My Dodge Dakota, the "Comvee"

[Nick02]

Lol, yes my truck is a clone of your trooper sorry I copied the scorpion.... it's soo cool LOL! :sombrero: our expo vehicles are almost identical eh?? copying is the sincerest form of flattery... and I did it LOL!

I used rustoleum khaki paint, in my garage, it's not perfect but I am really happy with the way it turned out!
What do you do to keep your SUV clean? I pick up dust/grease prints and so far have been too skerred to wash it.


an update of sorts, some stuff has changed #1 I got a job so I can now finance my project and learn more fab (phoenixraceworks)http://phoenixracecars.com/.
I also bought a transfer-case. It's a dana 24, should have it rebuilt by the end of the week and installed by the end of the summer depending on how school goes. Im going to run it clocked.


dana 24 as pulled

swapped truck I spend the day removeing it from; I wanted to cry.... this thing was a relic!

Metal for transfercase xmember

cleaning the case with electrolysis

some shots of the massive gears

anyone know some good local driveshaft shops?

 

[Nick02]

The paint job looks awesome! Where did you end up putting the water tank?

relocated it to the ontop of the bed

some pics of me with our school's baja car at the expo meetup @ sierra expeditions
I painted the baja car too

 

[nfpgasmask]

Clean? LOL. I just blast it off at the DIY car wash and if I have any chips, stains, etc, I just sand and reapply spray paint! :victory:

"Trees? What trees?!?!?!?" :wings:

Bart

 

[BlueBomber]

Why did you decide to use a dana 24? I dont know anything about transfer cases but isnt it kinda..... old??? It looks like you pulled it out of a 50's ford. I dont mean to sound rude or like a know-it-all, Im just curious.

 

[Nick02]

Why did you decide to use a dana 24? I dont know anything about transfer cases but isnt it kinda..... old??? It looks like you pulled it out of a 50's ford. I dont mean to sound rude or like a know-it-all, Im just curious.

No offense taken, It is pretty odd.

I wanted to run a divorced set up so I can run a np207,231 planetary section etc in front of it in the future; all i have to do is have my main shaft cut down($xx.00) and connected it to my dana 24.
I wanted to have both my front and rear drive-shafts identical so I can carry one spare, and I like the drive-line angles divorced setups have to offer. I like that I have the ability to twin stick and do FWD digs (but i'll have to wait till I get some cromo's and a 2nd case before I attempt that). I wanted an np205 but nobody had a divorced one in my area, and I got the dana 24 for cheap with the shifter.
Either way, the Dana 24 uses the same mounting pts/dimensions/shifting as an np205 so If I majority screw it up I will swap a 205 in with no modification to anything.
The Dana 24 is basically like a Dana 20 except being alot beefier, and like the np205 except it uses straight cut gears for low range like the dana 20.
It only has two different bearings used in the entire case, and I have plenty of good "spares" It needs basic hand-tools to rebuild, no press required.

I'am almost done rebuilding it, just need to put the seals in. Getting the shift rails to work was as a major PITA and took three days of trial but I found the "trick".
a bit dirty from me manhandling it :smiley_drive: I will run it clocked in this position.

and a cool pic for fun. i get to drive a cool tractor at my girlfriends work... and pickup horse poo!

 

[BlueBomber]

cool! what was the "trick" you used to set the shift rails right? Im in to old fords and if my next truck has four wheel drive I'll probably end up doing some work on it.

 

[Nick02]

cool! what was the "trick" you used to set the shift rails right? Im in to old fords and if my next truck has four wheel drive I'll probably end up doing some work on it.

You have to put the tail-shaft output side in 4low then simultaneity have the fwd output ready to shift in 4low, then you use the twin shifter as a seesaw and snap the fwd in 4low unshifting the rwd into neutral. You also have to have the poopet balls and springs installed, holding the shifter "rods" help with the process. This was a hard thing to figure out, but one I got it... it worked! If you ever need help in the future... pm me!

Yesterday, I cracked the cast iron idler shaft oil retainer cover and I thought I was screwed.(I was using it to press in the idler shaft bearing and I now know better.. I am an idiot!)
Today I went to Ramsley welding supply in Glendale and they had special cast iton arc welding rod with high nickel in it, it was $70 a lb and you had to buy 1lb. the super nice guy there broke open a package and gave me two sticks for free, I had to hammer the coating off and had it welded it at work by one of my co-workers (for a red bull). It welded like butter, no splatter;I had to preheat with a torch first, and cut a v notch in the crack, then he went to town!.

 

[BlueBomber]

.
Yesterday, I cracked the cast iron idler shaft oil retainer cover and I thought I was screwed.(I was using it to press in a bearing and I now know better)

yeah, cast iron has it's own rules when your working with it. glad ya got it fixed.

 

[Nick02]

yeah, cast iron has it's own rules when your working with it. glad ya got it fixed.

Im glad it got fixed too! I was freaking out for a bit after I realized I cracked it... a search on pirate 4x4 and ttora gave me the answers I needed to fix it!

 

[Nick02]

ideas for frame mount, thanks to Igor

concept

final revision

 

[Nick02]

here is the complete mount that will go in the frame

 

[Nick02]

I forgot to add more pics from sierra expeditions expo meet!

(the thing in the back is our ASU baja car)

(i'am the one sitting down on the right)

 

[Nick02]

Here's how i'am converting a 2wd 45rfe to a 4x4 45rfe
tcase adapter is on the left, uses all heep/dodge cases; my 2wd tail-shaft is on the right.

Here's how the doubler will run Dthink im the first dakota)
Np231J (range/crawl box)
2.72:1
2wd
4wdhi part time
4wdlo part time

Dana 24 (final drive xcase)
1.86:1
2wd
4wdhi part time
4wdlo part time

Diff ratio:4.88
45rfe 1st gear ratio 3:1
(assuming 1st for all below)

range box 4hi/2wd, final drive box in 4hi
14.64:1

range box 4low, final drive box in 4hi
39.82:1

Range box 4hi/2wd final drive box in 4lo
27.38:1

Range box 4lo final drive box in 4lo
74.46:1


Crawl speed 35" tires
1st gear at idle~600rpm
62 feet per minite

It's a doubler!

I pulled an np231 from an 200? something xj; it has the slip shaft that can slip out without loosing any t-case fluid, it's also 23spline. Then I have to find a way to mount the Dana 24, allowing it to move linearly 3-4" in the frame before it bolts up.
Should expect everything doubler related to be done 2-3 weeks; but that depends on work and weather.

Also had an intermediate driveshaft made, it's a rear xj shaft cut down to the smallest size possible; cost me $110 out the door at phx rack and axle.

I mocked everything up on the floor.

Front trans output

----------------------------------------------------
Rear portion

My rear DS looks like it's gonna be 40-41" long, which is almost exactly the same as the rear portion of the two piece Dakota steel drive-shafts (you can see where the carrier bearing would bolt in on my useless cross-member in the pic above)

I also have two ways to remove my rear drive-shaft
-remove flange from CHRYS 9.25" input.
-remove ubolts on Dana 24 output and compress dive-shaft.

 

[bdbecker]

Nice SAE Baja truck. I was a Formula guy in college (Iowa State), but our shops were combined so we got along reasonable well - we let them drive the car around during the summer months, they let us play around in the snow every now and then, it was a win-win.

 

[eagle1]

nick, how easily does your hood open with your bumper