What do you guys drive in the Winter
88 d-50, until the poor beast hit 395k,
now a 93 d-50 (with 111k )...
The absolute best lil' trucks Dodge never made :D
Aint that the truth. I beat the ever lovin' crap out of my '84 D50 for years. And when I say beat the crap out of it, I mean seriously. The original 2.6L just wouldn't give up, and believe me I tried (and failed) to kill it on many occasions. It finally died on it's own accord after years of life as a work truck/plow truck
Top speed was about 75mph (4.65 ratio gears with Front & Rear Limited Slips and 30" Tires). And I would regularly push it beyond the redline on the tach.
1/2 Ton? Nah, they were more like a 4 Ton truck in disguise :D I frequently loaded the truck until the leaf springs inverted and the axle was sitting tight against the frame. In the winter it pushed a 7.5' Meyers Power Angle Snow Plow.
My dad put the Snow Plow on in the 80's (off of a full size W300 ClubCab) and it was used for pretty much the truck's entire life. I got the truck from my dad at 197,971 miles and I drove it until it hit 270,000 miles when the original 2.6L finally died.
At that time I lifted the truck way up, stuffed 40" Tires under it and converted it to a 2.5L Intercooled Turbo Diesel :D Sadly the Diesel seized the balancing shafts and trashed the #2 Piston & Sleeve. I yanked it out for another 2.6L but the oil pump died after a few months. Instead of replacing the pump (maybe a 2 hour job), I yanked the 2.6L and dropped in a 273 Small Block :D
The lil '84 has changed engines more than some people change underwear. I lost count, but I know I've had the following engines in the truck (not including "duplicates" / engines of the same size)
2.3L Turbo Diesel, 2.5L Turbo Diesel, 2.6L, 3.0L V6, 3.9L V6, 273, 340, and 440 :finga: The 440 was more of a joke, because I dropped it in for laughs when I was installing the 2.3L TD. I thought "Boy it looks like a 440 would fit in there" So I hooked my '68 440 Mag to the engine crane and lowered it into the truck :D
