[firecracker cummins]

wow. thought i'd get a better response.

 

[dieselfury]

well i am wishing i had an auto....

 

[milesdodgeboy]

what does it entail? besides clutch, bellhousing, and tranny.

foot pedal assembly for in cab. it's cheaper in my opinion to go to a junk yard and get an assembly. then what else...ah yes the hydraulics (i.e master and slave cylinders). this is bought as a complete, pre bled assembly depending on where you buy.

if your truck is 4x4, the front driveshaft needs to be shortened ~1 inch. leave the back driveshaft alone cuz it's plenty long enuf.

if your truck is 4x4, on the front side of the transfer case that mates to the end of your auto, the bearing that sits in the transfer case needs to be changed. this is because for the manual (5spd in my case) you need to change the input gear from 23 spline to 29 spline. i don't have the measurement right off hand but the bearing needs to be about half as thick (not width of bearing but thickness in relation to the snap ring groove)

it sounds like a lot but in all fairness it's not complicated, just a pain in the arse depending on when you decide to do it cuz it can be time consuming. i did mine in the dead of winter in a non heated shop with no vehicle lift. :lol4:

 

[mj1982]

What did all this cost and how hard was finding the right parts?

 

[milesdodgeboy]

What did all this cost and how hard was finding the right parts?

my cost for all the parts was generally on the more expensive side. that's all because i didn't get lucky enough to find a junkyard dodge to swap parts out of. i don't have the exact figure for everything cuz i had been piecing the parts over about four to five months so yeah:lol4:

something to remember is that instead of swapping the 23spline input gear to 29 spline on your transfer case, you can just swap the output shaft on the trans to 23 spline. i highly recommend that you don't do that tho cuz it just doesn't prove reliable. it doesn't last that way:lol4: you could always just find the whole transfer case from a junker.

ummm as for the clutch i just went ahead and got a valair single good for 600hp.:thumbsup: smooth as stock and no chatter in my opinion. that cost me 600 bucks through an awesome deal i got with jkidd.

the bearing for the transfer case cost around 80dollars at napa.

29spline input gear for the transfer case cost 240ish with shipping through high impact transmission. they've got a site you can look at. then call them to order it. they're purty good.

ah the other part i forgot to add that you will need is the transmission mount. this can be had for fairly cheap new to.

for the crossmember i didn't have to change it one bit, other than the trans mount. when i got all said and done, the trans set maybe and inch or two ahead of where the automatic was on the crossmember. for some the crossmember was a pita to get out, for me it was easy. got out my handy dandy sledgehammer, hit it backwards and down. then when i went to put it back in i just took a small ball peen hammer and tapped it in:thumbsup:

take a look at your carrier bearing on your back driveshaft when you drop it down. mines still useable but it is showing the signs of wear and tear.

when you get your trans mounted and transfer case bolted on, you will need to spend a little time getting the linkage set up so it will shift through all gears in the transfer case.

in order to start the beast...rather important right:lol4:...there's a flat three wire plug on the automatic wiring harness. the middle wire is black and white. this is the neutral safety wire and needs to be hooked up to the safety switch on the pedal. but if you're like me, the damn pedal sits too close to the floor so when hooking up the neutral safety switch it won't work. what i need to do is take my pedal assembly out and move the pin on the clutch pedal that the master cylinder hooks to down about half to three quarters of an inch. this should allow for me to have proper travel of the neutral safety switch. for right now i have my switch bypassed. that's just cuz i'm too lazy to get it fixed right. if the switch is bypassed cruise control will not work because the vehicle thinks it's in neutral:headbang:

 

[milesdodgeboy]

it wasn't hard finding the right parts. a lot of the lil things like bellhousings and such was found at the local junk yard for cheap. but where i live parts like the manual trans was on the more expensive side

 

[mj1982]

Thats awesome... I would love to do the swap... How hard was it? Could a weekend warrior do it?

Also, did you take any pics?

Thx,
MJ

 

[Drew92]

Very good explanation milesdodgeboy! Doesn't sound like a whole bunch involved. My buddy may be looking into doing this, as he can't seem to keep autos alive. Lol

 

[milesdodgeboy]

Thats awesome... I would love to do the swap... How hard was it? Could a weekend warrior do it?

Also, did you take any pics?

Thx,
MJ

for me it was involved and time consuming for these simple reasons.

1. I am inexperienced, so i was always hitting these little snags and not knowing quite what to do that did slow me down considerably

2. I did it in the dead of winter in a shop that was non heated. around december and january.

3. I was too lazy to get it done in a weekend. took me a solid month working two hours a night on it:lol4::lol4:

 

[milesdodgeboy]

Very good explanation milesdodgeboy! Doesn't sound like a whole bunch involved. My buddy may be looking into doing this, as he can't seem to keep autos alive. Lol

it's a rather simple concept in what a person has to change to convert it over to a manual, buuuuuut it is involved as far as time is concerned. It can be done in a weekend but this is if you know exactly what you are doing, are experienced, and don't hit any snags along the line. which pretty much means everyone except me could do it in a weekend or two:lol4:

 

[sledneck696]

Also 5 and 6 speeds are different as well. I did 6 speed swap and I needed the starter spacer and starter bolts, I traded front driveshafts with the guy and my rear shaft had to be shortened, I had to swap the flexplate bolts as well If i remember right, the PCM I had to swap and I think the rest they covered. By the time it was said and done I had about $4500 into it

 

[dodgehand]

Where can I find a tranny new or used? And did I read right you had 4500$ in the project?

 

[Drew92]

There's usually some in the classifieds here on the forum.

 

[mopartechnician]

we just found a 4500 out of a v10 for $450, what a steal, all we have to do is change the input but thats was gonna happen anyway with the dual disk

 

[benstrokinnowcummin08]

back to your auto to manual conversion what do you want to do play wise do you want to drag race, sled pull, or dyno cause if you want to drag race id stick with the auto so you can do boosted launches but manuals are better for sled pulling and depending on the dyno but its your choice

 

[sledneck696]

Yes $4500 into it in total which isnt bad seems how my auto tranny wasnt any good to me. By the time I got the tranny, master slave, pedals, interior trim, driveshafts, all the little things and this including a South Bend 3600dd clutch with south bend hydros, and a nice hurst shifter, oh and that was $4500 cdn by the way so for that project its not that bad to build a built auto your going to be like $7000

 

[gator_grabber]

I've done this very swap in other vehicles and have learned that it's often far cheaper/better to buy another vehicle with the drivetrain you want, swap over all of your goodies, then re-selling the now surplus vehicle. It sounds a bit extreme, but financially it works out better in the end. It works out even more in your favor if you value your time at anything over a $1 an hour. Just because you can do something (the swap) doesn't mean you should do it.

 

[dodgehand]

back to your auto to manual conversion what do you want to do play wise do you want to drag race, sled pull, or dyno cause if you want to drag race id stick with the auto so you can do boosted launches but manuals are better for sled pulling and depending on the dyno but its your choice

Hey guys i appreciate the info:yourock:I am not looking to do anything extreme my truck is all stock now except for I cut out my muffler and ran my exhaust strait back. I have held off on upgrades mostly because I was concerned my stock auto tranny wouldn't hold up. I want to start playing with some after market performance upgrades but nothing extreme I still want to use my truck that is why I'm keeping it for pulling tractors and cattle trailers and stuff I just want it to be bad a$$ at doing it any info. will be greatly appreciated.

 

[dodgehand]

I've done this very swap in other vehicles and have learned that it's often far cheaper/better to buy another vehicle with the drivetrain you want, swap over all of your goodies, then re-selling the now surplus vehicle. It sounds a bit extreme, but financially it works out better in the end. It works out even more in your favor if you value your time at anything over a $1 an hour. Just because you can do something (the swap) doesn't mean you should do it.

Am I understanding you right your suggesting I buy another truck with the manual tranny and sell my truck since I really don't have any goodies on it?