Just a heads up!

I have a Ram Van 250 and not sure what year it is, I have the slip somewhere but if I recall correctly it's a 1989...
Well this thing is a mess! No seats, and a major varmint nest in the engine bay so it's safe to say most of the wires are chewed out!
IDK what condition it was in, if it was running or what other than it was being used to house a dog/dogs before I got it. The inside is a mess of dog and mouse/rat feces!
I'm not really sure what to do with it... There's so much rodent filth in it I don't think I'll be able to get the feces out completely...
As of now it's just a parts van for my 79'. It appears that I'll be able to use many parts off it!
I'd like to save the motor and tranny so I might just pull those and Idk what...
Since gas is so expensive I was almost thinking to put that motor in my 79' not sure, depends how difficult that would be.
If possible I would like to take the Air conditioning unit out and put it in my 79'...
If I pull the motor and trans which vehicles are compatible to accept that setup?
It's a 5.2liter with a 4speed Auto A518 transmission...

Once I decide to go through with this I'll open up another thread...

Changing motors on a B van is not fun, and I have changed a lot of motors! I'd really have to need that motor and really like the van to go through that much effort.

The motor comes out the front, so the grille, the radiator, the top part of the radiator support, all the stuff bolted onto the motor, the intake manifold, the exhaust, the motor mounts, and the trans needs to be disconnected from the motor. The motor barely fits through the hole it has to come through, and it will have to move forward at least 6' to clear everything on the van. The motor hoist can't be much higher then the top of the valve covers as its lifting the motor up, for the motor to fit through the hole it has to come through. And you get to do that 2x because you need to pull the motor from the other van. Putting the next motor back is as challenging as taking the old one out, maybe even a bit more challenging.

Then, that 89 should be the 1st year of electronic fuel injected, lots of stuff to change over to a carb setup, or lots more stuff to change over to fuel injection. Either way, messing with the wiring will be necessary. Some stuff won't change over very easily (going either way). That 1st couple years of the electronic fuel injection had some issues. Gene

the differences between the 1989 and the 1979 van almost makes it unfeasible to try to make the ac fit.
if it were mine, i would look at one of those universal, under dash kits that are everywhere.
i realize the dog box will be in the road, so some creative duct work would be needed, unless you get a direct fit kit.
without having the vans in front of me, or pictures of the dash setups and many other things, i can't really offer much advice on the ac swap.
if the 89 van transmission is the hydraulic controlled A518, i would seriously consider swapping that transmission into your 79 van. that shouldn't be too difficult a job to do.

I think 97 was the 1st year for the electronic controlled transmission, an 89 should be the hydraulic controlled 518. It may gain him a couple mpg, but then he would be giving up his rebuilt 727.

As for the ac/ it looks pretty similar for those two years, I'll take some pics and post em later...

So you guys think I can swap the tranny??? On one hand I'd be losing my freshly rebuilt 727 but also wouldn't mind rebuilding the 518 and swapping it if it'll give me better mpg's.
What exactly would I have to do? Will it bolt directly to the flexplate or will I need an adapter??

i forgot you already have a fresh 727. and as Gene said, you "may" only gain a couple of mpg, so one needs to look at the "pay back costs" to see if this is worth the effort.
however, if one wants to learn, is able to fabricate, and just wants a project, then this swap may be something worthwhile.
the quick explanation, it will bolt up, you need to shorten your driveshaft, the transmission mount needs modified, the shifter linkage may/may not need modified, and using the hydraulic unit allows a couple of ways to activate the OD and the lockup converter.
of course it's a little more involved than that, but all in all, is a relatively easy conversion to do.
you may, or may not need to add a "hump" of some kind behind the dog box to allow the bulky OD unit to sit at the same output shaft height as the original 727.

Yeah, I probably won't go through with a tranny swap... I have way too many projects right now and increased mpg's sounds good but at what cost? I don't even know the condition of the other transmission... I just don't want that van to go to waste... I'll probably try and get it running the way it is and just use it around the ranch...

Ok, I need to check something before I take my van for a drive... When I did my transmission I didn't mark the driveshaft so I'm not sure if I installed it the right way. Does it matter? What's the worst that can happen?
Those who have been here from the start of this thread may remember that the driveshaft fell off at the differential end and I reattached but I haven't been on a drive since this all started and the short test drives on my property weren't enough to tell if there's a wobble because my roads are bumpy dirt roads... So if there's a noticable vibration do I just remove it and turn it 180° then reinstall it? It's a 50/50 shot I guess...
I saw something on youtube about putting hose clamps on it and adjusting it that way...

If the drive shaft fell out, I would be concerned that it is not bent. Doesn't take much of a dent in a driveshaft to mess it up bad. If there are no dents and the drive shaft is still balanced, which way the driveshaft is connected to the rear axle shouldn't matter. On the rare occasions it does, simply turning the driveshaft 180 degrees may correct the out of balance. I wouldn't expect much help with turning the shaft 180 degrees, but it might help.

You should be able to jack up the rear end on a level surface and get both wheels off the ground with jack stands under the rear axle. Its important the weight of the van is on the axle, and the axle is on the jack stands, and the tires clear the ground by a couple of inches. Start the van and put it in gear. At an idle, while in gear (a helper would be great but it can be done alone), look to be sure the driveshaft is spinning true and not wobbling at the center or either end. If its wobbling, it needs to be rebalanced, or the U joints replaced at the least, but the drive shaft probably needs to be replaced because I suspect its bent. You can not straighten a bent driveshaft. When you have completed the test, shut the van off in gear and let it coast to a stop, then put it in park after the tires have stopped spinning and you are ready to set the van back on its wheels.

If it spins OK at an idle, you can bring it up slowly to about 45 mph, anything out of balance should show up, you will feel the vibration up through the seat and the van. If the vibration gets real bad at any point, stop the test. Be aware that an out of balance vibration could be the tires and wheels, or the driveshaft. By theory, you should be able to bring the speed all the way up to the driving speed you drive, but I simply don't trust jack stands that much, should the stands fail, and the tires hit the ground, the van will take off at whatever speed the speedometer says its going. Not a pretty picture.

Obviously, a bad vibration needs to be corrected before you drive it, but a very minor vibration may be simple tire balance and can be corrected when you have time. I'd start with the tires before I'd try anything with the driveshaft balance. Also be aware that a vibration you feel with the van on jack stands may or may not show up when driving, and sometimes a vibration while driving won't show up with the wheels off the ground. Tire balance or tire problems can often show up like that. Usually a driveshaft balance shows up consistently. Gene

what caused the driveshaft to fall off ? broken u-joint ? broken cap retainer strap or bolt ?

When I installed the driveshaft I forgot to put the clips on the caps that get bolted onto the differential... It was a really stupid and dangerous mistake.
It came apart on the freeway going 80mph but didn't fall out completely. It dragged on the smooth asphalt for a couple hundred feet.
Both caps were lost and the straps were chewed up...
I have a new ujoint and straps on the way.

It didn't fall out completely, it just detached from the differential and dragged on smooth asphalt for a couple hundred feet. There's very little damage, I only lost two caps on the ujoint and chewed up the straps... I have straps on the way and already have a new ujoint...

After I rebuilt the transmission and installed the driveshaft I wasn't really sure if it was on the right way with the weight that's on it... I never really noticed a vibration after the install but because I forgot to put the clips on the caps the ujoint came apart from the differential I didn't really have time to figure out if the balance was off with the driveshaft...

I'll try putting the rear on jacks, I have 6 ton jacks and I have lot's of property incase it runs from me!
I haven't balanced the tires but they are used tires on brand new rims...
Thanks Gene, I'll perform the test you outlined.

I said I'd be back with pics of the a/c units and here I am...
They look pretty close if not, the same...
I forgot to take pics of the compressor but they're pretty much the same... I'll post pics of that later...

Well, looks the same that's why I was asking about it... It unfortunately looks like whoever had the vehicle in the past messed with the HVAC system... I'd be willing to try and swap it either way. I have one of those cheap a/c system pump kits... I also have a flush kit... assuming all hoses are good, the compressor works and it's complete then this might be compatible!
I'm not getting started on it yet so let's put a pin in this...

Right now I just need to replace the ujoint and straps in my driveshaft before anything else...

interesting ! they do appear to be quite close appearance wise.
like i always say : "the older i get, the DUMBER i really am !"
how do the dashes compare between the two ? or rather i should say the controls ?
are they vacuum or electric, or a combination of both ?
you are "learnin'" me stuff. thank you !

Glad I can be of service!
Here's some more pictures fer ya! Oh! I also found the title! It's a 94'!
It's looking like both these vans have similar components! The question is how much damage have the mice done???
There's a massive nest behind the a/c compressor on top of the engine! You can kinda see it in the picture...
I'm not so much worried about running into mice either but rather into snakes! The rattling kind! I live in Northern Arizona...

My 79' uses v-belts and the "parts van" has a serpentine belt... They're mounted on the same spot. I'm assuming the pulley can be switched out?

Quick question carb related...

The divorce choke I have has a wire that goes to a small "ballast resistor"(not sure what it's called actually) but what else is supposed to be connected to the it??? There use to be a bunch of wires that were for smog components that were removed...
That choke wire is supposed to be fed 12 volts so am I to connect a
"Hot" wire directly from the battery??.

That is called a temperature compensating resistor and it is used to regulate the speed in which the choke opens, quicker when it is hot out, slower when it is colder out. Your choke should be wired to that and the other end should only be hot when the engine is running, it goes from the key switch thru the oil pressure sender, which will send juice to that resistor when you have oil pressure. At least that is how it worked on my 87 Diplomat.

As for the serpentine vs v belt setup, the AC compressor has that as part of the clutch assembly, not sure if you can swap them about or not.

So the oil pressure sender I have has 3 connectors... There's a white wire coming out of the middle connector and according to the Haynes manuals wiring diagram it connects to the oil light on the instrument panel. When I turn the ignition ON that wire is hot and when OFF it's cold... I would assume that I'd need a wire coming from one of those other connectors on the oil pressure switch to the choke resistor?
There's one drawback if that's the case! The other two connectors on the pressure switch are cold and stay cold when the ignition is ON...

On your AC set up, my 1st thought was 76-94 has a lot of years between. The design might be the same, but the odds are there were probably running changes that occurred between those years. I'm sure suppliers were changed, and parts may or may not swap between the two units, but the two units may be able to be swapped as complete units. Maybe comparing the exchange of things like heater cores, AC evaporators, or blower motors might give you an idea of a year range those parts might fit as replacement parts, but sometimes those parts are adapted to fit multiple years too. It was not unheard of for Dodge to come up with a new design mid year, then engineer the new part to be a direct replacement for the old design. When they installed the last unit of old design part on the assembly line, the next vehicle in line, and every one after it, got the new designed unit installed as the line kept moving.

The 2nd thought was, Dodge reused a lot of stuff if something worked well. The only time they changed some stuff was when a better design came along, or something was no longer available for the old unit, or the government required something to be changed.

As an example, I believe the Torsion bars on my 91 Dakota 4x4 frame use the same torsion bars (only with a higher weight capacity) as are used on a 2009 Durango. The only way I am going to know for sure is to have one of both sitting on my bench to measure.

I believe your AC unit will fall under the same situation, the only way your going to know for sure is to take both units apart and compare them to each other, or stumble across someone that has already done that. You need to clean out both AC units anyway, right? Make a lot of noise around it, then ten minutes later make a lot of noise again, maybe those rattlers will get the message and leave? Be careful. Gene

That's the last line in the chain of power to the choke assist heater. It allows power to the choke assist only when the engine has oil pressure.