Re: RE: Gary Pinkley's 1997 Dakota Modifications

From: greg conner (dodgeboy93@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Aug 25 2002 - 21:14:31 EDT


umm..cause its from a viper..hehe Just to say.."yea those are dodge vipar
brakes"

oh and ryan..hope your reading this

>From: "Bernd D. Ratsch" <bernd@texas.net>
>Reply-To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
>To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
>Subject: DML: RE: Gary Pinkley's 1997 Dakota Modifications
>Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2002 16:46:36 -0600
>
>
>
>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

Greg Conner
1996 RC
3.9 hybrid

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