Gary,
On the brakes...why modify the factory braking system when there's
aftermarket kits that utilize the factory equipment without any
modifications.
- Bernd
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net] On Behalf Of Christopher
Blancher
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:27 AM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: DML: Gary Pinkley's 1997 Dakota Modifications
DML'ers
Gary Pinkley: Hotchkis Product Engineer provides info about his
1997 Dakota truck modifications in the Oct. 2002 issue of Truckin
magazine.
The article was 'Hotchkis Hot Lap Day' and it listed that
you have now a 5.2 liter V-8 with all the performance goodies. The real
eye opener was the Viper manual 6 speed gearbox, Viper brakes front &
rear and Fikse 19 inch wheels.
Please provide some insight on the engineering standpoint
of the Viper manual 6 speed gearbox and front & rear brakes.
The easy one to tell you about are the wheels. I originally bought them
when I did not have the fender flares on the truck, so I have a 1"
spacer on the truck to run them with the flares. They are a Fikse FM/10
19x9 w/ 7" backspacing in the front, and the rear is a 19x10.5 w/ 9.5"
backspacing. Keep in mind, that I added a 1" spacer to get the wheels
to look proper with the Flares.
The front brakes: This is a tough design to do, You have to highly
modify the Dakota spindle and build an adapter plate to mount the viper
caliper in the proper spot. Basically, you chop off the factory cast
brake caliper sliders and clearance for the large, 4-piston viper
calipers. Then you need to design a mounting plate that ties into the
dust sheild bolts (also, drill and tap them for larger 10mm hardware).
Be forewarded, if you do this and use the stock 17" R/T wheels, they
will require 0.68" thick wheel spacers to clear the Viper caliper. I
have heard, that an early viper spindle (first or second year) can be
adapted to the dakota with only a little work. I have not done this
swap myself, and cannot say for sure that this works. Caveat Emptor.
The rear brakes: These are not quite as bad. You have to fabricate a
mount for the caliper back there that mounts to the original drum
backing plate. You will have to pull the axles to do this. Also, you
will have to turn down the OD of the wheel flange on the axle to fit
inside of the Viper brake rotor.
The 6-Speed: This is not for the faint of heart. This is a very
involved process. Originally the trans was modified, at Chrysler's
encouragement, for a 2000 Quad Cab 4.7L project truck that we did back
in 99. It was built to simulate the exact packaging of a stock dakota
5-speed, and we jumped through a lot of hoops. We started with a Viper
T56 transmission. The input shaft was sectioned and then welded
together with a 5-speed one to give the truck style splines. The
Bellhousing, from a V-6 AX-15, trans was machined down and a new trans
mounting plate was made and welded to the bellhousing (we call this the
FrankenBell). Chrylser also wanted us to move the shifter to the
factory location hole, so the shifting mechanism was modified, and moved
forward. Right now, I have the trans out to redo the
modifications. I am planning to make the bellhousing work with the
factory
viper input shaft (I didn't trust the welded shaft for high horsepower
and torque applications). I also, am planning to return the shifter to
the viper location, as I want the shifter moved back towards the driver.
That way, I can get a shorter throw on it. My truck is a 97, so I have
the trans-mounted speedo gear, so I am having a box built to convert
(and be able to re-calibrate) the speed sensor signal to the Dakota
signal.
Hope this helps all of you,
-Gary Pinkley
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