I’m looking into possibly swapping my 46re auto trans for an NV3500 or even an NV4500 5 speed. I’m tired of having the issues that come with these autos I’ve been through 3 of them within the past 70,000 mi. What I’m seeking to find out is around what the cost of the parts from A-Z would be, I’m willing to do the work itself but I’m just curious to know who else has done this and how much it costed them. my truck is a 2001 1500 5.9 (360) magnum single cab short bed.

 

Keep in mind, the NV3500 never came behind the 5.9, and for good reason. It simply couldn't take the torque. NV4500 is what you want, but, they are fun to find. Best bet is to find a whole truck, with the manual trans, and blown motor, or trashed body, and take all the parts you need from that one, and scrap the rest.

 

I've done this a couple times on 360 magnums, both times I picked up a blown motor 3/4 ton with the NV4500 and swapped the needed parts. Both times I think the wrecked trucks i picked up for less than 1000 bucks (10 years ago)

To source/buy parts the cost is about impossible to guess. If you want it done tomorrow expect to pay a premium. If you can stack up the needed parts over time you might find some really good deals. The clutch pedals and shifter boots are the hardest parts to come by these days. car-part.com will help you locate local salvage yards that might have the trans from a truck, you then could attempt to see if the other parts would be available.

Donor truck would supply extra parts you wouldn't necessarily need or find otherwise. Like the entire wiring harness to eliminate the trans wiring. An instrument cluster without the PRND12, a manual steering column, potentially correct length drive shafts ect ect

I'm not sure what a medium duty gasser nv4500 is worth these days, ball park buying individual parts I would expect 4-5k easily. That would figure buying a new clutch, potentially rebuilding the transfer case vs just swapping the input shaft, which is relatively easy. Tuning the PCM for a manual trans. Drive shaft cut/stretch/rebuild.

 

You could get a Tremec TX-4050 (~$3,300 new)… they’re what the factory put in 2500-3500’s sold in Mexico, so it’s a direct bolt up.
You still have to pick up a bell housing, flywheel, clutch, etc, but that’s the same as if you got an NV-4500.

 

I did go through with the swap I couldn’t get a nv4500 within a reasonable price, I don’t plan on putting much if any power to my 360 anytime soon, just wanted it to be drivable again. After doing some extensive research on the nv3500 I read of many people having luck running stock transmissions in trucks with 400hp motors and much higher torque ratings than what my stock 360 could ever dream of lol.

However I’m having an issue with stalling now, I’ll be coming to a stop, press clutch, take it out of gear and the truck will slowly drop rpm till it dies out. I can give it one quick throttle blip and it will stay running just fine. Idles completely fine any other time just when I take the truck out of gear while coming to a stop. I’m gonna start with the air idle control valve and see if playing with that helps any, and I know there are some things with pcms and what not but I’m trying to start simple has anyone had any issues similar?

 

Clean the throttle body first.....

Are you using a manual trans tune? Or still the automatic?

 

I’m sure the tune is auto it would be whatever came from factory, I read a lot of people have sluggish trucks after they make the swap as well.

 

May want to try and get it flashed for a manual tune. May not matter..... but, I suspect it does.

 

The PCM may be rather dumb, but it's not that dumb... Please update the tune to support the usage of a manual transmission...

 

I replaced the air idle control valve and it seems to have fixed my issue, thanks for the help