Trans interchange Ramcharger to Dakota

I am thinking of buying a 93 Dakota 4x4 with plow that has a trans with no reverse. I have a 93 Ramcharger 4x4 with a good trans and toasted body, are they the same trans and will they interchange, they are both 5.2 V8's?

Not a clue on the trans.....

BUT, get or try until it makes funny noises to get the Dakota on a lift, the frames are rot boxes. A friend has lost 2 93's to frame rot.

Ed

the 93 tcase was a one year only deal, on Dakotas, something about the spline count on the input shaft i think?,as for the trans,it should go right in,i presume both are A518,or whatever they were called that year?

The Dakota may have an A500 and the Ramcharger should have an A518.

Bolt in differences?

The 5.2 Dakotas came standard with the 518. A 3.9 came with the 500.

Ok maybe 4wd but my 97 5.2 2wd has the 500 version.

Different torque converters.

The 518 is longer then the 500, I believe. They are the OD versions of a 904 (500) and a 727 (518), so interchange has pretty much the same differences.

That era Dakota did have a rust problem on the main frame rails between the trans crossmember and about a foot and a 1/2 behind where the frame changes from box to C channel. The trans crossmembers bolt to the inside of the boxed frames, Dodge in their infinite wisdom, put large access holes in the outside of the frame to gain access to the crossmember bolts. Those access holes are in perfect alignment with the turned front wheels, so all the salt & water off the front tires can enter the frame with no provision for it to get back out. The rails rot from the inside out, if the top 3/4 of the sides are still good, a new lower sides and bottom can be welded in. Gene

They can bolt in if you have all the right stuff.

If the dak is a 500 and the ramcharger a 518 then the dipstick and tube are different and need to be kept with the trans.

There is an extra bolt hole on the dakota case where the front diff bracket bolts to the case, the dakota uses 2 bolts on that bracket, if you run the ram case you will have one of those two bolts missing, I don't think it is a big deal, I have done a few swaps with no issues so far.

The 500 is around 1/2 inch shorter, I have never had an issue just swapping them and letting the slip yolks make up the difference.

I have never run accross a spline count issue but I would never say never.

Also never having lived in the rust belt (thank the lord) I have never seen an issue rusting out dakota frames.

Pretty sure the dakota trans has a couple bolt holes for mounting the front differential that the Ramcharger and RAM trucks don't have.. Pretty sure the 4X4 Dakota and 4X4 Durango share a transmission..