I am 45% of the way thru the engine swap on my 2001 Ram 1500 4WD Magnum 5.9L. I have been working a few hours every day for the last 3 days and now am very close to pulling the old engine out. I will be installing a reman long block.

Here's the casualty list so far:

1. Could not get the high pressure AC line QD fitting to release from the condenser. Despite having the recommended collar tool to release the connection, no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to come apart. I finally gave up and hack sawed it off. Will have to replace that liquid line.
2. Broke off one of the bolts on the water pump/ timing plate cover- no big deal, wont affect swap to new long block.
3. Broke off the 2 front bolts on the intake manifold to engine head. One of them snapped right under the bolt head which made it extremely difficult to get the manifold to release. The rest of the manifold was loose but that one front corner broken bolt was frozen in the manifold hole. As I pried on the manifold I was worried about cracking or bending the aluminum casting. Penetrating oil, blow torch, pry bars, flat head screw drivers, and a couple hours of persistence- it finally came off- whew!!! I guess the core will get returned with these 3 broken bolts- good luck to the reman guys!!!
4. Some of the electrical connectors are like a Rubik's cube- broke one to the AC compressor and 2 to the injectors. QUESTION- do you typically repair with a pigtail replacement connector and butt splice the wires or do you get the kit connector and insert the old wires into the new connector?
5. The exhaust manifold to exhaust tube flange connections were a challenge. The metal clip bolt head retainers on top would not prevent the bolt from spinning while working the nut below. These are very hard to access. I ultimately used a 2ft steel rod to to bend or break off the clip tabs so I could at least get a socket or wrench on the head. Finally success.
6. One of the engine block to transmission ( aluminum) bell housing bolts galled the threads all the way coming out. QUESTION: install helicoil/keensert or simply drill out the hole and thru bolt it with a nut/washer on the tranny side?

There seems to be some conflicting information between different workshop manuals with respect to supporting the transmission from below when pulling the engine. I would prefer to not support the tranny which would allow me to roll the truck out of the garage while I work on swapping/setting up the new long block. (currently truck is halfway in the stall, and wife hates leaving the garage open at night) QUESTION: Can the tranny be temporarily unsupported- while rolling the truck in/out or will it stress a connection further back around the transfer case?

One interesting discovery as I worked to disassemble from front to back of engine- an engine grounding strap/wire was pinched under the corner of the right side valve cover gasket. I paid for this surprise a month ago when I took the truck into a shop to conduct diagnostics on the engine to decide repair or replace. The wire was actually routed inboard of the corner valve cover bolt and squeezed in the new gasket. Now I know why the truck was dripping oil on my driveway after coming home.

During the engine swap I will install:

1. the recommended plenum upgrade plate kit,
2. install a new harmonic balancer,
3. later-a new oxygen sensor ( pre catalytic),
4. new distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs and spark plug wires,
5. a new oil pump and pick up ( i got the special tool to prime the oil pump and engine while on the engine stand) QUESTION: What speed should I run the drill? Do I need to measure and get to a specified pressure?
6. Of course all the gaskets that came with the long block
7. New bolts/retainers at the exhaust connections
8. Repair the various electrical connectors I broke.

Stay tuned...I will update this later and also add some pics

Thanks in advance to any members that can answers the included QUESTIONS

 

For the connectors, you can go either way. I would personally prefer NOT to splice though..... that's just introducing another potential failure point.

When the engine is out, could try running a tap thru the damaged threads, and see what you get. Not like those guys are torqued to some stupid value.....

I have used a ratchet strap to keep the trans from flopping around while the engine is out. Being it's a 4x4, the weight of the t-case is gonna want to move the bellhousing end of the trans UP...... I just put a block of 2x4 or something between the trans/body, to keep it from beating it up too much.

For priming the oil pump, doesn't have to really go fast.... I generally do that before I put the valve covers on, run the pump enough to get oil up to the rockers, and call it good.

 

 

The distributor *should* just pull straight out, not sure if you have the clearance to remove in while still in the truck though... Never had to do that. Maybe try and get it to turn a bit, that should break it loose. (it's been in there a while. )

Yeah, the connectors get old and brittle, and it is hard to get some of 'em off WITHOUT breaking them.....

New engine looks nice. I see a morse style timing chain though, ever consider putting a double roller chain set on there? Won't get any easier than it is right now. (the roller chains are less prone to stretching, and just last longer than the morse chains.)

 

Hmmm......double roller chain, as a retired mechanical engineer- I like that !!!...I wonder if installing that would somehow void the warranty on the reman long block ???

 

HeyYou.....thanks for the tips and advice....every bit and nugget of knowledge sure helps !!!!

 

No clue what effect that would have on the warranty... I would be tempted to call 'em, and ask.

 

Does the new motor have the distributor drive shaft/gear(can't see in the pic)? If it does make sure you note the position at TDC #1 compression before you remove it. You need to put it back in in the same position. Also make sure the distributor is not 180 out before you put it in. If you are not using a scanner to set the fuel sync you need the distributor and gear in the right position to do it manually. There is a o ring a the bottom of the distributor that turns into rock that holds them in. You may want to put brass freeze plugs in it also. Highly doubt it has brass unless it's an upscale rebuild. Are you going to leave it black or paint it a different color?

 

Its out !!!!

Engineless bay

I used 4X holes in the heads where the intake manifold bolts up

Now the component swap to the new reman long block begins

 

Completely understand about the distributor alignment. My plan was to follow the shop manual procedure where the #1 cylinder is set at TDC on the compression stroke, then install the distributor and align the rotor with the #1 position on the distributor cap.

The question I have is: once I get the reinstall completed and hopefully running….is it worthwhile to find a shop with a DRB III scanner and have them tweak the timing? From what I have read, a traditional timing light is useless and the adjustment can only be performed while getting data from the DRB III scanner.

is it common for most shops to have a scanner capable of performing this operation?

used/functional DRB scanners start at $1500 and up. I assume common scanners you can buy for $200 are not capable of accessing the full dodge/chrysler menus

why are brass freeze plugs better??? Please explain

Im not gonna paint, Im all about function and reliability, not so much about cosmetics. There’s a lot of external dings, dents, and scrapes that my late father inflicted during his final years of driving ( like Mr Magoo) that would need attention before worrying about what’s under the hood.. I’m motivated to keep him in my memory by keeping his truck alive and running!!! It feels good to get in a drive