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Hey Gents.
i actually forgot i was a member of this forum but i figured it was a great place to show off my recent work. it all started with my 96 CCLB 8800 gvrw 12 valve and a body that had a trans issue but seemed ok at the time. well first the trans went. so i dropped 4k on a professionally built 47re. and 2 months later the floor gave out and the drivers rocker fell out. feeling defeated. i gave up on the truck for about 2 years. i only started it a hand full of times and drove it twice in those years but never got the drive to actually do anything to do about it. finally about three weeks ago my ole lady looks at me (after more than a few times a truck would have made tasks much easier) and says "y a know i really miss having a truck" and my adventure began. first i found the cab.... now i had hopes of upgrading and getting into an actually 4 door cab but unfortunately my time from and budget prevented that from happening. (everyone's out there trying to sell each door for 300 a piece! on top of 1000 for cabs! luckily i found a 97 club cab in good shape. no doors but i am able to make mine work for now. it was about two and a Half hours south of me. i have my brother grab his buddies trailer and off we went.
once we got there it was pretty clear that this guy tears down dodges like its going out of style. we even had to wait for him to load a transmission before he could even get to us. the cab was not perfect but BY FAR in better shape than mine. i was also able to negotiate the complete interior into the cab price and was loaded up for $250. after getting home,
thus began the complete tear down. it actually went much simpler than i had imagined. i did break down and call a neighbor with a skid steer to help with the heavy lifting.. which i will also say we lifted with forks through the door and everything went smooth. however when we tried to use straps i put two dents in the roof and cracked the windshield. needless to say dont over complicate it. the scariest task was definitely the dash swap (it was unfortunately a GAS cab and my whole wiring harness needed to be swapped over) the only major breaks i had was on the cruise control servo. somehow the connector broke off the servo. still not sure of any negative effects since i didn't have working cruise control before. also took this as an opportunity to remove a non functional security system from my harness cleaning it up immensely. putting it all back together was much easier than i was expecting and i cant describe the excitement when i decided to toss the battery in and see what happened. wouldn't you know it she fired right up. i then completed the rest of the body install and went for the first drive. all gauges are working the trans is shifting. everything seemed OK at first. then i realized my ignition was being bypassed somehow and the truck would not shut off with turning the key. on top of this my turn signals, 4 ways and brake lights all seemed to not be working. through a small bit of troubleshooting i figured out the rogue power was coming from my console temp display harness. after isolating i discovered i sent a screw through it when i was installing the gauge pod. thankfully this was an easy fix. the turn signal / brake light issue has been a lot less forgiving. the headlights/ tail lights do work the wipers also work. but the turn signals do nothing not even a click from the relay. as for the brake lights the do nothing unless i press the Hazard switch if i do that, the brake lights come on, not the turn signals. the third brake light is constant on no matter what. so that's where I'm stuck. I'm going to replace the turn signal lever with the one from the gas cab and see if that helps. i mostly wanted to post this because i spent two years avoiding this project thinking i would never be able to accomplish it. but sitting here now i want to say never ever decide you cant do something simply because you don't know how. i'm no mechanic, im a tire salesmen... all it took was a lil youtube, a few hot days,some help from neighbor and his skid steer and 5 sockets. (literally 5 sockets 8mm 10mm 13 mm 17mm and 19 mm) and a few screwdrivers. all this has happened over 3 weekends,
i hope you guys enjoy this build. i will continue to update as i go. any thoughts on my electrical issue would be greatly appreciated!
Very nice! I am gonna have to replace my cab soon. Also doors and fenders, where is that guy located with all the body parts? I am in South Dakota and 300 for a door was the best I can find. Tons of old 2nd gen here but they all seem to be running. Would love to find one here cause most things have no rust at all but since I am originally from Michigan my truck is getting eatin alive. Cant even find mechanics near by so getting up to see my sons has been impossible.
just another 12 Valve Cab swap
