Will a 79' Dodge crew cab interchange with a 93' CTD

[Firstgenfanatic]

I am looking at purchasing a 1979 Dodge crew cab pickup. Before I buy, will this truck interchange with my existing 93' CTD stuff? I have heard that the 72-8? crew cabs have different firewalls and dashes. What do I need to look out for? I am thinking of having my 93' CTD club cab stretched professionally to swap to the crew cab. Should I have any hang-ups or issues using the 79' crew cab on my 93'? I would appreciate any insight to this/information on the differences. Thanks!

[BobS]

We have a local guy here who runs a body shop and did a stretch to add the crew body. He cut the mid area sections of the windshield pillars and straight across the floor where the seam on the crew's mid section meets the front section along with the mating cuts on the standard cab. Then he added a section in the frame followed by grafting the rear section of the crew cab to the front section of the standard cab. Fitting was made easier by leaving the doors attached to the cowl of the standard cab section. The fitting is complete when the doors fit properly.

In my 85 crew cab conversion the frame sections heights were the same so I used the original crew frame and swapped in the Cummins Dodge #1, #2, & #3 crossmembers as I also went from 2WD automatic gasoline to 4WD 5 speed diesel. This option is not anymore difficult than going the other route provided the frame heights are the same. Otherwise I believe you can shim the transmission crossmember height to keep the engine front to rear tilt the same as the original tilt.

The heater system has some differences and using the newer 80's style heater assembly creates some minor issues when used with the older non vented doors. Unless you roll down the window the doors are harder to close. The vents vent the temporary pressure caused by slamming the door.

And by all means if you find a good crew body at what you consider a reasonable price then you better grab it. They aren't making our version anymore.

[Firstgenfanatic]

Ok, so should a 70's vintage crew cab work for my 93? bodylines, fenders/hood/etc. bolting up from my 93' CTD?

[BobS]

Yes, provided you use your 93 doors & front fenders and bed. Simply put the front doors and front fenders & bed need to match as a set. You could get away with using either bed as the average person probably would not notice.

[Firstgenfanatic]

Sweeeeettttt!!!! Ok, that was what I exactly wanted to do in the first place........ donate the doors, hood, front fenders, and bed from my 93 CTD. Sounds like it will work.

[RumbleFish]

the rear doors are the same for 70's and 80's crews. if you use your 93 doors you wont have an issue with the venting.

one other thing i didnt see mentioned was the wiper cowl panel, it has to match the hood.

[BobS]

And I think the old style wiper motor just clears the engine. I can't remember if the newer wiper motor is a bolt on or not due to the mounting holes and wiper linkage?

[Firstgenfanatic]

Got my donor crew cab! It is actually a 1980. The rear doors and cab structure are in great shape.

[BobS]

Now you know that we all just want to see this!

[Firstgenfanatic]

I will get new pictures posted soon of my 1980 Dodge crew cab. I am really interested in talking to someone who has stretched their existing 89-93 CTD frame. I would like to do this modification to keep things a little simplier. I would appreciate any help/suggestions for doing this. I would assume a good fabrication shop could stretch the frame for me. Once that is done, I just need to worry about bolting on the 4-door cab and all the extra's.

[RumbleFish]

Flexiheep over on tdr stretched his frame. not sure if he is a member here or not?

[BobS]

I looked at doing this frame stretch and it doesn't look all that difficult.

Measuring from the rear of the cushion hole in the front cab mounting bracket to the rear of the rear cab mounting bracket cushion hole will give you the "on center dimension" for the location distance between the centers of the cushion holes. This dimension as with all frame dimensions vary slightly due to production tolerances. Probably +/- 1/8 inch would be within the tolerance range.

This dimension as measured is:
Crew cab = 77" to 77-1/16" (77.000" to 77.062")
Standard cab= 43-3/16" to 43-1/4" (43.187" to 4.250")
Club cab= 61-1/16" to 61-1/8" (61.063" to 61.125")[not measured by me]

Doing the math the average distance between the standard cab & crew cab is 33-13/16" (33.8125") Which matches the rear door width within the 1/8" tolerance.

Club cab to crew cab would require 15-15/16" (15.937") to be added.

This increased distance would be located in the transmission crossmember section of the frame. On a standard cab this frame section's best area to lengthen would be in the 14" straight section located to the rear of the transmission crossmember.

As always, double check my math before cutting!

[Firstgenfanatic]

I ended up buying a 1980' Dodge crew cab 2wd long bed. I am really having a difficult time trying to decide which method is easiest to achieve a 1993 crew cab 4x4 longbed. I currently drive a 1993 CTD club cab 4x4. trying to find the best path for tackling this project. What do you guys think????

[BobS]

Looks decent.

I would base my decision on my ability and local facilities available. If you feel confident on removing the 4WD cab and stretching the frame & have a shop to bend the new outer and new inner overlapping frame channels and getting them welded them in squarely that's one option. I went the other route and changed the 2WD frame to a 4WD frame by using the 4WD frame sides as transfer template panels to correctly locate the new hole mounting positions. My reason was the crew cab had a rust free frame where as the diesel donor frame was rotted badly.

[Firstgenfanatic]

The 80' crew is in decent shape. I found out that the floors have been patched before. I am also learning that the 72-80 crew cabs had different firewalls than the 89-93 diesel trucks. I was also told that the transmission hump will not work on the 80' 2wd crew cab, since i'm going to 4wd. What else is different? I already know about the front doors and fender thing..........any other variations on the earlier crew cabs vs. 89-93 diesel cabs?