Monster truck: Conversion to RHD

OK, for those who might be interested, I thought I'd post this series of photos showing the conversion of our Ram 3500 from LHD to RHD by Shogun in the Philippines. The process would be much the same, whether undertaken by Shogun, SCD or one of the other companies. (Exception, SCD has recently switched to a mechanism which inserts two 90-degree gearboxes into the steering column, transferring it from right to left across the firewall, so that the original steering box can be used.)

Captions precede the photo(s) in question. These photos are mostly about the interior. I'll post some on the mechanical mods later, now the truck has landed.

A standard LHD RAM 3500 on arrival in the Philippines:

Here's the partly stripped interior. Note factory insulation on the firewall (you'll see Shogun's insulation later) and the still-installed HVAC plant (I'd never given it a moment's thought but there's an awful lot of it!):

They actually strip the whole interior, all the way back to the rear firewall (I'm not actually sure why they strip it that far back!):

The front of the car is disassembled all the way back to the engine:

Here's the fully stripped firewall, before three sections are cut out:

Three sections are cut from the firewall (note the "extended legroom" option for the front seat passenger. But you have to be careful not to get your toes caught in any moving parts, and if you hit puddles the water shoots up the passenger's trouser leg, so we thought we'd press on.):

Notice the modified floorpan to provide a space for the driver's left foot. This is, in my view, a critical differentiator between a good conversion and a not-so-good conversion. If the transmission hump is left there, you'll have to drive with your left leg folded up sideways.

This is the new firewall insulation. I like the slightly obsessive attention to detail in something we'll probably never see:

The LHS mirror needs to be wedged, to get the right angle for the driver:

The new HVAC goes in. It's a mix of cut-and-shuffle factory components and some custom-manufactured parts. Shogun claims substantially better than factory air output:

The driver's side ready for steering column etc:

The external photos are a bit hard to make out. I'll post some more detail on the front-end modifications later, if there's interest:

Presto! A smart new RHD interior! Pretty much the only thing which does not get swapped over is the brake controller. It's a little bit of stretch from the driver's seat, but I think will be OK in practice:

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[img]http://www.bushtrackerforum.com/forum/userpix/792_135_DSCN3971_1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.bushtrackerforum.com/forum/userpix/792_140_DSCN3972_1.jpg[/img]