[Drivetrain] auto to man trans swap??

[98RAMCOUNTRY]

i have a question about a manul trans .. i have a 98 ram 1500 with the 46RE and i had to replace it twice and only hade the truck 1 1/2 years i boult the truck used from a construction compony and thay were selling it cus of the bad trans so i put one in it and the that one went up.so got it rebilt ..its working fine ... for now.. but i know thes auto trans go out quite often so is it worth the time and efert to put in a manul or go to a diffrent auto trans? thanks for taking the time to read this

[4XRam]

Well, not exactly what you are looking for, but my first Ram was a '95 that I bought used. It had a 6-cylinder and a 5-speed manual. Around town the 6-cyl was fine, but really sucked on the highway. Had the pedal to the floor just to maintain speed.

So, I got this crazy idea to see about pulling the 6 and dropping an 8-cylinder in it. I went so far as to call the dealership service shops and even Dodge's performance division. They all said no, can't do it without all kinds of changes and modifications from the a new transmission, new exhaust, etc, etc.

Well, long story short, they were all wrong! I went to the junk yard and bought a 360 (5.9L) out of a wrecked '96. Got it with everything still attached to the engine, and got the computer and wiring harness. It had 40,000 miles on it. I drove away with all that for $1200.

I was in the Air Force at the time and stationed in San Antonio, Tx. Called my dad and told him what I was doing and he grabbed a flight from Florida and we pulled the 6-cylinder and installed the v-8 in a weekend on my carport.

Some small changes that I did have to make: the engine came out of a truck with an auto tranny. I had to buy a new flywheel ($380, ouch), and I grabbed a new clutch and throw out bearing since I was going to have it all apart. I had to get creative with the wiring since the harness and computer were for the auto tranny. I had to fool the computer into thinking it was in drive. Best I could do was make it think it was in reverse. This required removing the backup light bulbs and grinding some big washers to stick in the bulb slots to complete the circuit, otherwise the truck wouldn't start or run, lol.

I didn't even need new engine mounts, the bellhousing on my manual tranny bolted right up to the engine and the starter engaged the teeth on the flywheel perfectly, the exhaust was a perfect fit. I did have to trim the fan housing due to the longer engine, and I wondered if the radiator was going to be beefy enough for the extra heat, but other than that that SOB ran like a scalded cat. I think it was probably the only half-ton Ram with a 5.9L and manual tranny around. I drove it until the odo had over 200,000 on it and never a single problem with the engine or the transmission and it got better gas mileage on the highway than that v-6 did.

[98RAMCOUNTRY]

so you think it would be worth it to put a manul in it? i have the 5.9 v8 and its a gas hoge with the auto trans i work at a dodge dealer ship ..thay dont know what manul trans would work..what manul trans did you have that fit the 5.9 ?

[Jasonlmrx]

when goin from automatic to manual.. it's pretty fun.. takes time and effort, haha intall a new pedal and remove the old automatic systems ive done it on a nissan titan before.. anyways if you would want to do that, all you have to do is find a good tranny, used or new, that is standard and was in a dodge before.

then after that the best thing to do would find a scrap yard and a parts truck that is manual to then swap the pedals (install a skinny brake pedal and a new clutch pedal.)

what i did on ghe nissan is i got a new harness for a standard truck and swaped the hole harness for a manual harness and everything was plug and play didnt have to play with wires. just had to find were everything pluged.

so if you get a parts truck try to get around the same year so the wire harness is good and the tranny fits for sure and then everything is just a swap most holes are already drilled or threaded already in the body of the truck.. you probably will also need a new tranny cross member.

oh and if the dealership dont know what tranny would go in there? they are on crack.. because ive seen lots of factory dodges from year 1994 to 2001 with factory manual tranny... lol i might look if i have time for the name of it..

sorry if i talk about everything all in different parts but i write has i think lol...
hope this kinda helps you.

Jason.

[4XRam]

The tranny in my '95 was an NV3500. Every Dodge tech and even their performance division said it wouldn't bolt up to the 5.9L and even if it did the 5.9L would destroy it. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Not only did it bolt right up, it withstood that 5.9L without a glitch ever and I wasn't easy on it either.

As for whether it would be worth it in your case, if mileage is your concern, a manual will help a little, but not much. Maybe a couple MPG extra at best.

In my case it was very worth it to go from a v-6 to a v-8. With the v-6 I got about 11MPG on the highway at 70-75MPH because I was literally running in 5th gear and pedal all the way down to maintain that speed. With the 5.9L I got about 16-17MPG, but the significant extra HP was the real benefit.

If I'd had the money and the time I would certainly have gotten a proper wiring harness and computer, but I made do with what I had to work with.

I do remember when I traded that truck in for a 2002 1500 with the 4.7L v-8 the guys at the dealership were all gaga over the fact the '95 had a 5.9L and manual, but after the trade and sale the salesman called me about a week later all pissed off because he said I didn't tell them about the "special" wiring condition. I laughed said oh yes I did, but they were too excited over the v-8. He went on about not being able to sell the truck now because of the wiring, etc, etc. I laughed again and offered him $500 for it. He hung up on me.

I kept the '02 1500 for a couple years and traded it in on the '04 CTD I have now. That '02 was a major gas hog. Even with that small 4.7L v-8, it got about 10-11MPG on the highway.

The only other "swap" I've done is on a '68 camaro I had back in the mid 80's. I had one in decent shape, but it had a 307 and a 2-speed power glide in it. I also had a '73 Z-28 that I had built up. It was a beast, but would eat transmissions. It was 840HP at the rear wheels. I finally blew it up one day when I over boosted the blower and it destroyed the blower, the block, pretty much everything. So, I had a buddy who had a '68 camaro that was a rust bucket, but it had a 327 with a 4-speed Muncie in it. I swapped him even for the '73, lol. I swapped the 327 and Muncie into my good camaro. That was actually a pretty easy swap because there wasn't all the funky wiring and computer to deal with and the engine and tranny combo going into the car was already mated up.

[98RAMCOUNTRY]

THANKS for all the help i think i will do the swap when it come time for a new trany i just put this auto in about 2 mounth ago so ill let it ride till it gose up knowing how my truck go threw tranys it most likly wont be too long