My Duster Adventures

Well, we've had a few up and down days the past few day with the Duster build....

First, I got the engine and K-member taken off the engine stand and put on a cart to roll under the car and noticed I was missing a 1.25" freeze plug in the back of the block.

Second, once I hunted down a freeze plug and put it in, I put the flywheel on that I bought last spring, it's from a ram with a 5.9 and 5 speed. Well when I went to put the clutch on it was WAY too small so I compared the flywheel with the one I got with the dakota transmission (which I thought was an AX15) and the dakota flywheel was a 130t and the ram one is 143t. So then I find out I don't have an AX15 but rather a NP2500 which came in the 87-91 Dakotas.

So after searching and searching I finally found a 130t flywheel that would work behind a 5.9 magnum... But it was $285! I then decided it's stupid to spend $285 on a flywheel just so I can run a transmission that's weaker than an AX15 if I can buy an AX15 for less and use my ram flywheel!!

So on Craigslist I go, looking for a transmission... I found one for $150 but it was posted 25 days ago and the seller hadn't put a phone number or email address in the ad so there was no way to contact him... But then I found a title less, 1998, 2x4, v6, 5 speed Dakota with a knock on Craigslist for $500. Went up last night and bought it, got half way home and the engine blows!! Lol! Oh well, the price was right and all I need is from the clutch to the driveshaft, the rest will be parted. Leaving soon with a truck and trailer to go pick it up!