I agree with you Yotawheeler,
the Early Chevy diesels were modified gasoline engines, which could not hold up the power, pressures, and abuse of a real diesel. As of late, they have redesigned everything.. but your looking at a more expensive motor now.
Keeping with the chevy engine, allows you to keep your drivetrain, as well as staying with the Toyota Diesel. The Cummins will force you to change out your drive train, unless you can find an adapter to go from cummins to toyota, but I dont think the tranny would like that much.. the other way is to find someone to adapt the toy transfercase to the dodge engine. I havent been able to find that eather.
The toyota diesels, from what I hear, suffer only from a lack of Power, and that seems to be what everyone wants.. is more power. Thats why we swap to 350chevys, more power than the gaser I-6 and easy to swap in. Parts are also plentiful and cheep. I have also read that it seems getting the electrical correct for the engine management tends to be ... fusterating. Other than that, they only reason that kept me away from it was the inital cost of the engine. you can get the Cummins for 1/2 the price.
What you need to determin, Is how much do you want to spend.. or how much can you afford to spend. Which ever way. you will be looking at around $10,000 give or take a few thousand, depending on parts and who is going to be doing the bulk of the work.
In my opinion, the Cummins is the easiest to work on. Everything is pretty easy to get to, parts are plentyfull and local, and there is more than enough power that can be tapped from it for future mods. Get an earlier 12V and you dont have to worry about messing with a computer and wires.
If you wondering about fitting it into an 80, you can view my build up thred in Hardcore.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=84611
I got a little carried away, and will be spending too much.. but thats ok. you can do it for cheaper.
Theres not too many cons for the Cummins, cept for maybe the weight.. but like yota said.. you add that and say nothing with winches, bumpers batteries etc. The transmission would pose a problem, Right now my problem is hooking up the front drive line which is passenger side drop, well, the transmission pan gets in the way.. Which means im gonna have to have a custom pan made from a stock unit. Or cut up my new deep pan and hope it gives enough space for driveline movement. Ahh yes.. and the size of the engine. It is about 3 inches taller and 3" longer with Out the Fan assyembly.(add about 5-12 more inches if you run with the stock fan) I have a 6" lift and a 3" body lift to get her to set in and still close the hood with no problems.
I dont know much about the fords, cept they are WIDE, and the turbo goes down the middle of the engine, where the firewall is.. may pose a problem. as well as the V configuration and the rest of your componets. (steering, brake booster etc.)
the Hino is a smaller engine you could use which is soposed to be close to toyotas engine. Dont know much about them.. but they are avi. Just hard to locate the one that suits your needs.
Isuzu has nice little 4cyls. but seemed hard to find a 4x4 transmission to bolt to it. as well as the Hino.
A 3-5 cyl Deuitz would be nice. Oil cooled, little louder, stong little engine used to running 24-7 when needed. but again.. what type of transmission.
Mercedes seems to be a wanted swap. take the whole drivetrain from one of them weard looking trucks they make. More expensive, but smooth, quiet, very responsive, .. lots of wiring,.. same with the VW touarg..
Sorry its so long.. but theres lots of info for just a few questions.
-Ron
