I am going to be doing bit of a rebuild on my truck. last couple of years she has been sitting in the yard just moving wood from the back of the yard to the winter wood stack. But lately i have been missing driving the truck on the road so figured its as good a time as any to fix it back up and get it street legal again. Truck would be used for going out cruising , towing my camper for trips and some off road fun every so often. First off i am swapping the engine cause the stock 4.7 is starting to burn oil pretty heavy. So the engine i am looking at is the mercedes diesel OM606 which can make some good power and still keep some good mpg unlike the 4.7 13 mpg. Next is the Transmission i am not sure which one to go with. Not sure if i want to go manual or auto need to find one that will be able to handle the 500 horse power for the OM606 after i am done with the power mods. Next part of the build would be re doing all the bearing , ball joints , Brakes complete rebuild required cause they are shot. Also need to rebuild front axle started to hear a clunk sound when i engage the 4x4. Thinking about upgrading the rear drum brakes to Rotor and caliper for easy of maintance. Any ideas on good places , or brands for these parts would make this job alot easier. Also any good ideas on a transmission would also be help full .

 

The 4.7 might just need new valve stem seals if you're seeing smoke as well, with the oil burning. You don't need to remove the motor to do those. Even rings would be cheaper than what you're talking about. As for the Mercedes engine.... if I had a dime for every time someone mentions how they're going to do an intensive build then "crickets," I'd be a rich man. Plus the money you'd spend pulling off such a build would make the mention of fuel savings a pretty moot point. Sorry if I'm a skeptical party pooper but I've seen it too many times.

 

i understand what your saying about the build but its not one of those build that i expect to have done in a month. This will be a build for me to have fun and get my Big girl back on the road. I mean granted i did mention mpg and such but my jetta tdi which is my work car gets me that. But i like the idea of the dakota getting better mpg. As for the motor swap i am currently searching for the donor car for the motor swap and really the only thing that i need to make for the motor to fit is the mounts also order a transmission conversion kit. I get that you may have heard it all before but i love working on my cars so i hope i can get this truck back on the road the way i would like to see it. and thank you for the info about the oil issue. maybe order the parts and get that fixed and then sell the engine to someone that needs it.

 

Well alright then, good luck with the build and hope you document it here.

 

yea when i start to order part i will start to upload the pic here. The parts that will be started with will be the brakes and other parts since they will be easier to get. Still debating on the drum to rotor conversion.

 

An inline six? That's awful long.... will that physically fit in the space you have?

 

i saw a guy that fit the same motor in his dakota so i hope it fits. Plus watched a video where someone had a 6bt cummin in there. So size i don't think is an issue.

 

Just a better shoehorn, and a bigger hammer.

Be sure and take pics to document the install. I am curious to see how much room is left.

 

will do still trying to find the important parts the donor car for the motor and which tranmission to go with. some of the people i have seen say to use a 4L80 with a manual valve body but i have never driven a manual valve body auto so not sure how that would do with the tow part of this build. Probably fine with the normal driving and the off roading just not to sure.

 

Basically a manual trans without the third pedal. Given that most autos are computer controlled these days..... gonna make life interesting. Might check and see if anyone makes a trans controller for your trans of choice, of, if you can find an adapter, use the 47RH trans, from a 95 or older Ram, with the 8.0, or diesel.