dually Ranger

[Tiggie]

https://roanoke.craigslist.org/cto/5841519478.html

A 12V cummins priced reasonablely. Looks like a good truck.

[DerekTheGreat]

3 speed with a diesel? So what's the top speed, 35mph??? Our 3 speed 454 chevy runs 3k rpms @ 60. No way a diesel is happy there.

[sly]

It probably has a really long rear gear. So that 3K rpm will take you to 65.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

I just liked them in stock form but this is what I see around here:
http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/cto/5847563096.html

This one looks like it would be your best bet. The 727 is a cheap to replace, if OD is desired a 508 can be used as well, or any number of stick-shifts - either way would keep the truck very reliable and stupid-simple to maintain, just like how it was when it left the factory.

https://roanoke.craigslist.org/cto/5841519478.html
A 12V cummins priced reasonablely. Looks like a good truck.

Good find. Looks like it's got a bit of rust going on, but it's still an unfucked-with low-mileage 6BT, if the rest of the truck is in fairly decent shape then yes the price is pretty darn good.

3 speed with a diesel? So what's the top speed, 35mph??? Our 3 speed 454 chevy runs 3k rpms @ 60. No way a diesel is happy there.

You must have 4.10 gears, or maybe something even deeper. Most folks seem to set the 6BT governor at 3200 RPMs tops, and you're right it ain't happy there but if you're trying to grab the next gear up a grade having the extra few hundred RPMs does help. But there are high-speed diesels out there, them IDIs for example are kinda like that, especially the non-turbocharged ones that don't really start pulling hard till 2200 or so.

It probably has a really long rear gear. So that 3K rpm will take you to 65.

Indeed, 3.07 would be my guess. Dana 61 axle, basically same as your standard D60 but the center section is cast in a way that puts the pinion further away from the diff centerline, allows for running larger pinion without making the ring gear too thin (and thus weak). Considering the typical cost of 5-speeds, running those axles with a creeper 4-speed is a great way to cheat the system so to speak.

[DerekTheGreat]

Cheat the system as in more towing capacity? I just like OD, unless it's a blue balls four cylinder. Same friend I mentioned had a 94? Dodge neon with the higher output four banger and it got 35+ mpg with it's three speed auto. It was really winging on the freeway but from the MPG's it was happy.

We do indeed have 4.10's. Seems trans swaps are easy for you guys, at least the transmissions seem to be easy to come by but not the ones we need for our truck. Hate the SM465.. We might be getting rid of our truck due to forced hands anyway so we'll see what happens.

How high does an IDI run? You ever see this diesel runaway? What kind of RPM was this thing spinning? LoL Good ole Detroit leaker.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Cheat the system as in get the same wheel speed at the same engine speed via a 4-speed and numerically low gears vs. the more standard these days 5-spd with 4.10s or something similar. Basically the 3.07s make up for the lack of OD in the transmission, and the transmission's creeper gear makes up for the lack of mechanical advantage in the axle gearing. For example if you were to replace your 4.10 gears with 3.07s and keep the SM465 that would give you overall gear ration in 1st and 4th that's very close to what you'd get if you kept the 4.10s and instead replaced the Muncie with a NV4500. And I'm calling it cheating the system as you have more or less the same result but one method costs significantly less than the other.

Transmissions swaps are easy for me cause I know a few tricks. That and I'm always looking for something better, and when I couldn't find what I wanted in factory form I had to built it myself. Still not 100% happy, the ideal setup would include a Ranger 2-spd aux box in front of a Brazilian wide-ratio ZF5, and it has to be Brazilian because our shit here in the US and Canada has integral bellhousing and aluminum case, whereas the Brazilian version uses a separate bellhousing just like a 4-speed does (hence it can accept the range box) and on top of that the case is cast iron again like a 4-speed. But don't think finding stuff is easy, I just tend to run into it cause I'm always on the prowl with cash in hand and ready to pounce - it's rare for me to walk into a salvage yard with less than $200 on top of what I actually plan on spending that day, that typically would cover either a ZF or a D60 if I happen to run into one. Even so it sometimes takes me forever to find some things, and in case of the true creeper-gear T19 4-speed I'm yet to come across one.

The IDI is alright, it's a doomsday engine that will run on just about anything that flows and burns. But they don't all run the same, some are more or less on par with a big block while others can be quite gutless. Overall I'd average its performance to that of a EFI 351, but with noticeably better MPG especially when loaded good. It's a simple, reliable, and cheap to maintain engine, which is not surprising given it was developed for industrial use and Ford kinda just hopped on the bandwagon. Not gonna win any races in non-turbo form (which is how most came), if turbocharged with no special work done it will be about equal to a stock '90s PSD.