Hello every one,
I am new to the board. My name it Trey, I drive a 2001 1500 Ram ex bed v6. I live in Jacksonville. My Ram is my frist Mopar as I have always owned chevys and pontiacs. I am very interested in swaping my truck to 4wd with a v8, however, I am not very familiar with the parts I will need to aquire for the suspenion and trans swap. I am planing on building some sort of mopar small block with a carb or simple FI, which I feel confident in as I have spent the last 10 years of my life around F-body GM's. I am also not exactly sure of the type of differentals I will need (Do the stock 1500 4wd trucks have Dana 60 and 44?) I believe finding a wrecked truck or a salvage truck with the complete stock suspension intacted would be the easiest way. Any information any of you guys might have would be awesome. I could really use the help. Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum
Maybe you can find a complete truck with what you are looking for, with damage cab and bed and switch your cab and bed onto it. Or one without the cab and bed.

 

if you wanted a 4x4 with a v8 why did you buy a 2wd with a v6.... just curious not knockin you.... they normally have a 9.25 in the rear and a dana 44 in the front the 2500 has a dana 60 in the rear the front end suspension would be a lot of work... my personal recomondation is to swap your suspension with a 2500 it will give you a little more ground clearance and the front axle is definitely a solid front axle i know the 3rd gens are independent in the 1500 not sure about second gen they may be solid on the 1500...... but thats just my .02

 

as you know your suspension on the 2wd's are a long arm short arm independet front suspension set up. The 4wd's use a 4 link solid axle front suspension. Your rear axle is the same, but you will need a d44 for the front....a 4wd transmission, transfer case, both driveshafts, control arms, steering, steering box, control arm brackets, track bar brackets, and the list goes on and on. your best bet is to trade your truck in for a 4wd. Your next bet is to find a wreck 4wd with a straight frame and suspension and swap your body over.......it's not the easiest thing to do to switch your truck to a 4wd on the 2nd gen rams

 

Its not as much work as peopl eon here always say it is. The truck you have now is pretty much set up for 4wd, you just need to swap in the right parts.

I have a friend who bought a 2wd Cherokee, swaped it to 4wd, wheeled the **** out of it, then put it back to 2wd. He never had a problem and it took a couple days, thats all.

 

Welcome!