Well, I was thinking, since auto's suck and with the 5.9 a stick would add a lot of extra power. How hard would it be to do this swap? Add a clutch, bolt the tranny in? New computer im guessing? Not sure on that. What would be the best way to go about this?

Chris

 

ill take your rebuilt tranny, its a 46re right with shift kit in it?

and when you swap it out, easy swap would be a NV350. One of my friends is selling a rebuilt one right now.

or the Viper 6 speed.. not as easy as the nv350 but it has been done.

and good luck driving in the rain..

 

yeah thats a really good idea. my boss has a RC 5.9 R/T (stock but the exhaust) and i have a quad cab 4.7 5 speed and because his transmission takes so much of the engine's power and if i can get my shifts right, i can beat him in a race. your truck will be fast as SH*T with a 5 or 6 speed. let us know how it goes

 

Mine is the 42re I just did a 5.9 swap from a 3.9 left the tranny in so far it's handled it, but I like stick shift. Also I will be needing 4x4, this truck is going up not down, though I could do a very cool 4x4 dragster. It all depends, I am going to europe for a month, and when I come back thats when anything like this will start. The viper 6 speed would be cool, but thats a lot of work just for a tranny, and to get the tranny there is a lot of money Unless I can find one cheap than that would be killer. Im sure I can find a nv3500 case for 150 to 200 bucks and get them to build it up. 2,200 for a stick 5.9 Im in. Mind you I need to stick a Transfer case on the end. So Maybe I can borrow ones drive shafts for this swap. One thing Im worried about is the wiring, and the computer. Do I need a computer that uses stick? Or Can i just use the r/t comp?

Yea I like standards, but I must say this truck is one fast truck. I can beat v6 cars. I want to race my friends 5.0 mustang for the hell of it.

Just took a peak at a viper 6 speed and it won't work, unless I throw the internals in a separate case. I think I can do with a 5 speed

 

Well, I just went on the net and had a look, the NV3500 is rated for 300 ft/lbs, while the 4500 is rated at 450. Also the gear ratios are a lot higher which would be more fun I think it would be cool to do just not sure about the wiring and comp. Maybe someone can jump in.

Chris

 

I posted a similar ideaswapping the crap auto forthe NV3500. Everyone who replied said the PCM wouldn't need to be changed (thank god). And as for the wiring, I'm unsure. No one really answered that section. PlusI'm not sure howeasy the clutch linkages would be installed. It's a cool idea but it seems a little overwhelming. I'd like to do this as a summer project too, but I have no idea what I'm doing. Sorry I'm not much help, but maybe someone else knows the answers to your other questions.


2001 Dakota R/T 5.9L
Cold Air Intake
Flowmaster Catback Exhaust
Drag Tires andThick Burnouts

 

Well fortunately, these trucks were available with manual transmissions, so all the parts are out there in salvage yards. I used to have a car (GM G-body) that folks liked to convert to manuals, but GM didn't make them with manuals, so folks would cobble parts together from various other cars (usually GM F-bodies) and make it work. Talk about time-consuming.

 

Well, It would be easy to get the linkage for the pedals. I would just get them from a another dakota, and the brackets would be there too and im sure the firewall is setup for both applications it would be the matter of running one cable to the tranny, which there already is one...

The tranny might be the hard part, Il probably need 2 custom drive shafts... Brackets to hold it. I want the nv4500, it seems a bit more solid, of course id have it rebuilt I did find one issue with the 4500 but there is a easy fix i read about...

 

What did the 5.9L 4x4 Rams have? Did they use the NV-3500?