who here has made a swap with a stock mb auto tranny? 3.0 na with stock tanny into a dj5d mail truck. what vac stuff must i have for tranny to shift or can i kill all the vac stuff and man shift the auto? i dont have power brakes. i dont need vac for anything jeep so....

 

I kept the stock mb auto tranny married to the motor, but being out of a 78 300SD, it had a manual detent rod between the throttle lever and tranny. If I remember correctly, even the later models still had manual detent, but were cable operated. Vacuum comes into play with the modulator, if i remember correctly, and is what is used to control the shifts between soft and hard (preferred) shift.

As for manual shifting of the tranny, yes in fact you can, as this was the precursor to the 'tiptronic' trans. Remember though, if you pull it down a gear on the shifter, you downshift, meaning if you are going to fast for that gear, the trans doesn't take that into account and still down shifts meaning that not only do you risk over revving the motor (unlikely) and breaking traction (most likely) as if you just slammed on brakes.

You also have an electric wide-open-throttle button (wot) that is under the mb accelerator pedal. The trans is actually only a 3spd, but the wot is a kick down from all, including 1st gear, thus making it seem like a 4-spd. My guess is that you could make it a momentary-on toggle on the shift handle, and is how I am going to set it up when I get things rolling again.

I have always wanted to buy up a bunch of the old dj5's and refurb them with non-turbo merc diesels (4 and 5-cyl) and sell them to our local rural carriers. They would be economical, excellent stop-go low speed jeeps, with bullet-proof motors. And being 2wd, they would be super super simple and the shifters could be cable operated and mounted on the dash.

Got pictures of you swap? Would love to hear all about it!

 

i posted some on vlados thread. im truely not worried about a over speed i just didnt take this engine out of the car. so its a basket case. and i have never rode in or as a mater of fact looked under the hood of a mercedes before so i have alot to learn. i dont know the year i dont have a book for it and i dont have a network of friends with any knowledge of mb diesels. so that makes you and vlado my new best friends. i damn sure wish the two of you were standing here in my barn, i would even buy the beer

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holy poop! i love this little motor! so i have been told she has about 100g on her and i have to say she is clean. looking in the fill cap and i see no, i repeat NO funk of any kind in the bottom of the lifter galley. clean. i pulled the power steering pump off and the bracket the fuel filter mounts in the holes left behind from the bracket, (like it was made that way, and im sure it was) i cant wait! im lacking some fuel line or i would fire it up rite now. one thing, i have a small hose cumming off the bottom of the oil filter pot and i dont know what it goes to. can yall help?

 

The little hose off the bottom of the oil filter housing is going to be for the oil pressure guage. 100k miles is just broken in good and ready for a valve adjustment. You gotta run out of oil or water to hurt it. Get familiar with the process of adjusting the valves, or find a shop you trust to do it for you.

Common clear vinyl hose (3/8" I think) holds up very well as a temp fuel line. Get it at any hardware store, cheap.

 

nothing around for 25 miles and it being a holiday. i have a new valve cover and im going to do the valves next weekend. i have to go out of town for a week tomorrow.... so the vac on the back of the pump is the kill. whats on the top? it looks like two things. one plastic, one steel. the plastic has a vac switch on a linkage. another linkage is on the top of the valve cover. witch one gos to the tranny?

 

i just got the new bed on and will be gitting stacks and a motor in tow weeks i hope. The motor is in a 300td ? is that right? i cant fine a doner car under $1000 or a motor

 

i got this one (non turbo) for 700 with radi, tranny, and drive shaft. with 100k on it.

 

To the best of my memory, don't quote me and correct if necessary:

240 = 2.4 liter (4cyl diesel, all n/a)
300 = 3.0 liter (5cyl diesel or 6cyl gas)
D = Diesel
T = Station wagon
C = Coupe
S = Sedan (I may be wrong on this one, but they are all sedans)
E = Fuel Injected (gassers)
L = Long (the sedans with the long back door like a taxi)

Note: Stay away from the 300SDL, it is not the 3.0l, it's an inline six diesel prone to head warpage.

300SD, all years, all turbo diesel, pre '80 with detent rod and small trans, post '80 were detent cable and heavier trans, 85's had weird emissions controls.

300D, 300CD, 300TD, all three are available in turbo and n/a, trunk/hatch will have "turbo" badge if turbo'd, otherwise it's normally aspirated.

 

vwdieseljunkie,

What Transfer cause did you end up using and what kinda of adapter did you have to make for it to work?? I'm looking at putting one of these motors in a 87 Cherokee and was just wondering. Do you happen to have any more pictures of the swap?

Thanks,
db10bo

 

My Comanche was 2wd.

However, it looks like I will be using an old datsun T100L divorced case, or finding some other divorced case like a 205.

Will be getting started on the wrangler swap soon, biggest hold up right now is sourcing drive train. Long term plans are to save the wrangler frame and axles for a vw diesel swap later, and use a 3/4 ton frame and axles for the Wrangler so I can shift things around on the frame as I see fit, 3-link/4-link, etc. Money is finally getting good again to buy stuff.