klawockvet

As I promised on an earlier post I will now post the conversion. I had a 95 Scotty motorhome that was essentially the same as a chassis mount camper on a D3500 chassis. I hated the automatic, especially the fact that the engine brake didnt work under 35 mph. I had a friend who was getting ride of a 2001 3500 dually so I picked up his truck with the idea that I would have all the parts to make the conversion. I was originally going to swap the 24 valve and all wiring, etc into mine. It could be done but I dont have the time or the desire. This was swap was done on a gravel driveway on a few pieces of plywood with a rented transjack. That certainly added to the displeasure and was more time and beer consuming than necessary. The good news is that it was an easy swap as the donor truck supplied all I needed. I used the aluminum pedal mount with the clutch hydraulics. There is a difference between the 95 and 01 pedal mount in that the 01 clutch master bolts in vs the 95 which goes in with a twist. The hole was in the firewall and the dimples were there to drill for the bolts. Either would work. I made the mistake of letting the 01 hydraulics sit upside down and I now have to pump up the clutch to make it work. I may have to change it out in the future but it works for now. The adapter on the back of the engines are the same. It is necessary to use the starter and adapter plate out of the manual. The end of the cranks are the same and the pilot bearing is in the flywheel. The flywheel bolts are longer for the manual and will be needed if using new parts. More good news was that the NV5600 and its 241DHD transfer case were the same length as my auto and 241 DHD. Bad news was the speedo pickup casting in the 01 was not machined out. Even if I machined out the casting I would still need a worm gear. The solution was to replace the tailshaft of the transfer case which was easier than the input shaft as suggested earlier on this forum. I appreciate that tip however as it led me to the easy solution. Once I switched the the tailshaft it all went together just right. I used the 01 crossmember which needs a portipower or other method to spread the frame. All the driveline hooked right up with no problem. Some of the wiring was a bit of a challenge. The back up lights plug into the manual same as the automatic. The park/neutral switch on the auto has three wires. I cut all three and ran a wire from the black/wht wire back to one side of the clutch switch which is on the clutch pedal to clutch master rod. I disconnected the plug from the donor truck and hooked the new wire from the black/wht trans switch to one side of this plug. The other side I ran to a ground at the knee bolster under the steering wheel. ( It really doesnt matter where you go to ground) With this done the cruise control works and the truck starts when the clutch is depressed. I originally just grounded the black/wht wire and it allowed the truck to start but the cruise wouldn't work. I made a pattern from the old truck for the new holes in the floorboard by taping a piece of paper over the donor truck floorboard and spraying paint on it. I was able to cut the new holes and use most of the left over floorboard as stock to fill in what was left open. The donor truck had a console and cup holder that I used. I filled the console with insulation from the donor truck carpet and its now quieter than it was before. I liked the 01 steering wheel better so I switched the entire column. I hoped that the cruise switches would work but they wont without a big hassle. Everything works the same except the
five wires coming out of the clockspring. I hooked up the spiral wire for the airbag and hope it will work but I wont know that till I have a collision;<). The horn wire is the fifth wire and will hook up the same. I then took out the clockpring mechanism out of the 95 and bypassed it. I hooked the 95 wires to the 95 cruise switch with the clockspring bypassed and used velcro to attach it to the top of the column behind the wheel. Looks OK to me and it works fine. I'm happy with it but its an unnecessary step if the old wheel is in good shape (mine sucked) During the swap I installed a temp gauge in the left PTO plate and filled the trans with 6 qts of Amsoil, as per recommendation on this site. I had a BD brake with the auto and was able to remove the trans loc. The brake now works much better and I am very satisfied with the project. Bottom line is its a whole new truck and I'm happy. I also now know more about these trucks tha I ever wanted to. I hope this helps others who might be making the switch.

pocketchange

As much as you don't care for the automatic, I'd stick with it.
Finding (decent) hard parts for the NV5600 is a PITA.