i seen on here a guy who did the swap, he notched his crossmember for clearance for oil pan, he cut it out and just cut some plate to box in notch

 

The cross member don't need that much of a notch.. It's the easiest way to fit the hemi.. With the wiring.. Use all the plugs from the Hemi Harness The only part of the harness you might have to cut will be the bulkhead wires into the cab..I think Daks have a plug , but Rams don't..Look up the pinout for each "Ram & Dak" and match the wires , solder and tape or but connect them together ..The gauges will read the ecm ..the only thing that won't work is the cruise control. P.M. me if you need the color codes for the bulkhead , I think I still have that info on the Ram ..

 

Why is it that everyone thinks IFS is worse than a solid axle? Is it simply a strength issue or do people believe they preform better on rough terrian/off road? Isn't there a reason military H1's have IFS front & rear? IFS just seems better in theory, but it seems like all off road guys rather have a SA. Not to get off topic, just curious. I've driven my Dakota and my buddy's CJ7 off road and I don't see how the SA was any better but then again, I'm not a hard core off road guy and only do it occasionally.

 

strength is more durable less moving parts.
the full ifs is better for sand (i suppose) there a reason why dakar trucks use it.
the SA gets more felx which is necessary for rocks and trail. other reason is that SA gives more lift and is more "customizable"

 

I personally would rather have the solid axle. But on Daks. even with a solid axle there's still a clearance issue with the oil pan when doing a Hemi swap..Yellow Dak. was the first 4x4 Dakota Hemi swap I've ever seen.. I think his thread is on Custom Dakotas.com. He also has some cool stuff on youtube..I've never done a 4x4 Dak. swap so I don't know all the details , but if I were to do one , I would check his thread out first..

 

Durable,simple,flex great and easy cheap lift options. You cant compare to a cj7 since they are leaf springs. Thats all the off road guys run. Thats usually why the diesel guys choose fords or chevy they ride better because of the ifs where dodge still uses solid axles in the 2500 and 3500 trucks. At work they all used 2500 chevys they were great till you put a plow in the front. Even worse if you had a vblade cause if you would put it the whole way back the plow would almost be touching the road.

 

The truck is a sport so I think the chassis is different than what I saw on your thread. My steering rack sits behind the cross member where as yours sat on the front side if I remember correctly. Either way though, the cross member cleared by a few inches so that wasn't an issue. The only problem was the front diff, and we ended up hacking so much of the sump out to clear it that it would have only left roughly 2 quarts of oil in the pan, which is why I'm now going with a dry sump. I wish I didn't have to because its going to run me an extra $1000 but I don't have a lot of choice, it's either that or lose the 4 wheel.

As for wiring, my dak's harness didn't go to the bulkhead. I had two plugs off the harness that connected into the fuse panel by the battery and one of the 32 pin (I'm guessing) plugs from the trucks wiring harness into the ECM.

Did you have to deal with the APPS system? I'm still trying to figure that one out.

 

Yes , The APPS is simply a box that mounts under the battery tray. I think it has 7 wires that go to the ecm and a cable that goes to the gas peddle .. The only problem I had was that cable..The end of mine and the Ram APPS cable were a little different "the inside cable was longer", so I had to put a spacer in it..I used a small slotted copper tube after I slipped it over the cable I squeezed the slot together and it stayed there .. It went from the back of the peddle to the end of the cable sleeve.. I'm pretty sure I posted a wire pinout for the APPS on my thread..I still have it if it's not there , let me know..
Did you find Yellow Dak's thread..I think It's either on Custom Dakotas.com - or Dakota Durango.com. Not sure which but he notched his oil pan and welded it back together using another one , then he extended the pickup tube.. Look around on the Hemi Swap Forums , I'm not sure who it is "Z71" Maybe , but he made a few of those oil tanks to sell. I think they hold 6 quarts of oil . While I was weighing my options during my Hemi Dakota build , I considered doing the same thing. Not a problem for me I have the tools and knowledge to do those kinda things.. I'd check on that before going with dry sump..I'm moving , or I'd make you one..

 

It's been a while since I've updated...

-Received 2 turbowerx exa-pumps for the oil system
-Received a 7.5 QT oil reservoir for the oil system
-Picked up a 2004 PCM for the HEMI at a salvage yard
along with the chassis harness connector
-Picked up the APPS pedal assembly from salvage yard
-2 weeks ago I finished the motor mounts and new oil pan
-1 week ago we installed the engine and tranny assembly into the truck
-This weekend, my worst nightmare became reality.....

I mapped out all the HEMI engine wiring a few weeks ago, but when I went to start connecting the old Dakota chassis harness to the HEMI computer I came to a horrible realization, the truck was built with a single wire bus that I described earlier (violet wire with yellow stripe, labeled as PCI BUS) but the HEMI computer appears to have ditched this system for a two wire bus they call the CAN C BUS that links the PCM to the brake system. I also noticed there is a CAN B BUS as well that connects entertainment, seats, mirrors, and a couple other things but I don't know if this system is relevant to the engine computer or not.

Am I missing something in all this? Or am I royally screwed? Unless someone knows something I don't, I can't see any way out of this short of pulling all the computers and control systems out of a Durango and retrofitting them to my Dak....

HELP!!! PLEASE!!!!

 

Hook D20 # 25 (C1) "Hemi" SCI PCM Receive {Lt Green} wire
TO 20 # 46 (TCM) "Dak" SCI PCM Recieve {pk/lb} wire
And: D20 # 29 (C-3) "Dak" SCI Receive {Ltgreen} wire.
D6 # 26 (C-1) "Hemi" Bus Receive {pk/lb}wire
It might be listed as D6..instead of D20 but are the same...

Connect : D25 (vt/or) TCM #43- PCI Bus
To : D25 (vt/yl) C-3 Dak #30 PCI Bus
And 25 (vt/bn) C-1 Hemi # PCI Bus

Don't get discouraged , they have the same connections just a different name.

The NVLD on the Hemi is called Vacuum control on the Dak..
The most important thing to go by isn't the name or color of the wires - but the numbers..
I'm not sure if the colors are right you might want to double check..