Rataduallie

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trudysduster

trudysduster

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Corinth, Ky.
Well back in December of last year I posted that my son and I had decided to try something else. After restoring a 1976 Plymouth Duster, 1973 Dart Sport and a 1969 Plymouth Valiant, we decided to do a rat rod. Since we couldn't find a Mopar donor to do this we went with what was available at the time. That would be a 1953 GMC 5 window cab. We needed a driveline. So I picked up a 1995 Chevy Silverado 3500 duallie that was in bad shape. Stripped the truck down. Took all the electronics off the truck. Replaced the tranny with a rebuilt 1982 TH400 tranny. Converted the TBI 454 engine to carbureted and put the 53 GMC cab on the chassis. We also notched the frame and installed a 4 air bag suspension on it and installed a 4 link . It now sits on the ground with a flip of a switch. I know it isn't a Mopar but it does get a lot of looks and it is a conversation piece. I named it " Rataduallie ". A rat rod duallie. here are some before and after pics.

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Love the front, but honestly, I think the frame is too long. Might have been okay if you didn't start with an extended cab dually.
The paint job on the door is great.
 
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Valiant63 said:
Love the front, but honestly, I think the frame is too long. Might have been okay if you didn't start with an extended can dually.
The paint job on the door is great.
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We are planning on putting some kind of bed on it in the future.
 
You do good work. It's always interesting to see what's going on at your place. Thanks for sharing.
 
Really cool. I know what it does need though. A stake side flat bed, and dual beer kegs on either side modded into fuel tanks.
 
moparspares said:
That is so so cool. Who did you use for all your Airbag stuff.
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bought the air system on ebay. I think it was switch-systems. Be careful if you go to buy air bags. make sure you get the right ones. I have a set of 4 of the 2500 series left over.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Really cool. I know what it does need though. A stake side flat bed, and dual beer kegs on either side modded into fuel tanks.
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We are leaning towards the stake flat bed but not totally sure. May do the sides in metal and then a stake on top and we are also looking at putting sides on it in sheet metal that lay on the ground and then bolting a set of duallie fenders on it that sits on the ground. Jury is out on this right now. We just came back from a 200 mile trip to Beatersville down in Louisville, Ky this weekend where there were over 500 rat rods down there and got some ideas.
 
Local guy built a rat rod truck using a gmc dually crew cab frame, and a cummins 12v engine, trans, and rear end. and a prewar white superpower cab and nose. He sheetmetaled the top of the frame, and made a u channel down the middle, and has his harley strapped to it with the wheels in the U channel. He bought stainless steel truck fenders to cover up the rear wheels, and added mudflaps. The rear fenders are attached to brackets welded on the axle tube so they always sit close to the wheels but never rub. You could even go to your local tractor supply and buy 4 raw steel trailer fenders, and weld em back to back to make 2 wide fenders, and weld em to brackets attached to the rear axle, then you mount em close,and never have to worry about them rubbing. You could even leave em raw steel and let em get some surface rust on em to go with the patina.
 
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moparmat2000 said:
Local guy built a rat rod truck using a gmc dually crew cab frame, and a cummins 12v engine, trans, and rear end. and a prewar white superpower cab and nose. He sheetmetaled the top of the frame, and made a u channel down the middle, and has his harley strapped to it with the wheels in the U channel. He bought stainless steel truck fenders to cover up the rear wheels, and added mudflaps. The rear fenders are attached to brackets welded on the axle tube so they always sit close to the wheels but never rub. You could even go to your local tractor supply and buy 4 raw steel trailer fenders, and weld em back to back to make 2 wide fenders, and weld em to brackets attached to the rear axle, then you mount em close,and never have to worry about them rubbing. You could even leave em raw steel and let em get some surface rust on em to go with the patina.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that would work. I already have a set of duallie fenders hanging in the shed. probably do something before we bring it down to cruising the coast this October.
 
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