I was wondering if any 1 has swaped the 2.5 L4 with the badass 5.9 360. im considering the swap because my dad has the 5.9 360 in his 1999 durango and it hual *** for its size and i can only imagin it in my single cab short bed dakota it would be a bat from hell any info would be a appreciated

 

Lol, go big or go home, huh?

It's a very possible swap, and pretty straight forward... but you'll need an engine, transmission and a donor truck. For the engine, you'll want to get a '93+ 5.9L. You can find them in the Dodge Ram, Dakota R/T, or Durango. I assume you want to stick with a manual transmission? You will want to look for an nv3500. Some people might try to tell you that the 5.9L would be pushing the limits of the nv3500, but I think it would be just fine in that small and light of a truck.

For the donor truck, you are going to want to find a 1994 or 1995 Dakota with a 318 in it. You'll need the engine mounts, computer, engine wiring harness, radiator, radiator shroud, and rear axle. I say rear axle because I think the 4 cyl only came with the little 7.25", and that would be a little weak.

This is all just to start... pile up all those parts and then we can get to the finer details.

 

The 318 computer and wiring harness works with the 360? For that rear axel i was thinkin a 4x4 318 rear end because i think its posi or lsd correct me if im wrong. Oh and im going big because im tired of this pos L4 and i wanna smoke any thing i come across for always whooping my *** with the L4 lol

 

Well, yeah, let me take that back. The 318 computer will run the 360, but not to its full potential. You can get a 5.9L computer out of a '94 or '95 Dodge Ram and it will work better. The 318 wiring harness is the same though... as long as its '94 or '95.

About the rear axle... the 4x4 does not come factory with a lsd. It was an option for any dakota with a 8.25" rear axle. Its very hard to say what would have one and what wouldn't. That said, you will actually want to avoid the 4x4 axle. The 4x4s are axle under spring and the 2wds are axle over spring. In other words, you'd have to cut off the leaf spring perches, line up your pinion angle, and weld new perches on the other side. Look for a '94 or '95 2wd 318 donor truck and just take the rear axle out of it.

Also, you'll need the front and rear springs from your donor truck to support the weight of the heavier engine.

The best thing for you to find would be a '94 or '95 2wd 318 5 speed Dakota with a blown engine for really cheap. Then you'd have all the parts you'd need besides the engine and computer.

 

looks lk im gonna be doing alot of junkyard hunting lol *** it. it woul be worth it when all said is done thanks for the help i appreciate it lots of help

 

Hello folks.... Just registered.

I just inherrited a 95 short bed Dakota and am strongly considering the 5.9 swap to replace the very tired V6. This one's an automatic. Right now, I'm gathering information.

Will a 2001 computer and wiring harness work with the swap into the 95? I may be able to pick up a 2001 donor truck for the drive train, pretty cheap.

Looking forward to learning all I can about this!

 

You'll probably have to swap all the interior wiring, plus the instrument panel is connected differently on the 2001 than it is on the 95 (95 all gauges are driven off sensors directly; by 2001, they were driven off the ECU).

I'd look for a 1995 5.2 donor for the ECU; there's two more wires to add for the injectors; and with that, the truck will run. Or if you want to get slick, find a 1996 and convert to OBDII.

With that, there's folks like HemiFever and Flyin'Ryan that can tune the ECU for you (the 1996 one, ask about the 1995 one) to make up for the differences.

But. To just drop in, the 1995 5.2 ECU will run the 5.9, you just won't have the full WOT power of the 5.9 available.

RwP

 

Thanks!! Great info. The donor 2001 has a 5.9 with trans. I guess I could pick it up for the drive train then and hunt down an ECU from a 95 RAM?