318 to440 swap
 

i am wanting to swap my trucks stock 318 to a 440 but i want to keep my grany gear so i dont wan to swap my trany what can i do

What year is the truck? 2wd or 4wd (I take it 4wd?)?

The nice thing about the 93 and older trucks is that teh frames didn't change much at all since the early 70s. Dodge was putting 440s in trucks up till ~78 so as long as your truck is pre 94, you should be abel to swap it right in. You'll need motor mounts, larger radiator, exhaust, depending on the year and it you have a TBI or carb you'll need to do something about the PCM (if it has one), and you'll need a bell housing and clutch.

It shouldn't be too hard to do the swap. Locating a bell housing and clutch that will fit the 440 and your NP435L tranny will be the hardest part. You might want to call up Novak Conversions as they should be able to assist you with this. If not, they can at least tell you who can.

Lakewood makes a big block housing for the NP-435.

Not wanting to be rude, but why would you want to keep that granny gear? Do you tow houses around? Those things are unbreakable but have no performance applications at all. Wouldn't a nice a-833 over drive be a nice way to go? keep the steep rear and get a little better rpm on the high way. What is the intended purpose of the truck?

Drop it in 4 low 1st gear, and you can climb a freakin mountain, or move it.

I agree, unless a person is rockcrawling, 1st gear is pretty much wasted anyways. I have used it occassionally offroading, just because you can basically crawl over/go through anything, without playing with the clutch, but have never needed to use 1st gear on the street, even with a fairly heavy load.

i agree the granny is wasted space if the truck is never ganna leave the road but if your ganna use it to pull truck out of huge mud holes and pull stumps out like i used mine for its great to have. ther also really useful on the farm.

good luck with the swap

After seeing some pics, it looks like his truck is going to be built for four wheeling. Having a tranny with a granny first gear is great, not just for wheeling. It allows you to have a little higher axle ratio for the street but still give you the option to just crawl when on a trail.

Yessir rock crawling would need a steep gear. Just wondering. I have a 1976 granny gear 4 spd 2 wheel drive and I hate it, but it is used to haul parts, scrap iron, and trash. So not a "real" big deal. Still I would like to get home from the dump or what ever with out hearing the motor scream at 50 mph. I will be looking for taller tires and a taller rear to compensate. I would ultimately like a 4 speed over drive as I do not move mountains with this thing. The nice thing is being a "farm truck" it only has 85,000 miles on it. The bad thing is I blew a head gasket down shifting.

I would love to see pictures of his truck.

NV4500 is a great tranny that allows you to have the best of both worlds. great low end gearing for towing and hauling while the higher gears have more street friend ratios. Costs some coin though like anything.