Thanks Freckles! The sudden change of course came about because of a number of things that all happened at once. I found myself fabricating many wear items that in the event of failure couldn't be found at a local parts store. Things such as steering linkages, undercarriage parts, etc. I found a whole 4wd running gear locally for a fair price. And also I really wanted a diesel. We have a 12v in a truck we use on the farm and the engine is very reliable and low maintenance. Plus the Cummins/4500 dropped right into the new running gear without having to make mounts or much modification. In short, the solution to my growing list of problems was to simply upgrade the whole ordeal. Which although I had to buy ANOTHER running gear and engine, sure simplified and sped up the build.
BTW I have some more to update. I got my driveshafts made to length and installed. Also decided on my bed. We have a 76 Chevy C20 that has been parked since the clutch went out of it. It had a flatbed built by my dad and uncle years ago. It wasn't a direct swap though. The frame on the 76 Chevy was 34" and the Dodge frame was 38" So I had to cut off the old rails and made new ones with new stands and bolted the bed on the truck. Also got the fuel tank in and the fuel lines hooked up.
Mocking the bed up. The final height is just a little bit lower than what you see in these two pics.
Got it stood up after I cut the old rails off.
Pic my girlfriend took at about 12:30 in the morning after we got the new rails and stands made. This is the bed at its final height on the truck.
Had to roll the truck out of the shop to put a new deck on our lowboy so here is the only other pic I have with the bed at its final height.
Oddly enough the day after I got the flatbed mounted, a buddy of mine called and said he found a stepside IH bed that had been made into a trailer that he could get ahold of. $50 later I had it. Sadly it was a short bed and would be difficult to use but it's worth it to just have.