1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

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1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by Kckalden » Thu Mar 09, 2017 8:35 pm

I have not checked in a while as life goes on and there are always other projects. That being said, after a lot of thought and looking I purchased my donor vehicle to convert my Travco to diesel. I found a 1991 Georgie Boy 34 foot with a 6bt Cummins and Allison transmission. The differential is a Dana 70hd with 3.73 gears. The unit has sat for decades and has 78000 miles on it, not bad for a cummins. I am currently working on getting everything working so that it will make the 350 mile trip home. The exciting part is that I should be able to upgrade a lot of systems. Might even see if I can mount the leveling jacks. \n\nAs for the Travco, the last thing we have done was last spring when we took the interior out and started to reupholster the furnature. The hot Texas summers causes us to loose interest in working on it but we are building a carport to help with that. We plan to keep the floor plan the same and use 1970s style material. The Travco runs like a top and part of me wanted to keep the 413 but upgrading to the cummins makes sense since we have a few long trips planned for it.

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by ontheroad » Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:24 pm

Sounds right up my alley! I hope you post lots of pics and detail as it will help me and others. I can't wait to see it come together!

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by PrivatePilot » Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:57 pm

Get some video /photos of the donor coming back to life for the trip home. I always love seeing that sort of thing after a piece of equipment has been sitting for ages. ;)\n\nAnd yes, photos of the project underway.
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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by Kckalden » Fri May 12, 2017 10:25 pm

I opted for plan B. Having sat on the gulf coast for 2 decades there were too many questionable things to feel good about driving it the 350 miles home. I would fix one leak and another would pop up. Why replace all of the brake lines when I am just going to turn around and do it again in the Travco. A couple of weeks with my Dewalt cordless drill and saws all and it was light enough to put on my 20 foot trailer. I also shortened the frame to get rid of weight way back there.

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by Acesneights » Sat May 20, 2017 7:57 pm

78,000 for a Cummins is not even broken it.If it's a 1st gen 12v don't forget to do the KDP while it's out.
1977 Travco 270 Elite\n1974 Travco 220 Parts unit

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by Kckalden » Sat Oct 28, 2017 8:37 am

It has been a while since I posted. Summer has been spent building fences but now I hope to start the swap soon. As far as the KDP I can tend to that while it is out. It has been my understanding it was more of a second gen dodge problem. \n\nMy reason for getting back on the Travco Forum has to do with the usual issue of RPMs vs speed when installing the Cummins. Though I have a complete donor motorhome engineered to have the 5.9 it still will be slow with 3.73 gears Allison 542 and 33 in 19.5s. The thing I do not like about the 3.07 gear modification is that if I have a failure on the road the gears might be hard to find and will require machining. That being said I never had a differential problem in any of my trucks so what are the odds? Well the odds just increased as I probably jinxed myself. \n\nThere are many considerations and most have been covered on this forum but here is my thinking. Going with an OD trans. The only option I can think of is the A518 as it does not require electronics. As far a being beefy enough I am not worried about that. The A518 is a 727 with overdrive. Since the 727 has been used in the Travco for ever and the A518 was used in first gen dodges I don’t see a problem with strength. Yes the Allison is a lot beefier. The A518 does not have the park brake so unless I get a differential with a park brake or perhaps a micro brake for temporary use the A518 is out. One must consider that the Allison 542 and 545 do not have park paws so that is a disadvantage. \n\nHas anyone put 22.5 tires on their Travco. I know I seen a picture of one but can’t find the picture. If anyone have it please share. It was a Travco with no windows in the back and big ass tires and rims and moose or elk antlers attached to the back.\n\n I am considering the Allison 542, 3.54 gears (the lowest I can go with the Dana 70hd) and 9r 22.5s. The donor rig has 6 lug budds but I think I can find rims from a old school bus to work. This should help out a lot with RPM vs speed.\n\nMy last consideration is something that I discounted when I read the suggestion somewhere That is going with a manual transmission. I do not want piecemeal linkage that I spend most my time trying to make work. But having an OD manual transmission would not only get me the RPMs but eliminate torque converter slippage. I guess I will revisit that idea with an open mind. \n\nSo basically nothing is new with my project but at least I am thinking about it.

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by ontheroad » Mon Oct 30, 2017 5:10 pm

Have you considered an axle swap? That is what I plan to do this winter in preparation for my diesel swap. Which I plan to do the following winter. I have been looking at the Isuzu's, f-450, 3500HD, there are some good options out there.

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by Kckalden » Mon Oct 30, 2017 7:08 pm

I looked at the Dana 80 as I thought I could get 3.07 gear for it but it does not look that way. What gear ratio are you looking at? What tire size. Any option is open. My goal is a dependable rig that cruises a lot like my first gen dodges, low rpms at highway speeds. I have useed the a518 in several of my dodges.

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by ontheroad » Tue Oct 31, 2017 10:50 am

I am going to run 225/75r19.5 or 245/75r19.5 depending on which will give me the correct gear ratio. I am watching an Isuzu on an auction right now. If I get that those will be the axles that I go with. My front end is extremely loose so for me its a toss up to buy all the parts to fix or just retrofit in a new suspension. I use a website http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html you can pick setups or imput your own. I hope I get the Isuzu, it will be nice to get rid of the death wobble in the steering!!!

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Re: 1972 Travco rebuild and Cummings swap.

Unread post by Kckalden » Tue Oct 31, 2017 12:33 pm

Do you know the gear ratio? Will you be using the Isuzu front end?

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