78 Cherokee Chief S to Cummins 12 valve (6BT)

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ezliving
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Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2015 7:58 pm

78 Cherokee Chief S to Cummins 12 valve (6BT)

Post by ezliving »

Just joined the forum and will begin my Conversion Project this winter. Have a bid working on a 93 Dodge D/W250 with auto and 4 WD. At this point my direction is to modify and use the D/W250 chassis and drive train and mount my 78 body on that. I know others have gone this route and am hoping for some guidance along the way. I will be posting my progress with pictures as I go.
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78 Cherokee Chief Sport

WaggyGuy
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Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:50 am
Location: Roswell, NM

Re: 78 Cherokee Chief S to Cummins 12 valve (6BT)

Post by WaggyGuy »

Nice! I'm in the middle of a somewhat similar build. I'm putting a 76 Wagoneer on top of a 98 Dodge Ram 1500 chassis. Here's a link to my build thread. If you have any questions, let me know and I'll see if I can help. If the 93 frame is anything like mine, there is a nice welded seam you can cut to give you the starting point for shortening the frame.

http://fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8050
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ezliving
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Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2015 7:58 pm

Re: 78 Cherokee Chief S to Cummins 12 valve (6BT)

Post by ezliving »

Thanks Waggy, I have actually checked out your thread earlier. I am using the Gen 1 for the non "EMP" profile. I noticed in one of your pic's that you cut the frame at or near the cross member, which gives a natural "Over" bite on the frame. Was that planned or am I looking at it wrong. Also were you concerned about welding on the frame with regards to original "Heat Treated" frame material. If so let me know how you resolved that issue.
Hope this is not to many questions to begin with..
78 Cherokee Chief Sport

WaggyGuy
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:50 am
Location: Roswell, NM

Re: 78 Cherokee Chief S to Cummins 12 valve (6BT)

Post by WaggyGuy »

The location of that weld was planned. The Dodge frame comes from the factory with a welded "joint" right at the transmission crossmember. I intentionally used that point so I knew I had a point of reference on each side. I simply cut the factory weld, measured back the same distance on each side, made my cut and put the two parts back together again.

As for "heat treated" frame material, I honestly didn't even think about it. I figured that since it was welded at the factory, I'd be ok welding it. Now I'm curious though to know if they heat treat before or after they weld the frame together. I do plan to add some support to the welds at some point, but that is more for piece of mind than anything.
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