The AT is rebuilt and seems work fine, but it would appear that Maaco didn't install a new torque converter and it's misbehaving....almost to the point of stalling the engine at stop lights after it's warmed up. It also does it in reverse really bad too..

At any rate, a junk 94 Sport with 3.9 and AX15 showed up at the JY recently...146k miles, very nice condition for mid-west...in fact I'm getting the hood, passenger door, front bumper and maybe driver door to replace mine. It's flame red also and the paint seems to be in good condition...and I'm tired of driving with deer damage. Also the bumper is the sport option with fog lights so I get to add that to my truck too.

But more to the point I would probably enjoy driving it more if it was MT, because all my other DD's are MT and at the very least I'd have to pull off the AT I have to replace the torque converter anyway, so I think it would be a good time to do the swap...since the donor is there with all the stuff I need.

Any comments?

Steve

 

Did Maaco install the trans? (I thought they only did cheap paint work...) If they rebuilt, and installed it, is there any warranty left?

 

My late day slip...AMMCO did the trans work...lol, yes Maaco is a paint shop.

And to answer the question you're probably going to ask.....the work was done for the prior owner and not me, and also years ago...as in at least 10 years, and I'm sure that if the owner would have said I want a new TC they'd have done it, but I think they cheaped out on it.

At any rate there's no going back on AMMCO for the problem.

Steve

 

I’d trust Maaco as much as Ammco to do tranny work.

 

I asked this question on here for basically the same reasons around when I got this truck and was debating getting the AT rebuilt and I was told to just buy a manual Dakota if hat is what I wanted because of all the work necessary to convert the truck over to manual. I kept it because there is almost no chance at all of finding a straight rust free 94 dak around here.The only reason it is so is that the guy I bought it from brought it up from the San Bernardino area and kept in in the garage exce[t for dump runs. I figure he left some story out but it is still better off than he seemed to think by the look in his eye that I paid the $900 asking without a fight.

 

Well my truck isn't rust free and it still does have deer accident damage but the MT donor truck was also flame red so I've bought the bumper, hood and right side door to fix those damaged items on my truck. I have a good right fender that will need paint and I still need something for the left fender to complete the fix.

I have the list of needs to do the conversion, I don't see that it's going to be that big of an issue, everything is there and I usually get a pretty good discount from the guys at the counter. I would just prefer to have MT over the AT situation I have now....I'll make the decision in a couple days, I've tentatively started pulling stuff off....

If it wasn't such a hassle I'd really like to pull the engine to do this. I have always wanted to clean out the oil pan, this engine was very sludgy when I first got it and while I did do an engine flush I was not happy with the amount of crud I got out of it. I did manage to pull the pan and drop it and spray the oil pump pickup strainer and clean a bunch out of that, but I had always wanted it off completely so I could see what was going on.

At any rate...we'll see if that comes to fruition or not.

Steve

 

Actually...about that "all the work necessary to convert the truck over to manual" it's a lot simpler than I realized. At first I was under the impression that it would require a completely different pedal cluster mounting bracket, but it doesn't. The brake pedal needs to be changed to the MT version along with the pivot bolt but the clutch pedal just mounts alongside the brake pedal bracket on a different pivot you swapped in during the MT brake pedal install. Further, the MT and AT trucks share the same column so there's no need to swap over a MT column like with some vehicles.

According to the parts catalog you just have to remove the lever package from the existing column and you're done. There's probably a different column surround if you feel the need for it but otherwise you just get rid of the lever and you should be good. And the hole for the clutch master is already there, just has a body plug in place. The PRND..shift indicator will still be there but that could be covered or changed to the MT version which has DODGE in the small window. Shouldn't need to replace the whole cluster for this.

Steve

 

And now because everyone likes pics....







IMO this was a very gently used truck. Why it was junked...who knows, it had some body rust but for midwest it wasn't terrible. At 147k and ultra clean inside it was a mystery. Sport reg cab short bed, 3.9 MT, AC, slider, aero front and sport bumper with fogs, but no other options, full bench in cloth that was in amazing condition. I bought the hood, bumper and passenger door, the fenders both had holes. Owner had also sprung for color coordinated fiberglass tonneau cover, chrome wheels too.

Steve

 

Take lots of pics and let us know how it goes.