Hello, I have a 2003 Quad Cab 3.9L with a 42RE. It currently has a single long driveshaft. I am installing a manual transmission but the only thing I havent figured out is the driveshaft. I know the Quad and Club/Extended cab uses the same 2 piece driveshaft behind the NV3500. I found the 2 peice driveshaft but I cannot figure out how to get the center bearing support removed of the junkyard frame. It looks like giant rivets instead of bolts. Any ideas? Would lengthening my current driveshaft be an option? I'm not sure how long is too long for a driveshaft.




Parts I have so far:
- NV3500
- 2003 dakota manual computer
- flywheel with clutch and pressure plate
- flywheel bolts
- clutch brake pedal assembly
- clutch master cylinder with reservoir and slave cylinder.
- NV3500 tranny support crossmember
- Middle driveshaft and center bearing

Parts I need:
- manual crankshaft/flywheel sensor on passenger rear of engine.
- center driveshaft support
- rear driveshaft from center bearing to differential.

Truck Is a bit of a mess but I'm trying to get it running within the next week to 2 weeks.


Project Truck Instagram: DakotaHemi03

 

You cannot lengthen a driveshaft, only shorten. A splice weld simply isn't strong enough.

Nice job doing the Hemi swap! You should look up Greg Snider and Robert Rohe on FB. Greg has the Hellcat Dakota and I think Rob has a regular 5.7 . Christine Wilson has a Scat hemi in hers.

It wouldn't surprise me that the center bearing is riveted to the crossmember. Probably same rivets as the leaf spring hangers.

If you want to drop a little coin and get something nice, reach out to Richard Nash at HiPoTek. He makes a center crossmember with the bearing pad integrated for the 01-04 chassis.

http://stores.hi-potek.com/x-brace-c...owder-coating/

 

I wish it was in... HEMI stills needs to be rebuilt after a stuck lifter shaved the camshaft. Plus, im still waiting to find a T56 for the 5.7.

I ended up finding an NV3500 for a killer deal so I bought it to get the V6 running again. I'm putting the hemi swap off for 2 years until all the parts arrive and the engine is rebuilt.

Now I just have to figure out how to get a carrier bearing crossmember off a dakota...

 

Oh and yes! That website has some great stuff. I've the engine mounts, t56 tranny crossmember, xbrace, and one other item in my cart for the last week.

 

That seems like a lot of effort, are you really saving that much money going for a used bearing?

https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/20...t_bearing.html

 

He needs the crossmember itself...... Think I would be more inclined to go with a one piece shaft.

 

I would love a 1 piece shaft but that would be a full custom shaft since the manual is a few inches shorter. I'll probably do that whenever the hemi is installed. For now I am looking at a temporary salvage yard solution for $90 or less.

I may have found something during lunch but I need to measure my truck. On this quad cab it had the carrier bearing supported by last crossmember with a dip for the driveshaft. I havent seen this before so I'm wondering if it was custom. I also cant find photos of a dakota quad cab undercarriage. The driveshaft is pretty rusty on that 1uad I found but everything else looks good.

Thanks for the link to the bearing. I planned on changing that out but information on the crossmember has been very limited. I guess I need to start taking photos for a how to.

 

If the crossmember is different than what is on your truck, just bring a torch, or battery powered grinder, and blow the heads off the rivets. You can drill holes, and bolt it on your truck.

 

Found a quad cab using a different setup. On the quad cab it had a raised plate bolted to the rear crossmember with a dip for the driveshaft. I didnt buy it at first because I thought someone rigged it up. After looking up part numbers off the driveshafts, I finally found the figure I needed.

In the figure you will see the crossmember for the carrier support bearing on the left. This is what I have seen on club cabs. In the bottom right corner you will see a different configuration for the stock crossmember on auto quad cabs. Dodge bolts a raised bracket on the stock crossmember and mounts the carrier bearing to that. #15 in the bottom right of the photo.

I hope this helps someone in the future. I'll try to post up pics once I get started swapping driveshafts.


https://www.dodgeparts.com/v-2002-do...ropeller-shaft