[cincytj]

well today I decided to hang the motor since it is nice out. I ended up putting it in and out 3 times. first thing was to mount the tera adapter to the trans and then my nth tranny mount adapter. as you can see there was a small interference. nothing my 4 inch grinder couldnt handle.

[cincytj]

then I hung the moter and found that the AC dryer tube thingy is in the way.

[1BadJeepX06]

I have to go get a new lap-top cause a tear of joy just landed in mine and is prolly goin to short it out... WOW..

DH

[cincytj]

now for the fun part, and this has me baffled. I hung the motor again and tied in my tummy tuck plate and bolted it to the frame. the engine ended up 5 inches from the firewall.

I measured the location of the nth mount to the t-case/trans mount surface. it is toward the engine 2-7/8 on the 4.0 and it is toward the rear 1-3/4 on the tera/hemi adapter bracket for a grand total of 4-5/8 WRONG. this really pisses me off since I paid $60 for 5 dollars worth of metal and thier implied garantee I wouldnt have to screw with the tranny mount...... so I am off to Northern tool for a cheapo drill press and a countersink bit so I can mod my nth bracket to move everything 4-5/8

[cincytj]

today was spent with a lot of major surgery on the tera tranny adapter. again, if you want to do the swap, this piece is a waste of time. All I can figure is they had a completely different tranny because even if the forward back dimension was right the thing interferes so bad with the t-case you would have to nearly cut it in half to clear....in my picture you can see the semicircle etch I will have to remove to clear the t-case. it turns all together it was off by 4-5/8 front to back and 5/8 on the height. I spent the entire day grinding and spacing and going for parts, taps, hardware.....now that it is all done I am going to have to hang the motor again to try it out. once I verify it is in the right place I am going to design a simpler tranny mount and make a new one and properly dispose of the tera POS. I am now worried about the motor mounts I got from them too. at least they will get me started.

[RnEmOvr]

looking good, you need to take me for a ride next time you come up

[cincytj]

I will test fit the engine this weekend with the modified brackets. if it all fits I will build this custom hemi/nth bracket to eliminate the cobbled together tera/nth brackets. anyone in Tampa/StPete area with a laser and press brake?

[cincytj]

tonight I decided while I was verifying my tranny fit I might as well make sure the t-case is right too, so I have shifted my attention to the drill fixture for clocking the t-case. since it was going to cost a lot to get the original fixture design made, I thought about it and found a better way. I bought some cheap transfer punches from harbor freight, I cut the one that fit in the tranny hole down so I could get it in from the back. I drilled a 1 1/4 hole in a 1/4 aluminum plate. (grabbed the 1 1/2 bit by accident first, hence the extra hole) since the hole saw makes an oversize hole I added a paper shim to tighten it up and marked the first hole. I drilled the first hole them aligned it back up, clamped it all together and marked the remaining 5 holes. this is the finished jig. then I marked the t-case with a center punch. I removed the t-case studs so the case would spin. I need to rotate it 10 degrees according to Nota4e so I am going to make a degree wheel. I also verified on the jeep before I took everything apart that the lower lug on the t-case is parallel to the ground. I will double chech this with the degree wheel location. thats all for tonight....

[cincytj]

more pictures

[cincytj]

tonight I mounted the drill jig plate on the nv3550 and scribed a line parallel to the mount. then with the plate mounted on the back of the hemi tranny I set it parallel to the mount. looks like it need to rotate about 17 degrees. I drilled the holes and I am not excited about the outcome. it moves the holes to a place where it cuts through the support ribs. My gut feel is that these bolts really only prevent rotation, so I think since I am not planning to beat this thing on rocks any time soon it will be ok. in the mean time I am going to hunt up a new tail shaft and have the holes bored oversize in the correct new location and weld in bungs. for now I think it will be fine.

[AlTheKillerr]

looking great!

cant wait to see it finished

[Zice]

Originally Posted by BackyardBogger

cant wait to see it finished

X2.

[nota4re]

Wow.... the memories this brings. I just caught this thread.... Probably could have helped you with the x-fer case ring. I already have one from when we did mine.

Looks like you're doing everything right. Make sure you keep having fun! I'll PM you my email in case you have any questions.

and I will gain rear antilock brakes.

Not sure how you're gonna accomplish that !

[cincytj]

Originally Posted by nota4re

Wow.... the memories this brings. I just caught this thread.... Probably could have helped you with the x-fer case ring. I already have one from when we did mine.

Looks like you're doing everything right. Make sure you keep having fun! I'll PM you my email in case you have any questions.



Not sure how you're gonna accomplish that !

I am going to add a tone ring to the d44 ring gear and a sensor in the rear diff. this will allow me to use the ram1500 rear only antilock module and it will provide the second signal needed for the ram computer to allow the cruise control to work.....

[cincytj]

well the tranny mystery is solved. appearently the 46re in the Durango is completely different than in the trucks and cherokee. this explains why the tera bracket did not work. I am going to push on with the durango trans, it seemes like it is smaller and hugs up closer in the body. I cant imagine I could break this tranny but if I do I can always switch it later to the truck 46re-a518. I will pull off the tailshaft and get bungs welded in. below you can see the difference....
first one is the durango, second one is every other dodge.....