Hello, I will be buying my first dodge this week. I will be using it for side work as an electrical contractor.

I was wondering if anybody would be willing to share their experiences (either good or bad) with this combination Slant 6 and 4speed manual.

Also let me know if there is anything I should look out for before I purchase it.

 

Your van is covered by the Haynes Manual 30065 (it covers 78 to 91 or 92) The manual transmission was an option until 1987. You didn't by any chance buy this from the Las Vegas area did you?

If this is the shift through the floor OD4, the model is A-833. I had that same tranny behind a 1983 318ci V8 without any problems. I still have my tranny infact, it needs a rebuild because it has about 300K on it, but it ran fine even after I lost the 1-2 synchro. The shop I took it to didn't tighten the drain plug enough after a flush, and it went dry at highway speeds.

You will want to find out when the clutch was last done, and check under the inspection plate to see how far along the clutch disc is. You will want to drive it and make sure that the synchros are in good shape for down and up shifting . You will also want to make sure that the shift box isnt worn and you can get into all the gears easilly. The shift box was made by Hurst, you may still be able to get a replacement from them for it. I didn't know that when mine went, so I bought it from the dealer for $350.

Once you get it, I would flush and fill the tranny with your favorite fluid, though if you are going to be loading the van up alot of the time, I'd suggest 85w to 90w gear oil. I've heard of people running normal ATF in it, but I prefered the thicker stuff since that reduced noise.

The first time I did the clutch it took me about 8-10 hours to complete it. I was working alone and afterwards discovered I over disassembled and I needed lots of pb-blaster. I was also going slow and making sure of everythings condition as well as thouroughly cleaning everything. After that it took 4 -6 hours to complete when alone and I still cleaned everything

If you need to do the clutch and are a smaller person, you can change the clutch without putting it on a ramp, just block the wheels, and apply the e-brake.
Remove the shift lever but not the shift box.
Remove the linkage that connects to the thowout bearing fork and to the bell housing.
Remove the Inspection plate
Remove the rear driveshaft bolts and pull the slip yoke out of the transmission. Set the drive shaft aside.
Use a bottle jack to hold up engine at the oil pan and take preasure off the transmission support.
Put a rolling floor jack under the tranny itself.
Remove the rear cross brace that holds up the transmission.
Undo the bell housing to transmission bolts.
Then just tug the tranmission towards the rear and you may need to lower it a bit.
Take off the bell housing.
Put the centering tool into the old disc and remove the preasure plate and then the disc.
Check the flywheel for cracks, chips an, missing teeth. Hope you dont have to replace it.
Installation is the reverse of removal.

For tools you need a Torque wrench, a centering tool (available at the parts store where you get the disc.), a socket and open ended wrench set and some high temp bearing grease. If you want to clean everthing too you will need brake clearner and a wire brush. You may also need a breaker bar, lengthing pipe and impact sockets if you need to take off the flywheel.

There are two sizes of clutch disc. 10.5" and 11" (or maybe it is 11.5")
Im not sure which one goes onto the V6 flywheel.
fit it to yours to see. You could just do the clutch disc though I usually did the preasure plate, and throwout bearing at the same time since you have to get to them together anyway.


This is probably too much infromation than what you wanted
Good Luck
IGadget

 

Thanks for the response.

Philly area. The po said it only had 40k on the clutch so it should be good for a while, It actually drove pretty nice. A bit of noise from the rear especially when turning.

The shift box was a little sloppy but I found all gears with no trouble. Can the shift box be adjusted to take up some of the slop or is it just on its way out?

There is a softball sized rust hole on the drivers side about halfway back but underneath was suprisingly clean especially for a PA van.

 

The shift box has a grease fitting so that might be all it needs. The throw on the shift lever is quite long.
The pattern as you probably already know is H with Reverse towards you and foward. I want to say that that between Reverse and 3rd is probably 1 foot of movement, the shift box being just below the floor doesn't move nearly as much as the **** on the end of the 1.5 foot shift lever. This isnt a sports car with a 3" shift pattern .