[weaselweb]

So here is an interesting question. A few months back I came across a '92 Dakota LE for a reasonable price, so needless to say I bought it. It's a strong little truck V6, had some wiring bugs that I've taken care of. Now here is where I am lost. Originally this should be a 4 speed truck, but it is not. Someone swapped the 4 speed for a 3 speed, now what I am wondering is how can I get my odometer and speedo top work with this trans? I've got all my bugs worked out except for this one and some body work. Any one have any idea how I can make this 3 speed work so I know how fast I'm actually going?
Thank you in advance.

 

[dana44]

Welcome to the forum. Since you are sure it is a 3 speed transmission, do you know which three speed it is? All the three speed transmissions I know of have a speedo gear in the rear driver's side of the tailshaft. If you look at the Dakota section at the top of the page, you may be able to figure out if it was 1992 or 1993 that they went to electronic speedometer (sensor on the top of the rear end), but, if the previous ones do have the gear in the transmission, it may require a swap of the dash cluster, of which there are only two clusters (with, and without a tachometer).

 

[Bob Lincoln]

How do you know it's a 3-speed transmission in there now? Just by counting shifts? It's likely that it's simply not shifting into 4th (ovedrive). They would have had to put a longer driveshaft in, to eliminate the electric overdrive unit that bolts to the back of the original transmission.

 

[weaselweb]

Exactly, I've already been under its not a 4 speed. No I was not counting shifts, there is no OD unit on the trans on my truck

 

[Bob Lincoln]

1992 has the speed sensor on the differential, and no speedometer cable to the cluster.

 

[valiant67]

I guess someone must have found a very early (like 1987) Dakota if they used a factory crossmember because the crossmember differs between 3 speed auto and 4 speed auto.

I think the swap to an older cluster is the easiest thing.

 

[weaselweb]

Then why does Mopar offer various speedo pinions that go into the trans housing for various tire sizes?

For 92 model Dakota

 

[valiant67]

The early electronic speedometers still used a pinion gear hooked to a sensor that converted the mechanical signal to an electric one rather than using a mechanical cable for the transfer to the speedometer. Eventually they no longer used a pinion at all and software in the computer performed the conversion based on the pinion factor programmed in.

You can see an example of the setup in this eBay auction, though this one came from a manual transmission. Note the electronic connector:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-DODGE-DAKOTA-A535-TRANSMISSION-2WD-SPEED-SENSOR-HOUSING-AND-GEAR-/251052928450#vi-content

I honestly don't know if the automatic in 1992 used that setup but I suspect it did.

 

[weaselweb]

Thanks valiant