Soon to be new owner of a 1964 Dodge W300

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Welcome and hope you're rich!
I've owned a 62 W300 poly 318 since 1984 and put over 200,000 miles on it. No way in hell would I want a /6 in it!!!! 318 gets 8 mpg, 10 down hill or with a tailwind.
FYI, you will need a valve job asap to install hardened seats to handle unleaded gas. You will know the valves are sinking into the heads when the lash disappears.
I see you have the SRW hubs on it, so if you want duallys u you will need to find DRW hubs. The SRW hubs are highly sought after.

[Wildergarten]

Ok so it currently needs brakes gone through a carburetor rebuild and new lockout hubs previous owner was plowing snow with it I assume he broke it.

Congrats on the W300! To me, it is without doubt the handsomest and useful of the W series and it looks like you have a very nice one.

Sometimes I wish I had gone that route, but to my mind, brakes are the big issue on that truck. Drums are virtually non-existent and relining drums is very expensive for what you get. I don't know about your budget or your goals, but I'd do everything I could afford to go with full disc brakes, and if that meant exchanging axles, if it were me, I'd do it before trying to upgrade factory brakes. Around here, exchanging axles means at least $3 grand, so I do understand what a consideration that is, but a fully relined set of drums would set you back at least $1600 and that's before shoes, cylinders, and all the rest. JMNHEO

[Wildergarten]

A site called uglytruck I think it’s called can do a disc brake conversion for it at a fair price as well as makes a power steering conversion bracket kit at a decent price as well definitely doing a lot of research on it.

Uglytruckling.com. I don't know what they have for a Dana 60 or 70.
http://www.uglytruckling.com/

[Wildergarten]

I just checked the disc brakes and just realized that the discs are for the Dana 44 front. I wonder if the power steering kit will fit?

Correct, and it's the small knuckle Dana 44 (3,000 pound rating).

Is what you have up front a closed knuckle Dana 60? Post the weight ratings on your axles (on the VID plate in the door jamb) and I'm sure somebody can get an ID on them. In fact, you might want to post that information on the site registry so that people can help you more easily: http://www.sweptline.org/SweptlineRegistry/index.php

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Front axle is a Dana 70 4500#. Only available gears for a W300 are 4.88 and 5.38. Didn't know my extra sets of Warn hubs have become my retirement fund - coool! Front axle has 14x2 drums and there are NONE! available.
You're insane to be all amped on a /6 in that truck. If you can't afford the gas for an old W300 you need to sell it and get a prius.

[Wildergarten]

I bet relining the drums will not be cheap. I am new to this Truck There will be a learning curve.

The price I got for a set of 12-1/8 X 2 drums was $400 a pop.
https://www.jgrelining.com/

[Wildergarten]

I’ll take all the advice and direction I can get.

Not knowing what you plan to do with this thing, I'd suggest a 318 poly (what I think I see there) stroked to 360 with a 600cfm 4bbl vacuum secondary Holley or a diesel. Not a 225. Even with a turbo it won't have the torque and it would run so wide open you'd kill it early while eating nearly as much gas. At least that's my impression. IOW, I suggest building out what I you've got, make it breathe, and tune the hell out of it. An extra heavy flywheel would help keep the vacuum from falling on its face.

Like the screen name BTW.

[Wildergarten]

I’ll definitely have to weigh my options as far as axles not sure what would be best if I do decide to swap them. I guess I’ll burn that bridge when I get there.

Try sucking up a few electrons at Pirate 4X4. LOTS of information on axles and suspension.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Here's a W300 done right. 6bt and many gears.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37518&p=270458#p270391

[soopernaut]

Here the data plate couldn’t get the decoder to work. Model w300 wb 133,rear axle cap 7500,4.8,70,4500 front axle 435d4 trans, 165hp@3900, serial 90711108.

Your serial number needs to have 10 digits.

[Red383]

Just wanted to say welcome and I love that truck!

If I were you, I'd get her up and running, drive it for a while then decide what engine swap you want to go with.

Aaron

[jwing68]

I just checked the disc brakes and just realized that the discs are for the Dana 44 front. I wonder if the power steering kit will fit?

Correct, and it's the small knuckle Dana 44 (3,000 pound rating).

Is what you have up front a closed knuckle Dana 60? Post the weight ratings on your axles (on the VID plate in the door jamb) and I'm sure somebody can get an ID on them. In fact, you might want to post that information on the site registry so that people can help you more easily: http://www.sweptline.org/SweptlineRegistry/index.php

Ugly Truckiling makes the front disc brake conversion for W300's, in Rays website click on the Kaiser M715 and it will take you to the W300 brake conversion as these types share many of the same components.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Here the data plate couldn’t get the decoder to work. Model w300 wb 133,rear axle cap 7500,4.8,70,4500 front axle 435d4 trans, 165hp@3900, serial 90711108.

Your serial number needs to have 10 digits.

That # is not even possible for a vin. A W300 with a poly in 64 will start with 238xxxxxxx. The 4th digit is the assembly plant, most commonly the numeral 1, then the last 6 are the sequence #. "9" and "0" in 3rd and 4th position is not possible. And, the "7" would indicate a 1967 truck, but we know its not by all the other features.

[Wildergarten]

I want to drive it for a bit before I take it off the road for the swap.

How long has it been sitting?

Glad to hear about the 1-ton Uglytruckling kit. I wish I'd known two years ago or I might have bought a W300 myself.

[Hobcobble]

Welcome to the site. . A guy up here I know was going to take
the same approach in regards to M715 front axle hardware for his '61 W300.
I'm not sure if he completed the job before he sold his W300 or not.
Original brake drums and steering boxes for the 300 Series Sweptlines are very
tough to find.

On the engine.... the Slant 6 is about 127hp in stock configuration. I'm not sure
how much better mileage you'd get out of it if you build it for better performance
vs the A318? The 4.89 gears aren't all too friendly on the open roads. If the A318
only has 9000 on it, you might want to [initially] get a valve job done and drive
it as is. The "Semi Hemi" is a really nice engine. There are some
headers available for it that'll get you a few extra horses as well.

Looks like your W300 enlisted in the USAF at some point.

John

[Wildergarten]

brakes go to the floor bad

My guess is pitted wheel cylinders (why I asked how long it had sit). I'd flush the whole system with denatured alcohol and start over with dot5 silicone: (reasons why: https://www.sweptline.org/forums/viewto ... +5#p304522)

[jwing68]

The five speed od transmission upgrade will extend your chosen engines life span as the rpm's will be lower, gas mileage will not increase noticeably as these W300 trucks have a tare weight in the 7000 # range and are not aerodynamic at all. If you want mileage go with a cummins swap, I have the Getrag 360 in my 68 behind a stroked LA 318 and I am happy with it as it keeps me in the flow of traffic versus impeding it.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Ok, I thought maybe the number you posted would be the SO number. That is NOT the vin. SO stands for "sales order" and was used by the factory to build the truck to the order. The vin in those yrs is not on that date plate. It is on a separate, smaller tag, attached on the door pillar directly above that data plate. As noted in my post above, the W300 vin will be in the format 238xxxxxxx.
The truck probably has comparatively very few miles on it so most likely your drums are hardly worn at all.
On another note, the NP 435 in the W300 often has PTO doors on both sides, making it a more special and desirable tranny.

[Wildergarten]

Here data pic

Strange that the combined front spring rating is for only 3,500# when that axle can take another 1000#. A Dana 60 is a far cry from a large knuclke Dana 44 axle rated for 3500#, yet it was was sprung at 3,500# as well.

I did some reading on the Dana 70. The highest gear ratio early Dana 70s could accommodate is 4:10. Later models could do more, but they had to move the pinion.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

....swap the 318 poly that’s in it for a 225 slant 6. I would have to do some upgrades to the Slanty to get some more hp out of it but the whole idea of any swap I go with is fuel mileage.......

/6 is money down a rat hole for NOTHING!
Read this:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42982