The 5 speed manual transmission in my 1996 Ram 3500 Cummins made too much trouble so we put in a 6 speed. The six speed has no place for the vehicle speed sensor (VSS) so we picked up a signal from the rear ABS sensor and ran it through an Electronic Ratio Adapter to get the speedometer to work but the cruise will not work. We only needed the black/light blue and the white/red wires from the VSS to get the speedometer to work. The orange wire is now not in use. Can anyone tell me how to get the Cruise to work? Have we hopelessly confused the computer by getting our signal from the ABS sensor or will the cruise work if we hook up the orange wire? To What? Any other fixes? Thanks!

 

I'm guessing the PCM isn't getting what it needs to run the cruise.

 

Could you explain more on how you tapped into the ABS output for the vehicle speed sensor...
I'm trying to replace my DLD with a DHD and it doesn't have a vehicle speed output.. sensor port... guessing and I'm going to have to try to do what you did and tap into that ABS output...

 

I am still to new on these forums to know all the abbreviations. What is your DLD and DHD? On my '96 Ram 3500 the ABS rear right wheel sensor is on top of the differential. It has a twisted pair of wires going to it, red and a dark blue or black. In the Dodge service manual it says the wires are rd/vt (red/violet) and wt/vt (white/violet). We just found the rd/vt wire in the wiring harness next to the frame at the transmission and spiced another wire to it that we ran to the signal input wire on the ERA (electronic ratio adapter) that I bought. One possibility that I have not had time to check out yet is that somehow picking up this signal from the ABS sensor is why my cruise does not work. I may need to install another speed sensor that I can power with the orange 5 volt PCM wire from my old VSS. I tried to power my ERA with this 5 volt wire but it seems to need a full 12 volts. Hope to here what you figure out.

 

DLD is a NP 241 light duty transfer case
DHD is a NP 241 heavy duty transfer case
I'm trying to put the heavy duty transfer case in my 1995 Dodge V10 2500 Ram
I just bought the truck its got a snowplow on it....on the way home with it the light duty transfer case shelled out...... the build tag on the transfer case indicates that the light duty that was in the truck was a 1999 so I found a 1999 heavy duty...but it doesn't have a place for the vehicle speed output sensor. ..
Sooooo....
Thanks for the info on what you did....I'll see if I can do the same. ...

 

I'm not clear... are you feeding the ERA's signal directly into the speedo cluster? or into the PCM?

Has anything changed with the clutch pedal? My understanding is it has a switch to cancel the cruise when you push in the clutch (like most/all std trans vehicles).

Have you cross-checked if the diff sensor is the same in a truck that uses the tcase speedo vs the rear axle speedo?

Both tcases being '99 with and without the speedo drive is odd. Did one truck have 4-wheel ABS and other not?

 

On my '96 the signal from the VSS feeds into both the PCM and the instrument cluster or speedometer. I have changed nothing with the clutch on my '96. I will let Barry speak for himself on his rig.

 

Good Day; I also have done the same 5 speed to 6 speed same truck and year my cruise was working fine then one day the light on steering swich would not light up but cruise would work , Now I have nothing took switch from my other truck same year and nothing vacuum lines are good seems to be a power supply? looked for bad wire , fuse cant find any , Is there a fuse or something that I am missing ?Thanks Pete

 

Good morning and thanks for your participation. My first question is on how your cruise ever kept working after the trany swap? My 6 speed had no port for the old VSS that created a signal for the PCM and speedometer. Perhaps your 6 speed had a port for that and so functioned just like your 5 speed. Now on your present problem; somewhere I was able to download a 89MB PDF file of the 96 Dodge shop manual. It has pages and pages of wiring diagrams that may be helpful for you. I do not know if I am allowed to upload that large a file on this forum. Let me know it it would be helpful to you and I can get it to you some way.

 

This sounds like a clockspring problem to me- the first conductor to go in your case would be the one that lights the LED on the steering wheel- since the cruise still works.

For the others- I do not know the 96 PCM wiring,but I assume that you should check the following:

A: does the cruise light come on when you press the button while driving - if yes you have no inhibitor, if no- check clockspring, brake pedal switch, clutch switch etc.
B: Does the cruise light come on only if you press the button above 20 mph? If yes- PCM sees the speed signal- if not there is a lot of work.

 

Thanks never dawned on me to check cluch and brake pedal . Check them out today get back to you . Forgot to mention if I jiggle plug some times light would go on cleaned connections still no light or cruise . I am thinking that it has to be a wire or fuse . I am not good at wiring totally suck no patients switches and fuses only .

 

Which plug did you jiggle?

There is a clockspring in the steering column, it contains all the "wires" needed by the airbag, cruise control and audio remote if equipped.
These clocksprings go bad sometimes.

 

Good Day ; I just ordered new clock spring , Mechanic friend of mine agrees with you let you know .

 

Speeking of 5 speed to 6 speed Does any body know how to replace the shifting pattern emblem on the shifter ?

 

Good Morning ; Just like to start out saying that it is COLD in Wisconsin cant wait to get to Arizona , Ok I replaced Clock Spring This regained my power to cruise , But cruise still did not work , Pulled up on brake pedal with foot and cruise kicked in , HURRAY ! just need to adjust Brake switch and should be good to go . Thank for all your advice Guys , Hope truck has no issues going on trip . JustPete