Hello all,
I have been a long-time reader of the 4btswaps forums and I have to say there are a lot of cool projects out there. Thanks for all the inspiration.
I have always thought about changing the transmission out on my truck and so a few months after I first bought the truck (some 8 years ago) I found an ad for a dead International t444e motor. From that engine, I was able to get my hands on the flywheel housing adapter needed for any future conversion. The original plan was a TTC Eso 7-speed swap.
At any rate, 5 years ago I pulled a mill I purchased locally home to my place. Trailer plus machine was around 21k (yah, I only exceeded the book GCR by a bit). As I was just on surface roads it wasn’t too bad other than having to really ride the clutch to get the truck moving and having to go into 4 wheel low to back the trailer into the driveway… but, things really got started 2 years ago (April 2016) while pulling my dad’s disabled truck home from Laramie,Wyoming.
All told I was pulling around 15k and trying to keep the truck rolling at a reasonable pace was a bugger… there is a reason that the 97 F350 was only rated for 11k towed weight (and it sits between the engine and rear axle). Needless to say it was tough finding a gear the engine was happy with that didn’t require me revving the engine into the stratosphere (how did Ford come up with the red-line for the 7.3??) to keep the boost up and the truck at a reasonable speed.
So, after arriving home I started doing some digging and found that someone had done an Eaton Rto 6610 swap in a Dodge Ram. Two weeks of trolling later I found a Rto 6610 on Craigslist and the adventure was underway. Two days and 1533 miles later, this was sitting in my garage...
Fellow I bought it from thought it had less than 50k miles on it. The swap is actually finished and the truck is on the road, but there is a little more to the saga than I can type up in one evening.
Cj
I have been a long-time reader of the 4btswaps forums and I have to say there are a lot of cool projects out there. Thanks for all the inspiration.
I have always thought about changing the transmission out on my truck and so a few months after I first bought the truck (some 8 years ago) I found an ad for a dead International t444e motor. From that engine, I was able to get my hands on the flywheel housing adapter needed for any future conversion. The original plan was a TTC Eso 7-speed swap.
At any rate, 5 years ago I pulled a mill I purchased locally home to my place. Trailer plus machine was around 21k (yah, I only exceeded the book GCR by a bit). As I was just on surface roads it wasn’t too bad other than having to really ride the clutch to get the truck moving and having to go into 4 wheel low to back the trailer into the driveway… but, things really got started 2 years ago (April 2016) while pulling my dad’s disabled truck home from Laramie,Wyoming.
All told I was pulling around 15k and trying to keep the truck rolling at a reasonable pace was a bugger… there is a reason that the 97 F350 was only rated for 11k towed weight (and it sits between the engine and rear axle). Needless to say it was tough finding a gear the engine was happy with that didn’t require me revving the engine into the stratosphere (how did Ford come up with the red-line for the 7.3??) to keep the boost up and the truck at a reasonable speed.
So, after arriving home I started doing some digging and found that someone had done an Eaton Rto 6610 swap in a Dodge Ram. Two weeks of trolling later I found a Rto 6610 on Craigslist and the adventure was underway. Two days and 1533 miles later, this was sitting in my garage...


Fellow I bought it from thought it had less than 50k miles on it. The swap is actually finished and the truck is on the road, but there is a little more to the saga than I can type up in one evening.
Cj