Mystical, Does your TB open and close with a cable or elecronically by wire? The Hemi is has an electric motor on the TB. When I was researching the cruise control I learned that the 4.7s had a cable operated cruise which makes me think it also has a cable operated TB as well. If I had known how much simpler this part of the job would be, i would have sought out a 4.7 Durango instead.

 

47RH HYBRID shift arm

The 47RH has a shift arm throw of around 3", the durango cable has a 2 inch throw, thus a hybrid shift arm.

This has the peg that the durango cable will attach to, welded at a point that will throw the arm from Park to LOW.

 

Mine has a cable linkage, and the cable for cruise I believe runs off vacuum, so Im gonna try a vacuum pump and hope itll work, some how.

 

Transmission shift cable complete

Modified the old cable mount to attach to the trans bell housing and back braced it to the back of the starter.

Shifts nicely thru full range of gears.

 

Might have to do a durango swap like this for the wife. Wish they made these with a stick as she doesn't like automatics.

 

I had considered a manual nv4500, but a bunch of the interior console would have to go so I stuck with the auto.

 

My truck was a auto as well, im trying to hunt down a manual interrior setup and swap it over. I want my cup holders!

 

It wouldn't be to bad with plenty of 2wd dakota sticks out there a cup holder should be able to be found.

 

Didn't think a Dakota or Durango console would fit

 

Fuel Tank Mods

Fuel Tank Removed

Removed Fuel Pump

Pryed back pump keepers and inserted copper wires to hold the keepers back. As soon as the pump is lifted slightly the filter can be removed from the pump. Snap the pump back down and reinstall in tank. I read in other project posts that this filter sock can cause issues with diesel and gum up, so pre-emptive strike

Decided to use the tank vent/evap lines as returns. After cutting the hard plastic line back, a 1/4" hose barb was insterted into the line on top of the tank. After a couple failed attempts including over heating the pipe and melting through, the best results were achieved by heating the hose barb instead of the plastic hose. I heated it to the point that it as almost too hot to hold, like hot potato hot, then slipped it into the plastic hose.

 

Fuel Lines, Pump Line and Filler Neck

5/16" fuel line ran from Durango stock steel line to the 4BT fuel line. The connector on the line was a 5/16 line but a thread that wasn't SAE, so i cut it off and used a 5/16 compression fitting, tee and hose barb, fuel to pump. The tee will allow for install of a fuel pressure gauge. A 1/4" Return hose was attached from the return hose on the front of the pump to the hose barb from the previous post that was connected to the evap lines.

Filler Neck before

Filler neck after encountering a screwdriver, hammer, recip saw and some elbow grease. The filler neck is still narrow further down but it is a custom line so I will see how it behaves when I fill.

 

I ended up using a sump kit from beans diesel, my engine would keep losing pressure between the pickup tube and such. With sump kit I had fuel gushing out of injectors in 30 seconds, 3 minutes of trying with draw straw got me nothing.

 

That sump looks good, if the in tank pump doesnt work, I will resurrect the cam driven pump and get a sump or a draw straw, I am hoping with the filter removed the pump will work.

 

Mine burned up just emptying the tank, that fuel pump more then likely will burn up bro.

 

glitchyboy - good to see your progress!!! I've been busy doing suspension/tires on my rig and ignoring my dying 4.7L - your build looks pretty promising! I need to read the build again to really catch the details - I was always curious how the 4BT would clear the front diff.

I do say having the 4.7 (pre 2008) would really have made life easer, as it has a cable throttle!! I'm also thinking of a manual swap if I go this route some day. Any idea of power you're looking to make with the 4BT?

 

I had to notch my Pan to clear the diff in a 02 ram 1500, Dakotas durangos all need to be notched for clearance issues. GO TALL 4BT!

 

I've got some pictures further back in the thread, I heated and hammered the pan, didn't have to cut, front sump interferes with the sway bar but I think an 05 Ram sway bar will work, it's a bit wider but also has longer trailing arms so I can move the pivots forward and get the cross bar front of the pan

 

PS Pump and Reservoir

After being unable to get the Durango PS pressure port to thread into the 4BT pump, I tried to identify the PS pump port thread, I realized the Durango power steering pressure hose WILL thread into the 4BT PS pump. I guess the angle was preventing the thread to start. I had to bend the steel portion of the pressure hose to clear the motor mount and the body of the pump. DIRECT FIT.

The divorced reservoir is from an F800 or something similar. I mounted it to the vacuum resrevoir on two existing bolts. There is a fairly large space beside and beneath the vacuum reservoir and is accessible from the top with some of the plastic valance trimmed back along the firewall for access.

The return port on the pump looks to be a 1/2" hose barb, the entire durango system is 5/8" so the return will need to be reduced to fit this port, I hope it wont restrict. I was thinking I could tee the return into the reservoir to pump fill hose if the 1/2" port is too restrictive.

 

Gear Indicator version 2.0

Decided to go old school, I removed the upper part of the valve body including the shift mechanism and electrical connection and built a box for them. I plan to slave this unit to the shift arm on the transmission with a cable. For now it will stay in neutral. Digital gear indicator readout works! There is plenty of wiring harness length, so if the location on the inner side of the frame rail is too close to the front driveshaft I may mount on the outside of the frame. The valve body is fastened into the box through the back with the same screws that held the valve body together.

 

Now that all the mock up fitting is done, I removed the transfer case and transmission, installed the flex plate, and torque converter. The Durango had a cast iron bracket that went from the top-rear of the diff back to the bell housing to keep the diff from wobbling in the rubber mounts. With the drivers side dodge/cummins starter location there is no room for the brace. I installed a piece of flat iron from the top front diff mounting bolt and attached it to the front left engine mount.

Hope the picture does it justice. Simple but took the wiggle out.

I am now doing final install of the pickup tube and oil pan.

 

Rad hose puzzle solved.

Top Hose is made of part of the bread van hose that came on the engine on the left of the photo, simple 90 deg, the right half is part of the lower rad hose for a 4020 John Deere, joined by a 1.75" piece of aluminized exhaust pipe.

Bottom Hose, upper portion is a 1999 dodge cummins lower rad hose rotated to point down, the lower portion is the lower rad hose from the 04 Durango Hemi, joined with a 2" piece of aluminized exhaust pipe. Sorry for the rotated picture.

 

KDP Killed

 

how thick is that flat iron brace you made for the front pumkin? If you still hanging from the stock dakota mounts there can be a good bit of roll force placed on it. Your making some head way caint wait to see it running.

 

Its 3/16" x 1" flat bar, I had wanted to use angle iron for strength, but the space was pretty tight, it is about 10 3/4" long center to center hole and isn't angled at all, I am hoping it is strong enough.

 

AC Lines

I was able to bend the Durango high pressure line straight and feed the line over to the passenger side of the vehicle. It is the same size as the high pressure line off the 95 ram diesel compressor, joined with a brass compression fitting.

The Low pressure line on the Durango is 3/4" and the low pressure line on the 95 Ram piping is 5/8", looped the rubber portion of the Durango hose to meet the Ram piping and adapt them together with brass compression fittings.

 

Hadn't thought of that

 

This seems to be a theme with my projects

One clamp short of a 4bt