i just asked what kinda tranny i had. TMS Bill informed me its 46 re. thanks BILL. i told my friend and we where gonna go pull one, he brought up the suggestion of doin a auto/manual conversion, he a chevy guy and said they do it in the camaros all the time, however i told him this is a dodge, a lil different lol but it got me thinking has ne one done this to there truck if so how hard is it? is it worth it? i would much rather have a manual ne how, if i could do it with out having to buy a new truck im up for it thanks again in advance!!!

o btw i havent been on the forums in a while so if this is a repeat question i apologize!

 

From what has been posted before here is, New harness from the donor truck and the computer from donor truck also of course the tranny, if you can get this from a Pick a Part it would probally save you a lot of money over buying new, it also has to be from pretty much the same year.

On paper it dosent look to hard, but Murphy always comes around.

 

why would the tranny need to be the same year? There are no computer controls on the manual. and the nv3500/4500 would fit behind any 5.2 or 5.9. i know some of the newer engines have more 02 sensors and no egr/ bigger injectors so i can see where you would want the right year computer for the engine but i wouldn't think the trans should matter unless they added some kind of computer controls to them or something weird.

 

I think JackJ means the donor truck should be the same year ... that way the computer/harness/etc. is all the same year ... the tranny is just gravy.

 

I am also very interested in doing this when my tranny goes out

 

On a scale of 1-10 how mechanically inclined are you?

The NV3500 will bolt up to the 5.9, not sure about the NV4500

Also You'll need to get your driveshafts shortened or steal them off the donor truck.

You'll also probably want to steal the dash or at least the cluster panel out of the manual truck.

 

cereal, good points! i was wondering about the driveshafts also.
the nv4500 does bolt up to the 5.9 though. i know because i almost bought a 2500 360 with the nv4500 manual.

 

Yeah but if he goes with the nv4500 I'm pretty sure he's gonna need a different transfer case. and with the nv3500 you're still gonna need the different linkage.

You're also gonna need:
The master cylinder and slave cylinder
Different transmission mounts, or at least the bracket from the mount to the transmission
The fly wheel
The clutch
The clutch and brake brake pedals
and you're probably gonna have to have your PCM reflashed.

It can be done but it's alot of work.

 

I have only done this once, on a car, and would never do it again.

It was on a Fox body Mustang. Had a donor car literally sitting beside the car I was working on, and it was just a huge pain in the..well...you know. It's so easy to say it's just these parts and this, but every little detail is different. What ended up getting me was (and this was when I was 20, 15 years ago, and didn't research squat) was the difference in gear ratios between an auto and manual. In the end, the tranny swap worked, got the clutch pedal relocated, drive shaft was different length but donor car was there. But rear end ratio was different, and totally messed up the performance of the car. Ended up with a built 5.0 with a 4 gear behind it, and absolutely no performance because of the rear end ratio. Donor car had a bad rear end in it which is why I got it for so cheap.

I was young and stupid and never bothered to figure out the right ratios. Mainly because the car was slow as heck, but I was getting almost 35 mpg on the highway with i because the 5.0 was around 1000 rpm in 4th on the highway.

If you are going to do it, research like crazy and expect more hassle then you originally set out for. From what I remember, hardest part of the simple car swap was getting the clutch pedal installed.

 

well i am pretty mechanically inclined, ive done the complete engine rebuilt on my truck and some other crap with other cars as well but tanny's r not my expertise, i do have friends that know there stuff but there not dodge guys thats y i asked yall. i have been reseraching like crazy but u always get mixed answers which is why i always come back to yall. the main reason i want this is because the way i drive i know a manual tranny is spose to help protect ur drivetrain longer rite, b/c i drive my truck everyday like i stole, plus the way it sounds now would be even more awesomer <------- lol with manual