The Head Porter’s Rare ’98 12-Valve Quad Cab

For 1998, Dodge introduced the Quad Cab truck, a four-door extra cab that offered a rear seat. It wasn’t quite a Crew Cab, but it was close, and people liked the utility and extra space. Its introduction put the kibosh on sales of Club Cab trucks as the full Crew Cab truck would later kill the Quad Cab.

Early in 1998 model year production, the 12-valve, Bosch P-Pump Cummins engine yielded to the first generation 24-valve. Over the years since, that event has resulted in a mix of cheers and jeers depending on which side of the 12-valve or 24-valve fence you live on. The stated reason was tighter emissions regulations that started for ’98. According to Cummins, the last 30,000 midrange 12-valve engines were produced in their Columbus, Indiana, plant between the months of September and December of 1997. Not all of those were destined for Dodge, of course, and the exact numbers installed appear lost to time. So, we contacted both Ram and Cummins.

The “Holy Grail” part of this comes from that roughly four-month period from September to December 1997 when the Quad Cab was first in production and still powered by the 12-valve Cummins. You can make it a Super-Duper Holy Grail by adding in other rare combinations, in-cluding 4-wheel drive, dual rear wheels, long bed and the 215 horse engine that came only with the 5-speed NV-4500. Thus, a ’98 5-speed, Quad Cab, dually, 12-valve truck is the Holiest of the Holy Grail. Gavin Knisely, of Xenia, Ohio, feels blessed to have one, but it just fell into his lap without him really knowing what it was at the time. Some guys are just lucky!

Gavin is a part-time farmer and part-time head porter. He is a longtime sledpuller in southern Ohio, and most of his porting work is done within the diesel sled pulling community there. After being made an offer and selling his successful pulling truck, he went looking for another to build and ran across a bedraggled ’98 12-valve dually truck with a 5-speed. At first, the plan was to make it another sled puller, but after he got to looking, he noticed he had on his hands a largely rust-free truck, and it seemed a shame to relegate it to the pulling track. Only then he realized that he had stumbled upon the Holiest of Grails.

THE ‘HOLY GRAIL’ PART OF THIS COMES FROM THAT ROUGHLY FOUR-MONTH PERIOD FROM SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 1997 WHEN THE QUAD CAB WAS FIRST IN PRODUCTION AND STILL POWERED BY THE 12-VALVE CUMMINS”

The engine was pretty tired at purchase, so Knisely tore it down for a full rebuild to pulling truck specs. The end use goal changed from wild to mild partly through the build, but it never hurts to have a little overkill. Of course, there is more to a truck than just the engine. The 12-valve is backed up by the original 5-speed NV-4500, though the clutch was upgraded with a South Bend Dual Disc assembly. The stock NP241HD transfer case hands off to a stock Dana 60 front and rear Dana 80. A stock type limited slip is in back and 4.10:1 axle ratios are used. The axles feed General Grabber AT2 tires on Eagle Alloys (16×10 front, 16×6 rear) the front being 305/70R-16s and the rear 285/75R-16s. No lift was added, just a set of ProComp ES9000 shocks. The suspension, front and rear, needed a lot of work to make tight, as did the brakes. Other than some Borgeson components in the steering system, it was all done using high quality stock parts.

So what if the truck isn’t the most radical and wild ride you’ve ever seen? It’s a great daily driver, a reliable hauler, and it turns heads. After all, it’s the Holy Grail of Dodges. UDBG

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