Try a used car lot - you can go to Cars.com or Carmax, find an AWD near you, take a look (take some digital pics, compare them to yours). Actually, Chrysler’s done a lot of floor pan modification on the vans, first (I think) to fit AWD, then they dropped AWD when they went with ‘stow and go’ seating. Another AWD minivan (Siena) has a different floor pan than the FWD, it eliminates the spare storage.
This is the type of thing where you are going to have to find out the answers yourself. Please don’t view the site as a place where you can pose any type of question and then degrade it/us when we diverge from simply saying, “we don’t know” and why should anyone know if this axel swap is a simple bolt in?
What you say seems to be the only way for me to go. - It’s a good idea (the Carmax thing, etc.) - I will check into it further. - Thank you.
It would be cheaper, much cheaper, to just buy a new Chevy Volt…It’s very easy to talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, FORGET trying to convert your Caravan…You are NOT going to do in your backyard what it takes hundreds of engineers years to accomplish working with unlimited resources…
Save your sanity, buy a Volt…I don’t think the AWD Caravan uses a “transfer case” as such. It probably uses a transmission / transaxle with a PTO connection for the rear driveshaft…And YES manufacturers will indeed stamp out different floor pans for different model vehicles. Don’t expect yours to have hard points to mount the live rear axle…I suspect the AWD versions have IRS, meaning the rear differential is mounted rigidly to the body structure. You don’t need a driveshaft, just bolt your electric motor directly to the rear gearbox. Again, saying it is one thing, doing it is something else…
It has become apparent that i have to find my answer elsewhere. - I am pursuing that. I have degraded no one. - How do i know (beforehand) whether or not anyone has done this ? - As a matter of fact, there HAVE been a few good ideas to help me on my way, which i appreciate. And, i have expressed that appreciation. In my mind, it is not degrading not to know something, not to have a specific kind of experience, etc. - To consider someone as being stupid could be considered degrading them. - I do not consider anyone that has responded to my question as being stupid. Inattentive to my specific question, yes, but that is being inattentive, not stupid. - There is a difference. I do not degrade anyone for having other interests or thoughts, etc. - In the distant future, i may come back on to this thread with the answer. Until then, thank you all for your good intentions and help.
You may want to look up the April 2010 issue (vol 53) of the publication “Cars and Parts”. On page 32 of this issue is an article titled “The Independent Thinker”, by Jim Hinckley. The article is about an early inventor named Justus Entz who designed an automotive electric transmission in the mid 1890’s. Ultimately, Entz’ transmission was used in the Woods Dual Power which came about in 1917. In this Woods Dual Power, below 15 mph, its 4 cylinder engine idled and an electric motor powered the carand utilized regenerative braking to help recharge the batteries. At speeds greater than 15 mph, the Entz transmission engaged the 4 cylinder engine. The car did run economically for its time. However production ceased in 1918.
At any rate, the Woods Dual Power was way ahead of its time. Maybe doing further research on this vehicle may help you in what you intend to do. At any rate, what you are thinking about doing was done more than 90 years ago. Perhaps with today’s technology, you may be more successful.
How do you think this would have gone if you walked up to a Chrysler parts man and asked this question? would you expect him to know the answer? It is hard enough keeping track of how “normal” systems work much less something like this. I once had an idea of putting two VW air cooled engines in a Land Rover 88, I did not dare express this idea to anyone else.
There was an URBAN LEGEND in northern Alabama that during WW II an enterprising truck driver whose old truck was struggling to pull trailers on the mountains got a great idea. Supposedly he removed the axle from his trailer and replaced it with a junk drive axle and mounted a Ford V-8 under the trailers carriage with a cable controlled clutch, the throttle locked at wide open and whenever he found it difficult to ascend an incline he just engaged the clutch, spinning the engine into life at wide open throttle, adding maybe 50 h.p. It was a good story.
You’re creating a heavy vehicle here, and the only storage technology currently available that might provide enough power with enough energy density to be mobile would be a large array of lithium ion cells, like that used by Tesla. These packages come with some engineering challanges that Tesla has spent millions to conquer, primarily the heat generated and the susceptability of lithium ion cells to heat damage. They engineered a highly sophisticated cooling system, integrated into the lithium ion array.
I applaud your willingness to try, but I truely think you’re underestimating the problems you’ll encounter in creating this setup. This will be a complex engineering project that’s likely to take years and wheelbarrels full of cash. It would be far cheaper and far better to simply buy one of the new available hybrids.
I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear. But there’s no practical way to create your proposed setup until someone invents an entirely new energy storage technology. Current battery technologies come with too much weight, too many problems, and would require too much engineering.