We gave our son our 2001 Durango R/T. He damaged the front differential, and does not want to rebuild it due to funds. Though he could pull the front driveline, shafts, and make it into a RWD.
The catch is, being an R/T it is an AWD default, and the TCCM is out, so cannot shift it into 4WD to make this plan work.
Has anyone been able to remove the shift motor, and manually change the transfer case to another mode? How?
I know this can be done on other vehicles, but my searches have turned up nothing for this model Durango.

 

The above is where you lost me. He buggered one part, and now whats to bugger more, has already started doing that, and you want us pro-Durango guys to help. My advice is fix whats broken, not break more.

 

For everyone's knowledge, regardless of why, when you remove the shift motor, which way does the shaft turn to change the setting, and are there indents we might feel in doing so? Which indent is what gear selection?

 

You can't remove the front CV shafts. The outer CV's, and nuts, are what hold the bearings together. If you pull the shafts, bearing, brakes, wheels, and tires will feel free to abandon the rest of the vehicle, and mayhem ensues.

 

this.

 

Yes just bite the bullet and fix it. It's designed as AWD. They also have the smaller rear diff since they are AWD, so I wouldn't run that heavy pig on the rear diff alone anyway. Also what's been mentioned already, you cannot pull the cv shafts. Bearings will slide out along with your hubs, could kill someone. Just find a good used front diff with matching ratio and take a weekend day to swap it.

 

[As the owner of a '01 R/T I bought new and garaged for it's whole life, this hurts to watch, like if they blew one up in a movie.]