I need interior parts. Mainly the knee bolster and the ash tray panel. Both of mine are broken, and it's the redesigned interior.

But that's neither here nor there. Your work is awesome.

 

wow. you are WAY more organized than me. Great job!

 

Rear Bumper, getting ready to lift.

Well if you are following my progress. I just worked 84 days in a row between two jobs, all while working on this about 24 hours a week thur,fri and sats until 3pm. I took yesterday off, so here is a full days worth of progress.

Here is the culprit I think, of my 1999 Durango that started the whole process. ( process as in "new process" that was a pun son). I started taking the transfer case off. Yes I did get stuck on those to bolts on the right ride top of the transfer case. I cheated on the 2003 when taking off, by dropping the rear trans support so I could get access, plus some of the nuts were missing, particularly the top two. Anyways , you can see it's a 231D HD. I'm pretty sure it has a broken chain.

Well living in Michigan, I am getting stuck with rain and snow for at least another week. So I am glad for whatever progress I have made. After getting defeated by the 1999, I focused on getting the 2003 clear and ready for the body lift, AND removing all the running gear off the frame once I get the body off and removed. I removed the brake fluid, bumper, which I ended cutting off the darn "spring bolts". Which are nothing more than stamped plates with hex holes to keep the bolt head from moving.

STUPID cheap design. I'll make real ones with welded heads and a real metal plate. I then removed the gas filler tube and over flow tubes, a ground, hose clips, axle breather tube and a few other left electrical connections to the hitch. I was able to lift it 2" in the rear with my crow bar. With all the rain and snow not sure when I will get back to this body lift and remove.

After 84 days of work in a row and laying on my back in cold cement, since... october, I bought a couple of steaks for dinner last night as a reward. Notice the pile of car parts in the back ground!

 

Body lift day!

Goal for the day was to get the body with a 4"x4" spanning between the chassis and the frame so we can't finish the lift when we reposition the body back one car space. We will move the chassis forward, and the move the trailer underneath the body. So this was one step I wanted to get past. Well with Michigan's weather I got really lucky, after about 2" of rain last night, we came out with a chilly, but dry day. So it's get that body ready to be transported. I had to remove the intermediate shaft, being careful to keep the wheel straight so as to not damage the clock spring in there. Once removed, I began to incrementally lift the body. I need to get the whole body at least 39" in the air in order for the car hauler to fit underneath. This should be plenty to clear the tires and the rise in the chassis in the rear for the axle housing. Pretty scary dangerous work.

I have one 4x4" in the front here.

checking to see if the hoses all come with it and seeing if I have enough to jam the 4x4" in here.

Here you can see slowly trying to figure out where I can lift with out bending almost perfect sheet metal.

You can see here how I had to remove the gas filler hose and overflow hoses in order to begin the lift.

 

Body Lift part #2

continuing in the series:

Here is today's end result. Body on a 4"x4"x6' beam and one brick height. 12" of lift to go. The goal will be to have 4 jacks on each corner. We'll swap the beam for a 10'er, which allows us to span the body, wheels, AND the width of the trailer (8'). Jack the body up, crib it with blocks till 39", which is the deck height of car hauler.

note the little rusty oval hole right near the rear base of the wheel well And in the second pix the hole in front. These are the lift holes the jig at Chrysler uses to drop body on the frame.

In this shot you can see how the body shifted to the right a bit.

Very scary.


Well off to another night shift and the 7 day a week grind.

 

I plan on swapping 03 interior with rear AC into my 98. I swapped 03 brakes (all four) just waiting on my new 17" rims and tires. They say the interior swap can't be done but I like a challenge. Very good thing indeed I'm doing this when I get my suspension life and then I'll swap in my 5.7 Hemi

 

there is no reason the '03 interior won't fit. it's the same inside dimensions, after but taking an '02 apart for scrap, you'll need lots of parts and a few or more holes drilled in the rear for the A/C lines to enter the cabin. it would be a help to take the '03 apart on your own so you can mark everything. also, you will need all of the connectors and the harness from the '03 would be helpful. as well. the whole dash and all controls are different so your harness will have the wrong plugs and the your harness may not have enough wires for the new controls.

 

That I all know. I planned on taking it an 01 to 03 apart. The reason they say it can't be done is different BUS Systems

 

Amazing work...! Keep us updated!

 

FIX the transmission, done! Remove the drive train Black Beast.

Projects like these I recommend cold cement therapy!
So couldn't really do anything outside. We are supposed to do the body removal this Thursday and Friday, we're supposed to have warm sunny weather. So my focus was prepping parts for reinstall and working in the garage on the Black Beast.

OK so I knew that the 2003 donor 46re transmission had a broken Overdrive snap ring. I took it to LJ's tramission technology. They got it fixed in 24 hours! Very impressive. Here is a shot of me working my abs and calves with the transmission in and out of my 2nd Saturn SL1 named Timex II.

So here is another lesson learned. I had to have my exhaust coupling to y-pipe fixed ( tl;dr Don't go to Tuffy Autocenters). I ended up a new muffler shop that was starting with sunday hours. They were so busy. Took a look at the issue, and because the former owner has SS shorties welded to manifold, well anyways they asked me if I wanted them to use SS bolts. Well the bolts in this picture came off with a zip from impact, then held them by hand and took them off. Unheard of in repair history IMHO> !!!! Well worth $10 in hardware. Reusable too.

So here is the marching progression of taking off the drive train. I had to dance the BBeast up on jack stands, clean up all the fluids, both oil ( rear main seal) and blown trans gasket or line. I can't tell which yet. Then I removed the fender well on passenger side cause it was held in with removable pushpins. The Drivers side was all rivets. I got the front prop shaft off of the transfer case. In order to be able to reach the top nuts on the transfer case, I'll need to drop the whole engine, trans, transfer case assembly down with the rear cross member being removed, and held in place/let down with my transmission jack. ( I want to avoid damaging my rear trans to cross member mount like I did on the donor 2003. I destroyed it. With the Y'pipe hanging down and the cross member dropping, I gain almost 3-4" clearance. This will be the next steps next time I work. Once the transfer case is off, it's a few plugs and hoses on the backside of trans to disconnect, then on the the motor mounts. Anyone know of a engine removal jig that works on the magnum engine? I have some ideas. Looks like there are open bolt holes on the back of the heads. Maybe a lift plate loop that gets bolted in back then chains up to the engine hoist> IDK I'd love to see what others use. I see one was made for the 4.7 l motors. Those have an arch of metal that must bolt to back of head and clear the "keg" instake. I smashed one of the sparkplug shields on the donor motor.

 

View attachment 28183 Projects like these I recommend cold cement therapy!
So couldn't really do anything outside. We are supposed to do the body removal this Thursday and Friday, we're supposed to have warm sunny weather. So my focus was prepping parts for reinstall and working in the garage on the Black Beast.

View attachment 28187 View attachment 28186
OK so I knew that the 2003 donor 46re transmission had a broken Overdrive snap ring. I took it to LJ's tramission technology. They got it fixed in 24 hours! Very impressive. Here is a shot of me working my abs and calves with the transmission in and out of my 2nd Saturn SL1 named Timex II.





View attachment 28182 View attachment 28181 View attachment 28180 So here is another lesson learned. I had to have my exhaust coupling to y-pipe fixed ( tl;dr Don't go to Tuffy Autocenters). I ended up a new muffler shop that was starting with sunday hours. They were so busy. Took a look at the issue, and because the former owner has SS shorties welded to manifold, well anyways they asked me if I wanted them to use SS bolts. Well the bolts in this picture came off with a zip from impact, then held them by hand and took them off. Unheard of in repair history IMHO> !!!! Well worth $10 in hardware. Reusable too.



View attachment 28184 View attachment 28185 View attachment 28179

So here is the marching progression of taking off the drive train. I had to dance the BBeast up on jack stands, clean up all the fluids, both oil ( rear main seal) and blown trans gasket or line. I can't tell which yet. Then I removed the fender well on passenger side cause it was held in with removable pushpins. The Drivers side was all rivets. I got the front prop shaft off of the transfer case. In order to be able to reach the top nuts on the transfer case, I'll need to drop the whole engine, trans, transfer case assembly down with the rear cross member being removed, and held in place/let down with my transmission jack. ( I want to avoid damaging my rear trans to cross member mount like I did on the donor 2003. I destroyed it. With the Y'pipe hanging down and the cross member dropping, I gain almost 3-4" clearance. This will be the next steps next time I work. Once the transfer case is off, it's a few plugs and hoses on the backside of trans to disconnect, then on the the motor mounts. Anyone know of a engine removal jig that works on the magnum engine? I have some ideas. Looks like there are open bolt holes on the back of the heads. Maybe a lift plate loop that gets bolted in back then chains up to the engine hoist> IDK I'd love to see what others use. I see one was made for the 4.7 l motors. Those have an arch of metal that must bolt to back of head and clear the "keg" instake. I smashed one of the sparkplug shields on the donor motor.

This won't help you but when I pulled my 360 out I tied a seatbelt to the factory manifolds and pulled it out like that.

 

Transfer case almost off.

Here you can see the dropping of the rear transmission support on the left side of vehicle. I even took the rag out of the last shot for that last 1/4". The transfer case nose sits right on the back cross member.

Here are two combos I used to remove transfer case nuts. I still have the one on top to get off. Then out with the heart of the Black Beast. Want to see why I don't want to save this body?

"rockers" .. bwhaha. Michigan cancer. Good thing the plastic running boards cover up all this missing metal.

 

FI Airgap Intake arrives. Prep for body lift tomorrow.

The much awaited FI Airgap intake from Hughesengines.com. This is the box open shot. Tomorrow we are removing the body from the frame and taking it to store at my fathers house a hour away. I may do a shot every 30 seconds with a camera I have of the whole operation. I should be a good movie, I would think. We did lots of measuring on the concrete. We made a plan on how we are going to jack four corners at the same time and have room to slip the chassis out forward, and the trailer in from the back. The lowest part of the chassis has to be 39" in the air! The 4x4's right now are 10 foot apart, and the whole length of the chassis is 15'. Durango's are huge!

Well I become a grand Daddy in the next little bit today. Feel free to call me Grand daddy R3p0... lol Off to the hospital to see my baby grandson Isaac!

 

Body lift and removal day.

Stage one of the lift. Get 4x4x10' under 4 corners.

 

Body off and transport. Chassis ready for next step.

This is the final shot of the chassis ready for the next stage of parts recovery

and off the body goes to my parents farm to chill while I prep the the chassis, motor etc on Black Beast.

checking clearances

Chassis out from underneath

Measure, check move, adjust, be carefull, don't get killed.

First part of trailer under body.

crazy juggling of boards, and jacks to get 4x4's directly on chassis and directly on trailer. In the end we had one board because there was a bit of twist to trailer deck not sure. Ultimately that block fell out on the way to parents.

Last shots here of it being loaded. Ready to strap down

 

Here is a shot of my Father helping measure. We wanted the 4"x4"x10' 42" in the air. Once we got it up, 6" at a time, or one half block. keeping it even and not torquing the body was an issue. We had 8" of clearance between the trailer and the blocks. My had actually touched the blocks while backing the trailer under the body. Dangerous stuff. We were going to use a come along to safely pull the chassis out, then I just pushed it out of the way. You can see the before and after shots here.

 

Transfer case removal tips and tricks.

Transfer case tips and tricks. I mentored for a robotics club for 11 years. So here goes some of that problem solving on how to remove the transfer case.
Most of the nuts on the studs are easy to reach. The top two were almost impossible to get to. I could get my hand on them however there was less than 1/2" clearance between transfer case and bottom of body. So as you saw in my earlier post the only way to get clearance ( 3"+) is to remove the rear transmission cross member bolts and lower it down with the transmission jack.

Being a ridiculous tool whore, I have bought and continue to buy every tool under the planet. Here are some choices that may work for you. First since I had a spare transfer case around, I made a template of the back, note the two vertical lines denoting the strength rib on the transmission top.

Template

Note the rib in relation to top nut.

this was the only combo of all the 3 huge boxes of tools that I own that would get on the nut, and be able to turn it. However I have broken both thumbs in the past. This was very hard on those hand to pull down.

Here you can see the template mock up, and ending test result. So I bought these based on how they worked on pattern.S-box wrench fits, clears rib, but with clearance for cat on truck, you can only move it 1/6 of a rotation(one flat on hex nut). Even with crossmember down I barely had enough clearance for this to work well. Now if it had a ratcheting box on the end. ... Back to the template:

Here is the ratcheting box end stubby, that ultimately worked. Note transfer case nuts are 14mm. I had to use a 13mm on one bolt, cause it appears that the transfer case on the Black Beast has been rebuilt. One of the transmission studs was missing and a bolt was in with washers. NOT how the transmission was engineered. ( I'm holding off on lecturing about stud and flanged nuts holding strength compared to a bolt with washers).

 

Fan clutch removal tool fabrication

1/4" dowell, 1.23" wide band iron. welder. My fan clutch was 3" on center for the holes, I needed 3/8" offset on the pins to miss the nut/axle. worked like a charm and I never have to rent one again.

 

Transfer Case Tip #2

Here are two shots of rear OD section of transmission at transfer case. First shot shows how some IDIOT used black RTV to cover the rear seal weep hole. It would have filled with oil if there was a bad seal. I just can't believe all the stupid on the Black Beast. Second shot is what the transfer case removal instructions means by support the rear of the transmission to remove the transfer case. Came right out.

 

I took a day off today to make some more progress now that the snow is gone.

engine from the black beast is out, trans separated, and new parts recovered from motor. Next phase, clean up and get ready for some wire brushing of chassis for paint.

 

You are doing a great job of carefully prepping this rig. Keep at it, not enough folks will go through this much work. Been there done that myself. Most important, have fun.

 

Well done should be an awesome ride when done!!!
Steve

 

Well after getting under the Black Beast yesterday I was able to determine only need one fender on the front clip, not two. I promptly ordered one online. Almost have all the major parts to reassemble. I figure another three day ( thurs, fri, sat) 8a-3pm cleaning, prepping and painting engine and engine bay. I want to get frame clear behind firewall, past brake lines, and maybe as far back as rear torsion bar crossmember all cleaned and painted.


Last weeks totals: 66 hours of work two jobs, 30+ hours on truck project. AND I had a grandson born 4/13/2016.

Mon, tues, wednesday this week I will be fabricating some sort of jig for lifting the motor properly leveled.

1. Needs to be able to lift level
2. Needs to be able to be added to back of engine and firewall area with minimal removing of stuff
3. should be able to leave "hooks" on back of motor for lifting
4. Or be a jig that can be added and removed easily.

Lots more planning of the next steps. More to follow. Hope this thread helps others. Good thing I am from the Internet.

-=r3p0

 

Parts and Brakes.

New fender arrived today. Parts is parts. I hope it's a good stamping cause I went full discount! $168 WITH shipping.

<<<---notice no abs sensor on steering knuckle so I have 2003 with RWAL. Where can this be found on the vehicle? in the glove box, door sticker or via the vin?


Ok so there are 3 main brake line bend groups for 1998-2003 D's best I can figure out as follows:

1998-09/2000 RWAL
10/2000-9/2002 RWAL CAB controller change
10-2002-2003 another CAB controller change, looses the valve things ( still have to find the name of these) on LH fender towing package 2 piston front disc, rear disc with 4 wheel ABS with 4 wheel disc.These have the hcu and its ton of brake lines.

I spoke at length to https://sstubes.com

Both Rick and Jeremy in RD were very nice and honest that they pulled back their lines and are moving to a more whole line approach to RD and inventory management so they can grow. I may be able to help them with the Durango lines when they get to them in the future. I hope our time lines sync up.

On both the 2001 and the 2003 and I imagine every Durango, the corrosion below the battery box right on to the brake lines at the blocks is bad. You can see some of this in the the brake line shots on the chassis of the 2003.

Preparing for removing everything from the chassis and swapping out the front end of the 2003 to the 2001, BIG difference in the CAB controllers. I think. Still have more research here. Any brake controller input would be great. I think right now I will be using the 2001 ECU and the 2001 CAB, however at body swap will move to the 2003 ECU and 2003 CAB. I have to see if there are any known issues. I feel like I am in gray territory now.. heh.

 

Engine bay cleaning, Transfer case cleaning

started clearing the rust of the front of the frame in engine bay.

Dirty little 244

first soaking.. nothing

get out the wire brush

I have an ooooooo shiny addiction. Anyways cleaning up the transfer case. It had clay that was baked on the outside. I tried every cleaning solvent I had, except one, in the end only a wire brush would work.

 

Engine Bay cleaning and priming

This weeks edition is cleaning more paint/rust off of the front engine bay chassis area and getting it primed. I was really struggling with remove or not removing the brake lines. I have not found a way to activate the CAB controller on the Durango's without using the DRBIII tool. If anyone knows of a way to do this please let me know I didn't want to break the lines until I had to. And because I have not found anyone offering pre-bent lines for the Durango. I can find cheap sets here but the quality is unknown. Using these now, means I need to have the front end swapped to the donor dual piston calipers and steering knuckles. In the end next session I may end up taking all the lines out. I can't do the right side of the frame on the top with all the brake stuff there.

 

NV231 D HD transfer case 1999 Durango ( ol' Blue)

In addition I have a 1999 Durango SLT 4x4 that started the whole mess I got into with these vehicles. I have removed it's transfer case and have it ready to go to the shop to get repaired. My father is going to front the money for the repair. I know at least the chain is toast. Point to be made in this series of shots is how a transfer case to transmission mounting area is clear of RTV, the weep hole is relatively clear. Also you can see some fouling ( gray) meaning that one of the two seals is bad. ( my guess was transmission rear seal). Any body interested in purchasing this baby once I fix a couple things let me know.

 

You are an animal!! Congrats grandpa on the new baby!