After all that work to get the Cummins into the `92 Dually Crew Cab Truck Frame, it was time to see if the transmission crossmember would bolt up.

X-member Gunk removed during cleaning

Following a complete cleaning… I grabbed the cross-member, and positioned it up to the frame.  It ended up right in the middle between the frame rails, no need to re-adjust the engine mount bolts or anything!  This means that even though the motor mount pads are different in the `82 Frame, the engine was nicely centered.  So, yes, you can put a `93 Cummins Engine in an `82 D-350 truck frame and use the engine motor mounts from the Cummins!

Driver's Side

But….Guess what?  No holes for the crossmember where I needed them.

The A-618 tranny on my Craftsman SUV Jack

See, the original transmission crossmember in the `82 Crew Cab frame was manufactured with a small-block  and a manual tranny.  Although it would have been very convenient, unfortunately the crossmember bolt holes were not  in the location needed for the crossmember on a 618 automatic  behind the `93 Cummins.

Nice finned tranny pan

So, this meant I had to drill.  Upside down.  On the upper and lower frame rail.  1/2 inch holes!  How would I do this successfully?

PS side mount

PS side with bolts

First, I knew I needed a right angle drill.  Luckily, I have an air-powered right angle drill from the local Harbor Freight store.  Since I don’t use it very much, air makes sense and actually permits very fast drilling speeds when you crank the air way up.

DR side with bolts

Ok, so the process is simple… mark the holes, start drilling with a small bit and work my way up.  Well, maybe not so simple.

I only had 1/2inch diameter drill bits that were about 5 or 6 inches long.  And the mid-range bits between 1/8 and 1/2 were long, too.  Too long when added with the length of the right angle drill chuck.

At first I cut down some drill bits, but that really didn’t work for the mid-range bits (I wasn’t going to chop down and essentially destroy 5-6 drill bits  just so I could drill these holes).

Right Angle Air Drill with Ti coated Step Drill Bit

So, I took another trip to Harbor Freight hoping to find some stub drills.  Instead, I found some of their high speed steel step drill bits with the titanium coating.  I didn’t think they’d last long… but, sure enough they worked!  And they were short, so the bit plus the drill fit within the 6-inch channel dimension of the frame.    9 holes in total, and all were drilled no problem after I got the step drills.  I didn’t even make much of a mark on the crew cab floor (only about an inch above the frame rails).

How I drilled the upper holes...photo taken after the fact, of course.

Copyright Kris Wickstead ©2009.  Always use good sense, the proper safety procedures, PPE and safe equipment.  Follow all manufacturers instructions.  For informational purposes only.  Not a guarantee of any kind.  Use information at your own risk.