Project Big Pig - 1 Ton of Fun!

[Hacksaw]

Alright so after reading on here for over a year, and wanting a lifted truck for allot longer than that..

I'm FINALLY lifting my truck!

The plan was always, 5" lift, 35" tires. So here's what I came up with:

In August 08 I bought my 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 with a 318 and an Auto Trans for $1700. ($900 in parts and I was good to go!)

First got it:


Before I even had the truck on the road I put a Pioneer DEH3000IB Stereo deck, Cobra 19Plus (Which is older then me) and a FREE plastic DuraBox Tool Box in.

In October 08 I took my truck to the mudbogs, I was invincible! Kept my foot to the boards and plowed through everything! ..accept those couples times I got stuck



Ended up ripping the front valence off and trashing the Nerf Bars..

Picked up a couple big fog lights from Princess Auto for 12 bucks a shot and threw them on: (Also me being stuck behind a friends house)


Painted my lower Bumper Plastics:


Rocker Guarded the lower Half, and my cousin borrowed my truck for a few days and ended up trashing the front bumper, so I ripped all the plastics off and took the ol sledge to her and got it a bit straighter:



Sorry about the towing pictures, it's all I have from those times..

But I know you guys like pictures so


Edit: Think I got all the pics working..

[Hacksaw]

Sometime in March I found a 94 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 with a 360 Auto for $2000. I figured "Hey, 2500! Score!" Then I found out it was an old plow truck and the guy only bought it for the plow.. The plan was to trade my 98 Yamaha VMax 600 sled for it since I don't ride it anymore and it's already had the [censored] kicked out of it

When I got there I was less than impressed. The body was shot. And I mean think bad.. then go a little worse. BUT what it did have was 2 Dana 60's riding under all that nasty looking body.

Day I picked it up:


Took an hour and a bit to drive down there, and about 7 hours to get the [censored] home! The Cat was clogged as FAWK which didn't help anything and the Track Bar was shot. Only shook the [censored] out of me 3 times though..

I sat on this truck for almost 9 months till I got a job working at the local wreckers at the end of August/Beginning of September.. then the fun began!

Back in November 08 I put in Diesel Coils, which sat my front end up 1.5" higher then the rear. Not only did it look stupid, it looked like the bed of my truck was always full.

So just shortly after I picked up the 94, I got a message from 4x4Druid on here; he had some lift parts to sell me! I got Skyjacker 5" Lift control arms and a drop pitman arm for a good price and sent them to my cousin to get blasted and painted.. CHRYSLER HEMI ORANGE!

Around October/November 09 I finally got my bills paid up and had some extra cash, so I bought and installed a Skyjacker 2" AAL. (No Pics, sorry!) and that made my truck sit MUCH better and tow amazing!

I also picked up 2" Coil Spacers from a guy that bought them off of Top Gun Customs then got a set from a friend for cheaper, so my gain! Grabbed up some 5.5" Pro Comp lift blocks to replace my stock block too.

Since I now had a shop to work in after work and Saturday Afternoons I started the tare down of my 94!

Beginning:




Tore out the interior for my 95 Dually (Another project):




Done for the one day, stuck it in the lower yard:


These toys really make this easy

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Tore both axles out yesterday and got them prepped ready for today:



Rear:


Had the help from my buddy Nate, he owns Driveline Doctor and I'm VERY grateful for his help as my torch/welding skills are anything BUT desirable!

Front, removing old control arms:


Cutting the spring perches off the rear:


MAN, those things are on there!

Hmmm.. something's missing...


Axle ready for it's new perches and mach-up:


Had to fill in a couple deep burns..

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Sadly right at noon as I was under the truck getting the rear axle in place the drive shaft popped out and smashed me in the face when I moved it.. so that chipped away 1/4 of my front tooth and left a very sensitive spot.. Called up the dentist and got an appointment that day, which was nice since I couldn't eat anything!!

But I soldiered on, Nate ran out to grab some lunch and get some Grade 8 hardware so I bolted the front control arm brackets on the D60 and started to remove the front Dana 44 out of my truck..



I got all the bolts out except the upper control arm bolts at the frame, those took some finesse only Nate has

There's a bit left to do, I found out the 2500 has an NP (or NV, I dunno) 241DLD so that's going in my truck first thing in the morning then we have to figure out the Drive Shafts. I'm hoping we can figure something out as I didn't plan on spending $200 [censored] DOLLARS to have my tooth fixed.

I did plan on using both drive shafts out of the 2500 so everything really should have bolted up, but when we put the 2500 drive shaft into my 231D it comes up too short!

The only place that I know of that does drive shafts doesn't have a guy in to do that [censored] tomorrow.. and it's $250 to cut the yoke off my 2500 shaft and put it on my longer 1500 shaft.

Tomorrow is another day, if it's not done tomorrow then it has to sit till next year when I get paid

[edlucky1]

Lookin good

[MaddogZ71]

Kinda funny that you think a truck on baby stock tires is invincible in the mud!

[RamAford]

Looks like a nice project. Definitely coming along nicely!!

You dont have another front grill do ya? i would have taken that one before ya sent it out to the crusher or wherever ya took it.

[Hacksaw]

Maddog - I was bombin through some pretty soupy stuff! Go Michelin A/T's!

Ramaford - Sorry man, kept the Hood, Grille, Doors and Interior for my Dually.

[RamAford]

I dont blame ya. What tires you gonna end up running on this? or did i miss it somewhere earlier.

[Hacksaw]

Going with 315/75R16's on 16x8 rims with about 4" lift. I like the Low truck / big tire look. Mike's black Dodge on 39.5's got me hooked on that! Think he's running 7" lift with those tires?

[RamAford]

Yea. his looks good and it performs great too. I have some pics of it from the fall crawl somewhere. I like that look also, but now i need bigger tires for mine.

[The Dude]

Sweet man, good call on cutting those perches off. If i knew ahead of time I would have done the same. I still need to do that.