Charger IRS in a 69 Dart!!...

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Smooth69Dart

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Hey ya all...I was was working on a 08 Charger today cuz I work at a body shop...the pass. side quarter was hit and broke the upper control arm...while working on this Charger, I couldn't help notice the simplicity yet complex rear suspension set-up this car has...so I crawled under to get a better look at how it's built...everything seems to be a complete assembly...it is a four link coil suspension...aluminum diff cover and rear disk brakes with a built in sway bar...the whole unit is complete...I believe the bolt pattern is the same but if not the hub can be re-drilled...the whole assembly is bolted to the uni-body by 4 bolts!...I am seriously thinking of this as a future mod to give my Dart a 4 wheel independent suspension with 4 disk brakes...I would also need to grab the driveshaft too.

So what is your input on such a mod...still doing research on gearing and such...maybe the Hemi has posi but not sure as the HO 3.5L is plentiful in the yards but will still need to check that info out...as for the track width, they both look to be compatible.

I will be back with more detailed info when I find it...but as for doing the actual swap...to me it looks like it would be very simple with very little complexity involved:read2:
 
i got an '06 and i thought i read somewhere that the gearing is 1:2.76 or something like that. 3rd 4th and 5th have a pretty close ratio, but it will do 70 in 2nd gear ( i think it should be geared down a little)/

But i hadn't spent much time look at the rear suspension of it yet, that would be pretty handy if it would fit in an A body. Hmm, I have both, but don't think I would get around to swapping them out.

the Charger is a wider car too, might be too wide for an a body, it might work on one of the large bodies though.

Steve
 
I am a little shocked that the charger is wider...from a standing view point it does'nt look wider...the dart measures 69.5" while the charger is 74.5"...but if you look at the size of tire they use compared to the 69 tire I may be able to make this work...still more physical measuring will need to be done to see if 2.5" on either side will work...I will point out that unlike other IRS set-ups; Ford Mustang, Corvette and a few import sport and luxury cars I have seen the Charger unit it flat and level unlike the others that have higher and lower mounting points which complicate the installation...I will be back later on with more specific numbers whether or not this swap is feasible.

Thanks for viewing:toothy10:
 
I found the info for the wheel pattern...the Charger runs a 5X115mm while the Dart runs a 5X4.5 which equates in metric measurement to a 114.3mm...that's only a .7mm difference...split that measurement into a circle pattern between 5 lugs and you're splitting hairs...some guys are running the 114.3 wheels on the 115 pattern with no problem while others say no way...so I may just re-drill to not have any concerns while some wheel manufactures do list both 115 and the 114.3 as the equivalent SAE measurement of 4.5"...I will have to find out for myself...but if I do re-drill, then I can eliminate the 14mm lugs for the SAE ones.

See ya!
 
Smooth69Dart said:
I found the info for the wheel pattern...the Charger runs a 5X115mm while the Dart runs a 5X4.5 which equates in metric measurement to a 114.3mm...that's only a .7mm difference...split that measurement into a circle pattern between 5 lugs and you're splitting hairs...some guys are running the 114.3 wheels on the 115 pattern with no problem while others say no way...so I may just re-drill to not have any concerns while some wheel manufactures do list both 115 and the 114.3 as the equivalent SAE measurement of 4.5"...I will have to find out for myself...but if I do re-drill, then I can eliminate the 14mm lugs for the SAE ones.

See ya!
Click to expand...
One of the ways to negate the 2.5" difference is to remember the Charger uses a Front wheel drive offset wheel so the center hub is pushed out in relationship to the wheel center.

These rear ends are weak to say the least but the main issue is in the axles. There are two gear choices for the SRT and R/T rear end you can have the stock 3.06 (SRT) or 2.82 (R/T) But Richmond sells 3.23 and 3.55 gears for these 2 carriers.

If you need some more info on these rear ends I build a ton of the new Hemi's give me a shout.
 
Hot Rod power tour came thru here a few weeks ago and one of my favorite cars was a Cuda. '72-3-4 not sure which one, but it had all the late model engine and driveline installed under it and was really well done.
I read somewhere that the ring gear in the late stuff is a 7.5", but will take a considerable beating, 'cause the tolerences and engineering are better.
Good Luck Smooth Dart, Sounds like a fun project, to me!
 
johnparts said:
One of the ways to negate the 2.5" difference is to remember the Charger uses a Front wheel drive offset wheel so the center hub is pushed out in relationship to the wheel center.

These rear ends are weak to say the least but the main issue is in the axles. There are two gear choices for the SRT and R/T rear end you can have the stock 3.06 (SRT) or 2.82 (R/T) But Richmond sells 3.23 and 3.55 gears for these 2 carriers.

If you need some more info on these rear ends I build a ton of the new Hemi's give me a shout.
Click to expand...

I will keep you in mind for any further questions...will that be OK?, and would like to hear your opinion on the 115/114.3 bolt pattern dispute, what say yee?

Thanks for the advise and help.
 
I am thinking out taking the IRS from an 06 gto and using it. It is the same way, a single assembly. I had serveral 04 to 06 gto's (long story), there are a few things about the charger/gto/camaro IRS....wheel hop is a consideration. and even more of a consideration, with the units being a single assembly, the geometry of everything has to be perfect or you are going to have LOTS of tire wear issues and the car wont track straight under heavy load.

You can buy GTO IRS assemblies off ebay for $400 brakes and all
 
The SRT8 is heavily torqued managed so it doesn't grenade the trans or the rear. Both are weak links in my opinion for any major power consideration. Especially if you hook it up, it would be shrapnel then.
 
Well. iF anybody wants one.... I've got a complete rear and drive shaft from an 05 R/T sitting on my garage floor. It will need some TLC, but... Make an offer.

I'm in Northern Nevada.

fastmopar
 
I was thinking of this same swap a few weeks ago when I happened across a 300-C IRS on ebay, which I think sold for like, $200. I'm thinking its a Diamler/Mercedes based rear unit, but I could be wrong.
 
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