can someone explain how they connected the transmission to the rear end on this thing?? i realize its not an astro but this thing has been putting around town for a couple years and its driving me nuts!! there is simply no room for a drive shaft.
i think its a really cool van although i'm sure they never bothered fixing the steering on it (ackerman).
best i can figure is no driveshaft, direct connection but that only raises more questions...
i have considered that. ot does look like there is a tranny under there though. possibly a 4wd front end? i dont think dodge made a 4wd van like that but it could be another frame under there
I'm not sure what the weirdness is. It's a shortened van. Whatever the length of your drive shaft is, subtract about a foot and that's about the amount you could shorten out of your van.
I seen a datsun 280z years ago in a car show whereas it was powered by a supercharged big block with dual carbs and a trans that was long and the rear axle was a ford nine inch and the drive shaft was 8 inches long. (owner had a build sheet and pictures.) I asked him about the drive shaft and he told me it was custom machined for him out of fiberglass reinforced steel I have never heard of that before or since he also said the u-joints were designed and built by a drag racing company for strength. One can just imagine the torque that shaft must have to withstand. The tires on this datsun were so wide you could just see the center section of the rear axle and thats all you see looking under it. Point is a drive shaft can be really short if needed.
I don't think it's that hard to fab up a drive shaft provided you find a shop that knows its business. The one time I needed to have a drive shaft built, the drive line shop just needed a few rough dimensions from here to there and what kind of vehicle it was.
Now that I think of it, it was for a Dodge B-200 van. I don't know how the driver twisted it in half.
A hole shot with the e-brake on will do that. A buddy of mine did that in his Camaro, He said the yoke rolled out from under the car after the big bang. I saw it afterward, it looked like a metal tootsie roll.
If it was impossible to fit a transmission between the rear axle and engine, I'd imagine that the entire drive train was rebuilt with smaller components from a smaller vehicle. I don't know what the Mopar equivalent would be to a Chevette, a Vega or a Pinto where it's a small car with rear wheel drive.
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