New to this board. My current project is a 1990 Cherokee with AX-15 and Cummins B3.3. I was inspired by a Wrangler project on Diesel Truck Resources.

http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/d...j-t112807.html

He has over 15K on his project. It depends on how you drive the rig - Street or heavy offroad.

Just bought a low mileage OM617 and was inspired by several projects posted.

Keep the projects coming.

Chris
AKA: BigBlue

 

have you thought of a GM tranny kit?

currently looking at options to mate a sm465 to a om617

thanks

 

post those plates up on pirate too

 

would like to get a chevy manuel or auto trans adapted to a om 617 for a reasonable price my understandig is that a manual trans wont work becauseof balanceing issues is that the case thanx

 

I'd be interested in having one to bolt a 700R4 to the OM617. Just the adapter - the torque converter would just be a matter of redrilling the OM617 flex plate and adding a bushing to the crank to reduce it to the 7/8" pilot used on the 700R4 converter.

The only tough part might be the starter. IIRC the stock OM617 starter bolts onto the adapter plate and the 700R4 isn't designed for the starter to bolt to the bellhousing, so you'd need to make your new adapter plate accomodate the starter in the stock OM617 location.

 

I am in the process of making one for the 700r4 off a 4.3, same polt pattern as 350. There are no issues with the starter because the 700r4 bell is larger that the benz. So far it looks easy, just figuring out the converter bolts. Both are three lug but the 700r4 pattern is larger, also the pilot is larger. Cheeperjeeper, your t-converter must have a different pilot due to the 2.8 application. About using a different flywheel, these are EXTERNALLY BALLANCED MOTORS !!!!!! Just look at the factory flywheel and you will see the drilled out areas for ballance. And no you can't use one out of a 240 the reason they are externally balanced is the odd # of cylinders. Using anything else must be ballanced to match and bolted in time with the old one with all TWELVE BOLTS! Just my oppinion.

 

found a site that has an adaptor to a s 10 700r4 plate converter starter i think its around a $1000 seem kinda expensive im wanting to use a combo for a trail rig and are looking to find the right combo any ideas bendtsen's is who makes the 700r4 kit

 

Yeah the 2.8L with the 700R4 has a 7/8" diameter x (approximately) 1-1/2" long pilot. Seems to me that as I recall, the pilot on the MB t-converter (and the pilot hole in the MB crank) is bigger than that. No biggie - even if you're using a 700R4 with the 350 bell housing/bolt pattern, you can still use the t-converter from one with the 2.8L bell housing/bolt pattern. As long as you get a low enough stall speed.

That is true to some extent. The factory flywheel for the manual trannys are drilled for balance, but a lot of the MB guys claim that it is mainly to balance the flywheel itself - because a couple of ounces removed by drilling a few holes in the edge of a 38 pound flywheel isn't enough by itself to significantly affect the balance of the rest of the motor. There is also the fact that not all 300D flywheels are drilled the same.

There is a lot of debate on whether the MB motors are internally or externally balanced. Even the 240D flywheels are drilled for balance - and as you pointed out they are a 4 cylinder - not a 5 cylinder. People who use the 240D flywheel to install a manual tranny almost all seem to have some vibrations at certain speeds, but that may just as well be due to the fact that they are so much lighter than a 300D flywheel. The one off the 240D only weighs something like 24 pounds. Those who use the heavier 300D flywheel never seem to have these vibration problems.

Regardless of whether the engines are internally or externally balanced, others who have put a 50 pound flywheel off an AX-15 on the MB crank have not experienced the vibration problems that people using a 240D flywheel all seem to have. This would seem to be evidence supporting the theory that the vibration problems with the 240D flywheel have less to do with imbalance and more to do with not having enough rotating mass to dampen the vibrations. I'm of the persuasion that the drilling of the flywheels was done to fine-tune the balance of the entire rotating assembly, rather than as an external primary balancing.

I also don't recall there being 12 flywheel bolts - I thought it was just 6. But I could very well be wrong since it has been over a year since last time I looked at one separated from the tranny.

 

Look at some of my posts in the "cherokee om617" thread. I have several pics of the flywheel, bolts, and the bushing I made to adapt the 7/8" TC snout to the Benz crankshaft hole.

John

 

Hulkgreen,
don't worry, the AX 15 will withstand the power without any problems I have the stock 2.5TD Jeep Cherokee Diesel with the stock VM engine.
I also have bigger injectors and an engine power of 140hp and 340Nm torque. The AX 15 takes it all.