The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Diesel conversion question

I have a 52 chevy that I plan on putting on a one ton chassis and using a 3.9 cummins and turbo 400 out of a chip van I have. My question is is this motor strong enough? I have not decided what be to put on it. My other question is I also have a 5.9 cummins but it is so long I know I will have to cut up the floor and I don't want to do that. I want to build a wrecker out of it but I doubt it will have enough power for that. Just looking for some ideas on what to do. I am alos looking at a detroit because I have a 8v92 in my wrecker and you have got to love that sound. you can hear it coming from miles away (literally).
Thanks
Brad

I used to service those chip trucks with the 4 cyl Cummins. They had a lot of vibration, were noisey & smokey. They didn't have enough power for anything worthwhile.

I figured that but I have been watching a thread on The Hamb about a guy that is putting one into a ford and I honestly like his ideas. But I have the 5.9 cummins just hanging in the truck.(sold trans) So it would be a couple bolts and it would be out. I am just searching for ideas and I appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks
Brad

The 5.9 will have plenty of power unless you are talking about a heavy equipment recovery unit.

The Cummins 4BT makes more horsepower than the original Chevy six and 355 pounds of torque.

If a '52 Chevy 2-ton could serve as a wrecker back in the day the 4BT can power one today. No it won't perform like the bigger Diesels but I would have no worries about it moving the truck and a load.

I'm a gas guy, I can't believe I'm defending a small Diesel...

Wow! Steve, there's still hope for you

I agree that the 4BT would be at least as good and should be better than the original gas engine, but nothing in comparison to a modern truck built for towing.
If you leave the stock gears it will probably (slowly) tow more than you really should.

Grigg

I knew someone would reply to this eventually. I forgot to mention I am placing this in a diesel stepvan frame with the suspension from a motorhome frame. Now it has 10 lug 19.5 wheels, disc brakes, And maybe even airride suspension. The van I bought had a 3.9 cummins and a turbo 400 already in it and that is what I plan to use unless I can find manual trans in one of these vans.
Thanks
Brad

The 4BT and the Turbo 400 sound like a good combo this would be much like the Chevy and Isuzu W4s that are very commonly used for light duty wreckers. I am sure that the Cummins 4-BT has all the power and maybe more than that little Isuzu and as for the Turbo 400 the only problem I see there is the lack of a PTO port. I work on M1051 fully up armored HMMWVs for the Army and these have the old style 6.5 turbo and a 4L80E transmission in them. The 4L80E is pretty much a new 4 speed turbo 400 and these M1051s have a dry weight of 12,000 lbs. so the turbo 400 should be fine as long as you can find your hydraulic power elsewhere.

I had one of those Isuzu w3500s and it had plenty of power. I thought about using one of those trucks for this project but I can across this engine and I liked it so here we are again. I can put a belt driven pto pump on the engine. I have two trucks that run these and they do okay. I just keep belts in stock because they never break when its sunny or in the middle of the day.
I figure the motor would handle it but I am going to measure tomorrow for the 5.9 just in case.
Thanks
Brad