RWD for caddy?

[vwjones]

does anyone know what rear axle would fit under a caddy with minimal fabrication?  thinking of doing an electric motor hybrid for around town.  figure i'll turn the rear wheels through an axle connected to the diff.

[catlin_cava]

Syncro Rear Axel?

[Turbinepowered]

Syncro Rear Axel?

Whole lotta brackets and suspension work.

Volvo's probably too wide, ditto for more modern pickups... try one of the small 80s pickups?

[maxfax]

I think even the little Jap trucks from the 80's are a bit wider..  I seem to remeber my little Ram 50 was still wider than the Caddy..     What about a Chevette, Pinto, or if by chance you could stumble into one, the old RWD Corolla..

[vwjones]

yea, guess i'll have to go to a big parking lot and start crawling under cars with a tape measure.  I've looked under my caddy and it doesn't seem all that complicated to do.

[theman53]

Ford 9" FTW   

I am just saying there are lots out there and they change gears easily  ...but in a serious tone, you can get them cut down camaro guys do it all the time. Jeeps were narrow as well maybe a dana 30 or 44?

[maxfax]

Oooh yeah.. Old Jeeps would probably be close..  There is a ton of goodies and options for a 9" Ford.  The placement of the pinion to the ring gear makes them incredibly durable, but beacuse if this also makes them terribly inneficient..  Kind of heavy too...   Chevy Vega is the other one I was trying to think of earlier...

[Vanagoner]

1970's Toyota Celicas and MKI's both are 1600 mm wide, in the specs.

[Rabbit TD]

Are you planning on using an inline transmission as well and what electric motor will you use.  I think with the extra weight off all this stuff plus the batteries the deisel itself will probably loose the mileage the hybrid part creates even if you can get it perfected and you will  have so many arms flying around in the cab shifting between modes you'll look like an octopuss driving but it will be interesting to see what you can come up with.  Experimenting is fun and we all learn from it here

[vwjones]

Are you planning on using an inline transmission as well and what electric motor will you use.  I think with the extra weight off all this stuff plus the batteries the deisel itself will probably loose the mileage the hybrid part creates even if you can get it perfected and you will  have so many arms flying around in the cab shifting between modes you'll look like an octopuss driving but it will be interesting to see what you can come up with.  Experimenting is fun and we all learn from it here

first off, thanks to vanagoner for the info on the mk1.  that is probably what i'll look for.
as far as transmission goes, ill probably just use a reducer pulley on the forklift motor to a larger on the shaft.  that way I can put the motor in the truck bed and run a belt to the shaft.  I have an old harley belt and cog to use. probaby get some reduction on the diffs as well.  most of the electric cars only use one gear to operate in anyway and shifting is usually not done.  I only want the setup to go about 40 mph so I can use it in town.  due to the lightweight of the truck, i'm hoping to do it with 4 deep cycle batteries.  there are several 48 volt kits for light cars that push them to 40 mph.  4 optima 55 amp hour deepcycle yellowtop's weigh 160lbs plus a 75 lb forkift motor is not much different than hauling a fat girl around .  I think I can get 15 or so  miles out of it on the average trip into town, and look what i'll save on dinner. .

[Rabbit on Roids]

old toyota cars that were RWD were also 4x100 im pretty sure. i know the corolla was, not so sure about the celica. but a chevette/monza/vega rear end would work beautifully too tho. also 4x100, for sure tho.

[smokin_fun]

what about old bimmers? they have roughly the same track and 4x100. try a diesel steam engine hybrid with the exhaust pre heating the steam engines water. or perhaps a sterling generator to the electric motor. fun fun

[NintendoKD]

Mid-engine mount that mother, and make it a hot hatcher, that would require relatively little modification, well at least for me it wouldn't.

[heyisforhumans]

I've done a lot of research on building electric cars. Pay attention to the batteries - I've seen somewhere big LiION batteries developed for small cars which last long and charge fast and the weight you save with that is really important. I've looked for them again but haven't been able to find them...they'd probably be great though. What's most important is that they deep-cycle very well; deep cycle optima car batteries don't deep cycle as well as solar/ wind batteries made for houses - they're more durable and made to last longer and deep-cycle better than any car batteries -  you might want to look at them or else you'll be replacing your batteries very soon. As for the axles I don't know, good luck with all this
-James

[vwjones]

I've done a lot of research on building electric cars. Pay attention to the batteries - I've seen somewhere big LiION batteries developed for small cars which last long and charge fast and the weight you save with that is really important. I've looked for them again but haven't been able to find them...they'd probably be great though. What's most important is that they deep-cycle very well; deep cycle optima car batteries don't deep cycle as well as solar/ wind batteries made for houses - they're more durable and made to last longer and deep-cycle better than any car batteries -  you might want to look at them or else you'll be replacing your batteries very soon. As for the axles I don't know, good luck with all this
-James

thanks for the info but there are hundreds of ev's in the ev album running on the optima's so they must be somewhat durable.  the lithium ion's are the *** to be sure, but they may as well be made of unobtanium because they are 10 or 12 K just for the batteries.  I won't have more have more than 900 in my whole setup.  But if anyone wants to donate litium ion's to the vwjones fund for wayward hybrid builders I can send my address