I may have to do that. I've been tempted by cutting the fenders and going to 39's like Metcalf did with the doitall dodge. I really like the cap on that red truck as well. That would be awesome for stealth but I bet something that nice would be out of my price range.

Yeah both the old xr600r and the newer xr650r are nicknamed Big Red Pigs. So thats the little joke. I weighed the truck the other day and I was surprised that it only weighs 6000lbs. I was expecting more like 7k.

This truck has a np205 so I can put twin sticks on it right? I like having all the redunancy and limp modes possible so 2low and fwd would be nice.

My dream would be something like either Keeno's wildernest, or a 4 wheel camper, with 39s like metcalf's truck. If I was to go the (used) 4 wheel camper down the road I would weld up a flatbed and stick some toolboxes on the sides. Maybe someday but cheap/stealth is the current idea. I'd still like to slap some 39's on it, they even have some just laying around next to the road down on the "junkyard row".

The catch is it still has to fit in the garage in the summer. And there isn't alot of space to spare. I don't know if the 4 inches the larger tires would lift it would be too much to fit through the door. I could always let air out of the tires and I do need new rear tires....

 

[pint]

Yeah that old brp was a bit much for the blazer. I only used it to run the bike a couple hours down the highway to the track so it worked ok. The truck and the hitch carrier were free so I wasn't going to complain. I made the hitchcarrier, but I was given the materials so that worked out well.

I'm currently in Tucson, az so there are a few shells laying around. No luck so far but its only been a couple days.

Keeno, thanks for the recommendation on the front springs, I may have to do that. I've been tempted by cutting the fenders and going to 39's like Metcalf did with the doitall dodge. I really like the cap on that red truck as well. That would be awesome for stealth but I bet something that nice would be out of my price range.

Yeah both the old xr600r and the newer xr650r are nicknamed Big Red Pigs. So thats the little joke. I weighed the truck the other day and I was surprised that it only weighs 6000lbs. I was expecting more like 7k.

This truck has a np205 so I can put twin sticks on it right? I like having all the redunancy and limp modes possible so 2low and fwd would be nice.

My dream would be something like either Keeno's wildernest, or a 4 wheel camper, with 39s like metcalf's truck. If I was to go the (used) 4 wheel camper down the road I would weld up a flatbed and stick some toolboxes on the sides. Maybe someday but cheap/stealth is the current idea. I'd still like to slap some 39's on it, they even have some just laying around next to the road down on the "junkyard row".

The catch is it still has to fit in the garage in the summer. And there isn't alot of space to spare. I don't know if the 4 inches the larger tires would lift it would be too much to fit through the door. I could always let air out of the tires and I do need new rear tires....

Who's truck is this in the pic? Pretty sweet fairly inexpensive off roader!

 

[lstzephyr]

Thats Metcalf's Doitall dodge build truck. http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24653

Its a pretty awesome truck. I'm still in the brainstorming/planning/dreaming stage so I'm trying to provide examples of things I like with other people's builds. That way hopefully I don't end up being too boring.