Yep that's right, its not backwards...4x4 to 2wd conversion. Hear me out.

I've owned my 01 4x4 reg cab short bed for 5yrs now and have loved every minute of it. I off-roaded and mudded it (nothing crazy) many times and its my daily driver...it gets driven through every season.

The frame is clean and it only has 120,000 on the 318, runs amazing (ya I've thrown some goodies at it). So it was worth it to do. Last year I invested a lot of my time and money into basically restoring the whole truck: whole new bed, both doors, both front fenders came off a cleannnn Tennessee truck, then cut out and put in new cab corners and rocker panels. Cleaned the frame more while it was all apart, POR15'ed it, the whole nine yards. Repainted the truck its original and my fav color pb3 intense blue pearl. It's immaculate. It sits on 4" blocks and 2" lvl kit on 3rd gen 20s on street tires. It hasn't been off-roaded or in winter since.

With all that time and money invested to get it rust free perfect I no longer want to or have the need to take it off-roading and mudding and cringe at the idea of taking it through Ohio winters once again. I like it clean, I keep it that way. I'm buying an awd Subie Impreza 5spd turbo car for my winter beater so the nice Ram doesn't have to come out. So why need 4x4 any more?

I now want to build it with some power, nothing too crazy, lookin for 500hp/tq (get a 360 block, do a 408 stroker, maybe 440 swap, maybe procharged). Only one prob....it's a 4x4. Which means not only will I be building an engine, trans and rearend...but also a tcase and front axle. With parasitic loss it prolly won't put down the power like it should....mind you this is not a 1000hp/tq Cummins race truck. It'll be a built small block lowered/raked street truck.

With all that in mind, I've thought about getting a cheap reg cab short bed 2wd 2nd gen and swapping my body and engine into to the 2wd and putting the 2wd body and engine on my 4x4 platform, selling that then building my motor in the 2wd.

But.....with mine being so sound and clean as it is right now, is it possible and has it been done...swapping it from 4x4 to 2wd? The drive line would be easy....get rid of tcase, change trans tail shaft (trans getting built anyway), get a drive shaft. But getting rid of the front axle and redoing the whole front suspension is the question.

I've seen tons of builds and swaps going from 2wd to 4x4.....but can the opposite be done???

Sorry for the long post guys, I've been throwing this idea around and wanted some input. Thanks!

 

As you have seen you probably know the frames are different. Get a 4X2 donor truck and cut and weld all the brackets you need on/off the 4X4 frame. Of if it's the same configuration(standard cab-short bed) swap frames. Personally i don't understand why people want to do this. Just get another truck if you want something different. I have two, The 4X4 is the daily driver and the 4X2 is the cruiser. I would leave it as is! Especially after all the work you put in it.

 

If you want a street rod but a car. Personally I don't understand 2wd trucks at all. I've never owned one, never will.

 

Lots of cutting an welding going to 4x2.... also, I don't think the tailhousing comes off the O/D unit separately on the 2wd trans.... so, you may have to replace the whole thing.

On the other hand, you could get a really good price for your 4x4..... use the money to buy a 2wd truck, and have at it.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I've decided to get my winter beater. Then in the spring get the trans and tcase rebuilt on the Ram and throw some harland sharp roller rockers and an sct tune at it and call it done. I'll save up for a classic to build. But being a Mopar guy it'll get expensive haha.

 

Great looking truck don't cut it up

 

Find a 3500 Cab/chassis that is 2wd, they have solid front axle with out the pumpkin. No cutting necessary, then decide if you want to change from a 4wd trans/tcase to a 2wd trans. OR leave every thing there and never move the shifter.