Hey guys I'm new here and this is the first truck forum I've ever joined. Im looking at swapping out my hemi for a 24valve 5.9L CR Cummins. Now i know that people are gonna say, its not worth it, trade it for a 2500 cummins and that its labor intensive, cost alot, and time consuming. Well labor intensive and time consuming are not my issues. ive already done alot of research and the most cost effective way that i can see going about doing this is by finding a wrecked or police impound auction 2500 ram thats the same year and just taking everything out that i need for the donor truck (engine, computer, wiring, fuel tank, exhaust, tranny, and if the front suspension is intact then im going to replace my front suspension but i would like to keep my independent suspension, im not a fan of solid front axle. the dodge i have right now is a 2004.5 dodge ram 1500 4x4 slt with the offroad package, it has 130k miles on it and no major powertrain repairs or issues have happened. im and I would be doing all the labor myself, yes im young but i have alot of expirence with this truck. my father has the same year dodge as mine with the same engine but his is a 2500 with almost 300k miles on it, i rebuilt his engine by myself when i was 17 and the only instruction i had was youtube and a chiltons manual. it took me about a month but i did manage to do it and the engine had no problems. what im asking is, does anybody know anyone that has done this or done it themselves that can give me some guidance on this project? i would appreciate it if people that thing it is a waste of time or not worth it please just not post. thanks

 

Besides the major work swapping this over, the 1500 frame is almost totally different compared to the 2500 and is weaker up front as it was not designed to have almost 1000lbs hanging off it.

 

actually the only real difference between the 1500 and the 2500 are the suspension components. the 2500's have heavier duty suspension, and the mounts have to be the same or close to the same. My dad has an 04 2500 with a hemi in it, mine is an 04 1500 with a hemi in it. his truck could have been ordered from the factory with the 24v 5.9 CR cummins. which makes me think that, since both frames are the same dimensions (i have crawled under both trucks and measured all the dimensions of both frames... they are the same but the 2500 might be thicker gauge steel) and because you can put the cummins in the 2500, why wont you be able to put it in the 1500? the hemi fully dressed is like 600 pounds i believe (try searching the internet for the weight and you wont get anywhere), i have a 350lb steel front bumper on my 1500 right now, thats about what a cummins weighs... so without the bumper, my suspension can support the engine. I'm not saying that your wrong, im just saying there's not enough information on it to prove your assumption.

 

Go for it.

 

Just a suggestion, you may want to check out the front suspension components from the 2500 versus the 1500 too. You'll want to change the entire drive train to handle the torque the 5.9 develops.
Good luck

 

Kepp your torsion bars there and place some struts where your shock goes. That will give you some extra capacity.

 

yea im probably gonna replace all of it except maybe the rear axle, i dont think that would matter would it?

 

instead of keeping my shocks, i was going to put in some coil over shocks. that would essentially accomplish the same thing right?

 

Type hemi to cummins swap into goodle search. There was someone on this forum a while back who did the swap and has some good info for you. I was interested in this because I want to build up a nice cummins in the future and would like to start with a 2500 hemi that I can get for cheap and restore it and throw in a cummins. But that is way down the road

 

He did a 12v Cummins into a 2002 to replace the 360 that blew. Played hell for months and months getting everything to work right.