That One Guy
Adventurer
Just a thought, on my truck im going to make antenna mounts that can easily fold down so I can get the truck in the garrage.
That's what that is, it's so I can bungee it along the top rail of my roof rack.
Just a thought, on my truck im going to make antenna mounts that can easily fold down so I can get the truck in the garrage.
That's what that is, it's so I can bungee it along the top rail of my roof rack.
your best bet would be to find a 1 ton van rearend, those usually had at least full float D60s. i wouldn't do anything with that 9.25.
full float = housing supports all the weight and the shafts pass through the wheel bearings without carrying any weight
semi float = shafts have bearings and carry weight. if you break a shaft, it makes life very difficult.
ford and chevy both made trucks and vans with beefy 8 lug semi floaters, disc brakes etc. they are fairly common. i have no idea what the WMS width is on your dodge, but chevy pickups came with some pretty narrow rear axles in the mid 90s. should be able to find something pretty easily.
when it comes to alarms, one word: VIPER.
no alarm/keyless system i know of includes the door lock actuators, relays etc. they just tap into existing components. converting to power locks is kind of a pain honestly. you'll need an actuator for each door, so ~$100 there, plus all the wiring, door switches and time. (my shop charges and hour per door and usually uses all of it).
i would just go with a viper 350 and a glass breakage sensor unless you really want the convenience of power locks. as long as you have dome light triggers the alarm will know when a door is opened (even if you leave it unlocked) and the glass breakage will let you know when they break a window. it will include the parking light flash, and the siren is just a generic siren, you can hook it up to whatever you want really. we charge around $350-400 for the viper 350 installed. to do what you want with the locks would put you over $800 pretty easily unless you wire the locks and mount the actuators yourself. its pretty damn time consuming to do it properly.
one thing to keep in mind about the pager remotes, the 1 mi range they claim is on a good day and probably over flat ground with no obstructions. i wouldn't count on it working much farther than 200ft, especially through buildings. RF is more or less line of sight.
i'm in the same boat with audio equipment. i just made it a pain to take out all the nice stuff. for instance, you have to remove the rear seat to take out my sub, and you have to take apart the console on the dog house, then remove the dash panel to get to the deck or even see where i mounted the x-overs for my fronts. it takes half an hour even with the right tools to get everything, and i've never met a thief who would take more than a minute to steal something. of course my crappy sub amp is just sitting on the front floor...
Doesn't that just depend on where you crimp it? I put two on each side. One on the wire, one on the insulation.as they only grip the wire and not the insulation.
is there a key buzzer or anything that lets you know when the door is open? that can be used in place of the dome light. if not, raid a junkyard, you should be able to find the triggers no problem, then its just a matter of drilling a hole.
the most time consuming part about going to power door locks for you will be everything about it. you need tear the door down, then find a spot to mount the actuators securely, then you need to run the wires for each door (in this case, all the way to a central relay which will tell them when to lock/unlock) the choice is yours, but my van is wired for power locks (OEM actuators all froze so i removed them), and i work at a 12v shop where actuators are dirt cheap, and its still not worth it to me. the alarm is going to scare the **** out of anyone that gets into it, especially if you have it wired to air horns....
wiring the alarm is the easy part, its only 5 or 6 wires (starter disable, +12 and gnd for siren, +12 for the alarm, the bump sensor, the glass break sensor, and the trigger for the door relay). the key is having an accurate wiring diagram. crimp style butt connectors are fine, just use good ones and a good set of crimpers.
distinguishing a FF from an SF axle is easy:
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notice how there is a large flange with 8 bolts protruding from the center of the wheel? thats where the axle shaft bolts to the wheel hub and what makes it a full floater. you can remove the axle and the wheel will still be held just as securely.
on a semi floater, the wheel bolts to the axle itself.