Amazing build. I have read this entire process 3-4 times over the last year. I have also been so impressed that this past Tuesday, I bought a Cummins 5.9 – 175 hp engine and plan to sell my LDT-465.
I have a growing list of questions:
1. Could you give me contact info for the company that converted your alternator to 24 volts?
My local alternator/starter shop helped me find this company - not that there aren't others out there, but these guys are who I could find. They did a great job and a low price: I dealt with Rob at Hoosier Electric, 219-844-8389. He simply asked me to send him my stator and rotor and he would rewind. So the local shop disassembled, I sent the rotor/stator, then local shop reassembled after I received rewound pieces.
... 2. Why didn’t you connect the starter to the 24 volts?
I actually did have a 24V starter built and that is what I used. It does seem a little vague in the write up, but I did have the local shop build me a 24V. I did this for amperage draw, but could have left it 12V. However, since 24V are readily accessible, so I would do it again.
... 3. Did you keep any patterns of the motor mounts you made?
No - I made some hand sketches and built from that. I do not remember if I explained that I used a different driver's side motor mount - the stock Cummins mounts are different from one side to the other, and is kinda funky. Justin Wehring informed me of this and I'll have to look at which other cummins mount I used. It wouldn't have been a problem, but this let me build the two frame mounts identical.
... 4. I bought a NOS radiator for my Deuce. I was wondering why you chose to use the Dodge radiator?
This will take some planning; it did for me. Intercooling was imperative for me. If I did not need that, then I feel I could have reused the stocker and the swap would have been easier. I could have likely either used a mechanical fan or a simpler electric. But since I wanted the intercooler in order to make reliable power, then I did not feel like the stock deuce rad would be able to cool well enough. The Cummins motor I had was a 2175 CPL at 215hp - however, even with 210 vs 130hp, I would not have done this swap with 1600s tires. While 175hp and 210hp are tremendous power improvements (not to mention at least 50% more torque) over the MF engine, this was a lot of work and I am performance-oriented. The motor is at about 350hp/800tq... that helps make the work even more worth it to me. And these power upgrades were only a few hundred bucks.
I went with stock Dodge rad because I had it, it mated with the intercooler, and an upgraded Dodge rad would be a bolt-in if needed.
... 5. I plan to use the NV4500. Could you explain the issues you had hooking up your NV4500 to the Deuce trans case?
I knew that the 2wd version of the Dodge NV4500 had a very long slip yoke that would be way too long. While looking for rebuilt '4500s, I contacted a guy that builds them on Ebay and discussed. Before I could suggest a GM short tailhousing, he said he could do it. So sent me a rebuilt NV4500 with Dodge front and GM short fixed yoke rear. (His name is Jim - I have his number if you need)
I then had to get a custom yoke-shaft built from my local driveline shop. This was pieced together from a specific combination of compatible splined yokes and slip yokes. There are many lengths available off the shelf from Dana Spicer in the 1410 range - the trick is finding the right combination that will give you the length you need with enough slip/travel to insert/remove and account for driveline movement. A good driveline shop should be able to help and will know exactly what a 'yoke-shaft' is. Mine was somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-3/8" nominal... yours will vary depending on final engine placement.
... Thanks for your help.
No problem. It was a lot of work and I learned a lot. The things I planned for went well. Amazingly, the things I did not plan for also went well. Please let me know if I can help with anything else.