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Ok I know that I am beating a dead horse here but I have gone through the posts and I have only found bits and pieces of the info I am looking for. What I want to know is this. I have a 92 4X4 with the 3.9 in it. It has A/C no ABS the 3.9 has seen better days about 50,000 miles back. The truck is in great shape other wise granted I will most likely replace the motor mounts once I get the 3.9 out. The question is if I get a 5.2 what is the higest year I can go before I need to stop? Can I do the 5.2 from a 93 or a 94 as long as I get the ECM and the wiring harnes out of it? I am wanting to add a body lift to the truck and really do this up right because this was my truck I got when I turned 16 so needless to say there are some really good memorys in this truck (and some my wife will NEVER find out about). All info would be great! When I do this I am wanting to replace out the grease fittings in the truck also so I can make it handle really well. Ok I am sure I will have more questions as the answers come in. Thanks in advance for the help guys!!!

 

Any year engine will work from 92-97. even 98-2002 they just dont have egrs.as long as its a 5.2 or even better 5.9mag. as for wires and computer. the best years would be 92-95 and maybe 96. the 96 and upis the newer computer system but that should be the only diffence. the rest like interior eletronics should be the same so hook up will be easy. I say if your upgrading get a 5.9. they didnt come in dakotas but they did in rams. its still verry easy swap. Trust me!

 

92-95 you don't even need to change the harness. You can strip two wires out of a junkyard wreck. Then just add them to your harness.Power goes to each side of the extra injectors.Then add the wires to the ecu plug. Pin 17 is injector 7 ,and 18 is 8. Everything else plugs right back in.

 

Ok should I get the whole wireing stuff from under the truck? I guess I am just wanting to make sure it will all work correctly. So I could get the computer from a Ram of about the same year (92-95) get the 5.9 and the wireing harness and for the most part I should be good. I am wanting to build the motor up pretty good also. I am looking to get it around 330-350 hp. Thanks again for the help guys!

 

Anybody have any more info on this? Is there anywhere else I might can get the wiring harness for the engine other than going to the junk yard and yanking it myself?

 

The only place you can get the wires is junkyard. But now that I think about like injmoparsaid you can just add 2 injector wires and thats it. Your stock sensors and all should work. Check on autozone.com and see if the v6 part numbers are the same as the v8. Ya it is alot of homework, but that is what it takes.

 

Hi... I'm a new member; found the forum through Google looking for help/advice on a similar subject.

In fact, based on what I just read, my swap might be a bit easier...

I've got a '92 ext cab 318 Magnum (automatic). ...pretty good old truck with no rust or body damage; 200,000 miles.

The transmission went bad 2 years ago; no 4th, lots of metal shavings, reverse is direct drive; often won't engage in drive; simply shot.

The cost of a rebuild is obscene, and I've been lead to believe the transmissions are "fragile" anyway (I haven't been able to find a good used one in two years).

I've run across a 99 full-sized Ram, wrecked ("easy roll-over", collapsed roof, but still runs and drives; engine sounds good)... 360 Magnum, Automatic, with recently rebuilt transmission. I can buy the whole truck for about half of what a transmission rebuild would cost.

Can I rather simply, just swap the engine and trans from the '99 into my '92? Am I correct in assuming that the engine/trans swap would be a simple bolt-in (except for the possible electronics differences)?

What issues might I run into? Does everything bolt up? What might I have to do with the computer and wiring, transmission linkage, etc?

I should mention that I'm a bit of an "old guy", but used to be a pretty fair shade-tree mechanic (before computer controls).

Other than being a lot slower than I used to be and having a little trouble getting up and down, I believe I can still change an engine as well as ever; just will take me a little longer. The only thing that concerns me is the "electronics" and wiring issues; that's completely over my head. From what I just read here, am I to understand that I might luck out and not have to change any wiring? Do I change the computer?
How about the electronic controls to the transmission? Is it possible that even the harness plugs might match. (this is the kind of stuff that I need specific help/directions with)

Is this a project that makes sense, and that I should be able to handle with a little advice here and there?

Any help, advice, suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks...

Buz

 

Okay All your parts will bolt up inbetween the two trucks. No modificaton! But the wiring is a differnt story. If you wanted take the engine and keep all of your eletronics and intake. That will work, But the tranny from the 99 is run by computer. so it is posible to wire it all up, but extreamly time consuming because you would have to make the comp. run the engine and all interior eletronics like guages and all. Maybe you can get the ram and part it out. Take out the engineand tranny axles stuff like that. and sell it at swap meets or something. then that can pay to rebuild your tranny.

 

Buzz, I dont think that the transmissions in these trucks are "fragile" by any definition. My personal truck had 286,000 miles on it when it finally took a dump and my truck was used from day one to haul car trailers and everything else not to mention being drag raced since new.Its final years were spent behind a 408 stroker and it started slipping at the drag strip. The 518 that was in these trucks is the same basic automatic that was used since 1960with the addition of an overdrive unit. Its the same trans that was used in the Max Wedge cars and the Hemi cars and every other heavy duty application that Chrysler had.They even made a 727 for the slant six to use in taxi cabs and bigger trucks. I pulled the 518 out of my 4 by 4 and had it rebuilt for $350 a couple of weeks ago. I have also had a lot of luck finding these transmissions in Pull-A-Part yards around here where they cost about $60 with a warranty. If your truck is a 2 wheel drive you can find the transmission out of any full size pickup or vanfrom1992 to1995 models without getting into any change in wiring. If the motor still runs good I would just get a second hand trans and keep going.
P.S. 200,000 miles on a 5.2 magnum dont mean its worn out,I have run Dodge fleet vans for years and have routinly exceeded 300,000 miles on them. One in particular had almost 390,000 when I pulled it out and when I went to rebuild it, it had so little wear in the cylinders that we bored it .005 and used a set of factory replacement pistons to reassemble it.Amen to being a bit of an old guy, I'm right there with you on that.

 

There is someone out there that knows what a A518 is !! All the time I hear people say that the trans are fragile.But they also say there is no reason they can't tow their GVW in overdrive.Or ajust the cable,what cable. ATF4,O thats just a money grab.