Diesel4blood

How hard is this and has anyone tried it? I always preferred shifting my own gears and my truck has 187,000 miles on it. Since I need the truck to pull my 35 foot travel trailer, I'm thinking that I should either have the tranny overhauled so I can depend on it. However, this is going to cost about $4000 and I'm wondering if I should just swap in the NV 4500 and convert the truck to standard. I appreciate thoughts on this.......
I have a 1994 Dodge 3/4 ton 4X4 with 5.9 litre Cummins Diesel.

oliver foster

It is an easy swap, as all the stuff bolt in like stock ...as it all is stock parts.
I have helped several people with doing this swap.
You'll need trans, T-case bell. fork, flywheel, clutch, pedals, boots shifters and hydro.
If you had all the parts it would be a pretty easy weekend project.
I happen to also have all those parts.
PM me if you're interested in a complete swap kit.

gorms

I made the swap and only miss the auto while daily driving empty sometimes. Like oliver said, with all parts in hand it's pretty straight forward. One of the hardest/most time consuming parts of the swap for me was moving all the wires that I had run through the firwall plug where the clutch master cylinder mounts.

Another thing, I *think* with your era truck (hyrdaulic governer) the auto is significantly longer then the later autos and any year 5 speed. May require driveshafts to be built. With mine it was within 1/2" as I had an RE (electronic governer) auto and was able to use the originals. Good luck.

oliver foster

The '94 and '95 trucks with the 47RH need the 5-speed driveshafts to complete the swap, or ones made.
The '96 and up auto 12V trucks can re-use the auto driveshafts, as gorms said they are about 1/2 inch off the 5 -speed ones.

Redlinear

You'll need.
Flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, clutch fork, throwout bearing, and appropriate bolts/fasteners as well.
Bellhousing, Transmission, Transfer case input shaft (or a different transfer case).
Clutch pedal, clutch hydraulics, and a manual steering column would be nice.
Shifter boots for a 4wd to make it look correct.
Block off PRNDL in the cluster with a "blank".
(quite possible "maybe": driveshaft modifications or driveshafts)

When it comes to buying a "conversion" from somebody...their idea of "everything" and your idea of "everything" may be quite different.
Prepare for this in advance.

Rogan

I swapped my '96 SCLB from auto to 4500. I used the auto cross-member (many will say you need a manual one, but you dont.) You will need the manual trans mount, though.. The auto one will not work. You don't need a port-a-power like many say, as well, for the crossmember removal. Remember to knock it UP as high as you can, then BACK towards the rear of the truck. It'll fall right out.

The SCLB auto shafts would not work with my swap. The rear (non-carrier style) was about 1" short, and the splines were completely different than the 241DHD I had for the swap (auto tcase was a 241DLD too. I had to get a new yoke, re-tube the rear d-shaft, and have the front shaft shortened 1" or so.. tcase shift lever mounts are different between auto and 5spd too. Auto mount has a spacer than can be cut off to work on manual (that's what I did). Mid-plate between block and bell-housing are same, as is the starter (unless you go 13" flywheel, then you'll need to shim the starter out.)

As stated before, if you have ALL the parts ready, it can be done in a single saturday with minimal beer breaks.

If you retain the auto PCM and wiring (which you can) the Trans Temp light will come on, but that's it.

You also do not need to replace the entire pedal cluster assembly; that's just a bunch of BS extra work that is unneeded. Pull the E-clip on the left-side, slip the shaft to the right, drop the auto brake pedal out, slip ip the manual Brake and clutch pedals, slide the shaft back to the left, re-install the e-clip. Done. Hook up the clutch master cyl. rod and get out from underneath the dash

You'll have to cut a hole in the floor for the shifter. Be conservative with this.

Rogan

this is so VERY true.

Been there, done that.

Diesel4blood

Thanks for all the replies. right now money is tight and I would love to make the swap and will do so when I can afford it. Right now my tranny is acting funny. I changed the tranny fluid and it came out pretty clean, some silt on the pan and about 1/8th inch of slime on the magnet, but nothing that would lead me to believe it's on a self destruct course. My problems seem to be with a popping out of lockup and shifting down to 3rd gear when I'm on the highway. I changed out the throttle position sensor and now it still does it, but only once the tranny warms up to 180F and higher. Around town it's fine. Temp rarely goes above 195F, but I do live in phoenix AZ and summers around here are 115F during the day, so i would think an occasional 195 temp is not unusual. It never does this at other times of the year. Since I have a Cummins Diesel, I also have the DHD transfer case for 4WD according to the factory service book which says all the Diesels came with the DHD instead of the DLD which came on the Gasoline models. Looking at the differences between the two in the pics, I'd say the book is right. My transfer case looks like the DHD.

Mcmopar

Has anyone actually swapped the wiring harnesses? Or does everyone just cut them up? I have a 1997 2wd and a 98 4 wd. I want to make the 97 a manual and the 98 an auto, so I am going to swap, but was curious about that.

patdaly

I'm not sure just how well that one would work out. 98 being the first year of the CCD buss cluster, I remember Infidel saying 98 had some wiring changes even in the model year between 12 and 24 valve. I can help you with the 97 wiring pinouts, but I have nothing on a 98.