Started tearing it down last weekend. Taking it down to the frame and doing a complete rebuild.

This is what we started with:





This is what it looked like when we stopped last weekend:





Power washer worked pretty good blasting off all the grim and old undercoating.

More picture on Monday. We got the front end off and the motor pulled today.

 

Cool. Keep up the good work.

 

Oh yes, this should be a great thread! Looking forward to watching your progress.

 

that motor looks just like mine...outdated and under powered...lol

 

Got the motor out. The doors off and the Cab unbolted form the frame. Broke both front bolts holding the cab down. It was very rusted where the captured bolt were for those front cab bolts.

 

Wow very little rust on her, good luck on the build, and your truck has some potential.

 

Yep, I knew this was going to be fun!! Man, this inspires me. If I were only younger, did not have back, etc. pain... Oh well, I can dream through your post! I have to say, I love these older Dakotas! Mine is a '93 3.9L, totally stock, and I have never tired of driving it! Keep those pictures coming!

 

Didn't update for a while. Weather has been crappy around here so haven't been able to paint.

Pulled a NV3500 transmission from a V8 dakota in the junkyard about 2 weeks ago. Noticed the transmission mount is different than the NV2500 that was in the truck. Anyone have a easy solution for that?

We decided to put a vertical stripe on the bed, and settled on a Rumble Bee one from the newer Rams. I think it will look pretty good when its finished.

Hood, fenders, tail gate, and some other parts are in primer and awaiting color. Will be painting tomorrow.

More pictures of the progress:

 

Might have to change the crossmembervi this is what I'm thinking you're talking about

 

JGC403..

Awesome !
It's nice to see that, I'm not the only person "crazy" enough to do a complete rebuild.
It looks like the truck is in great shape.

I'm not sure about the trans mount, but, from the trucks I've seen, I assume that the cross member is the same ,even across auto and manual models. It's the metal mount and bushings that bolt to the cros member that are different.
Though.. in a wrecking yard it will likely be easier to simply grab the whole cross member and related bits and pieces.

There is a link the the factory parts manual, in the FAQ.
That manual should help you determine 100% what is different between the 2 transmission mounts.

Nice big garage BTW, you lucky dog !

Later in the build... If you need lower control arm bushings.. I'l be posting a thread that explains how to do that. Uppers are available from MOOG.