(04-02-2015, 11:58 AM)raysorenson You won't be towing with a little Mercedes 5 speed. They're not strong.
Heck, I've towed a slightly lighter trailer 35K miles behind a Sonoma with the 2.2L gas engine and NV1500 transmission... That set me on the road to where I'm headed - my summer cross-country trip in 2014 netted 25.8MPG over ca. 9400 miles.
If the consensus is that the transmission from the 190D won't hold up long behind the 606 I guess I may do the simple/expensive thing and get the 617 and put the 4x4 Labs conversion kit on after all. It mates to the NV3500 and 4500, both of which are quite available, and will cost ca. $1100 (plus gearbox) with the appropriate parts. Alternately I'd make my own adapter for the 606 to the Dodge 5-speed from the truck and swap the pump from the 603 as suggested (unless
this project comes through and I can make my own ECU).
I don't like automatics - I've killed a few of old age, and seen many others die, while the manual transmissions I've had have lasted like the Energizer bunny. Add to that the fact that you can almost always limp a manual onward even when it's in trouble, and I'll stick with 'em...
I'll definitely be keeping your suggestion about gearing in mind, too. I regeared the Sonoma from 4.10 to 3.42, gained good highway mileage, and also gained a useable first gear....
Used to start out in second with the original gearing. I'll be planning on driving the conversion around a while on the original gearing to be sure of the ratio I want to change to. One thing I saw about the MB engines is that with the 606 peak torque is at 1600RPM, with the 617 peaking at 2400RPM. My thought is that I'd plan on engine RPM at highway cruising speed in fifth to sit right to the north side of the torque peak, 1800 and 2600 respectively - is there an issue with that theory?