Dodge Ram Van Components in A Body?

[Alecb]

I plan to do a V8 swap on my 73 duster in the future. I had the idea this morning of getting a ram van to pull the engine (360 magnum), transmission, and rear axle out of it for use on the duster. Will the rear axle need to be shortened? My local Pick n Pull has a bunch of these vans. Thoughts?

 

[jas0162]

The axle will be too wide, but could be shortened I suppose, probably a 9 1/4. Pulling the engine out of one of those vans is no fun, but you could get everything you need for modern efi and overdrive.

 

[mbaird]

Its most likely a Dana 60 . But a full floater .

 

[Kern Dog]

Being a 3500 series, it has an 8 lug Dana 60. The money spent to make this fit would surely exceed the cost of an 8 1/4" axle or a Ford 8.8.
Do a search here on the Ford Explorer 8.8 axle for use in A body cars. These can be bought for under $200 and they all came with the 4.5 bolt pattern, 3.73 or 4.10 gears, a limited slip differential and disc brakes. Some work is required to get them to fit but many members here have done the work themselves.
The Van transmission is likely a 4 speed automatic overdrive and depending on the year model, it may or may not need a stand alone computer to make the 4th gear overdrive to work. These transmissions are also physically larger than any classic Mopar transmission tunnel so be ready to do some cutting and welding to the floor.

 

[pishta]

Yup, I was thinking 8 lug rear too. Would look funny on a car unless it was a big 'ol Pontiac...

 

[brian6pac]

But a Dana 60 would be awesome but more $$$$

 

[RustyRatRod]

That's a good idea accessory drive wise. The position of the P/S pump is lower on those and puts the pump under the A body battery box, instead of right on top of it.

 

[318willrun]

Body looks good. If it's got a good motor, tranny, and rear end, what's it doing in the junkyard??? That'd be a seller here...

 

[MopaR&D]

I'd pull the engine and trans, use the engine and as much stuff attached to it as possible and probably just sell the transmission. Like @Kern Dog said the transmission is most likely a 46RE or 46RH which is basically the same as an A-518; physically much larger than a 727 and won't fit an A-body transmission tunnel without some cutting. It's also not a very efficient transmission I know one member on here swapped an A-518 into his Duster and he only picked up 2-3 MPG compared to a 904 and I'm pretty sure that was all highway (city mileage stayed the same IIRC). The overdrive and lockup converter help highway mileage but in all other driving those transmissions take a lot of power to turn. It is a transmission intended for big trucks pulling heavy loads after all, not as much for high performance or fuel economy.

 

[CudaFactHackJob]

If that's a post 95 forget the trans. Those magnums came with throttle body injection and multipoint . The multipoint took vertical intake bolts, but the throttle body type had same angle bolts as old 360 four barrel intake.

 

[jas0162]

They put lots of 8 lug 9 1/4 rears in those vans, just because it has 8 bolt wheels doesn’t guarantee it to be a 60.

 

[valiantpatrol]

Nice thing about those Vans is they often have a build sticker on the underside of the hood that will clearly state rear end type, gear ratio, and brake size. Also true for transmission type and engine family. Sticker reflects factory built condition and sometimes things get changed out over the years so you can't take it as gospel, but in my experience it usually is accurate. Most van owners aren't in a big hurry to modify and just repair and maintain so sticker equipment list is usually what's there. It can be a bugger to pull a van engine at Pick a Part. No room to go through the side door and, at least with earlier vans, they were not designed to come out the front, though it can be done. I had to build an extension for boom/lift arm on my engine hoist to do it on an '02 B3500. Even doing that only allowed me to install the shortblock (no heads/intake) through the front. You'd never be able to do it with the rolling "A" frame lifts most yards supply. I agree with many others that modifying one of these rears to fit your car/change the bolt patterns, etc will be more costly than buying an 8.25 or 8.75 rear for your "A" body.