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Real
Wheels - Feature Trucks
By Bill Cooke
5/00
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Balance of Design
Ken Crowell's 76 Dodge Power Wagon |
The poor old 70's Dodge trucks just get no respect. If you pick
up a catalog from most of the aftermarket manufactures you would think that the
old Dodges never existed. That's starting to change as more and more people are
starting to see the true potential of these trucks. Ken Crowell is one of those
guys. His '76 Dodge is a great example of how to build the perfect truck. It's
not flashy or anything like that. Heck, it's down right stealthy compared to
most trail trucks. It's not until you climb underneath that you begin to
appreciate the hard work and thoughtful planning that went into building this
truck. All that hard work pays big when Ken hits the trails. This truck will go
where most would think impossible and do it with ease. It's the perfect balance
of beef, flex and power that makes this truck so cool.
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Ken chose to
go with ultimate beef in his build up. That means a GM 10.5" full-floating
14 bolt rear. With the 4.11 gears and Detroit Locker it is ready to handle
the 33" Dunlop Mud Rovers and 4" lift. Up front he's running the 3/4 ton
Dana 44 with 8 lugs and a Trac-Loc. |
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The other great trick that Ken used
to build his truck was this little baby. It's hard to see because of the
great job he did installing it up and out of the way but that's an Offroad
Design 203/205 Doubler in there. The second box allows Ken to pick the
right gear for the terrain, no matter how tough the trails are. |
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One of the
toughest things about using the twin box setup is what to do about the
extra shifter. Here's Ken's answer to that question. This is so clean it
look factory! A few clever linkage mods, a few heim joints and a Dana 300
twin stick boot and viola`. For anyone thinking about installing a doubler, this is the perfect example of the right way to do it. |
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If there is
one thing that all older Dodge owners are aware of it's that crappy dash.
This '76 has a very clean, straight forward approach and that applies to
the dash. Autometer gauges replace the originals and really add the the
beauty of the whole
truck. |
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The truck is
motivated by a 360 motor that has been bored .030 over with early style
flat top pistons. A Comp Cams 260H cam (440 lift 260 duration) tickles the
valves on the 4 barrel heads.
The Performer manifold is where
you'll find the custom built Holley 600 with off road kit installed and
MSD ignition. Dual 2 1/4 exhaust with 3 chamber Flow Masters vent the
whole thing before power is sent to the TF/727 tranny with shift kit. This
is more than enough to move this truck and the chrome valve covers and air
cleaner add just a touch of show to an otherwise un assuming truck
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In the end
Ken has quite a truck on his hands here. It's built strong and with enough
goodies to get him through the toughest of trails. It's not the flashiest
truck out there, it's not the trickiest truck out there. But this one has
all the right parts, power and beef to give it true Balance of
Design. |
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