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Auto to manual conversion Auto to manual conversion
2nd Gen Dodge conversion
Dazed&Confused
06-05-2007
Ok on May 30th I started the conversion on my 2001.5 3500 dually. I went from a weak 47re to a rebuilt NV4500 and a South Bend Con FE clutch. To start this project the best thing to do is find a donor truck for all the parts. My transmission and all accessories came out of a wrecked 1994 Dodge Ram 3500. You will need the hydraulics, pedals, transmission, crossmember, and driveshafts out of the donor vehicle.

To start out with I installed my clutch and brake pedal. Now to do this all you have to do is remove the C-clip on the left side of the shaft that goes through the pedals. With the Clip removed you can push the rod out to the right hand side making sure not to damage the plastic clips. Now insert the brake pedal and start the shaft through, when you can see the end of the shaft pull it back a bit and wiggle the clutch up in there and tap the shaft through. Make sure when you get it all through the C-clip is all the way on or it will fall off and the pedals will work loose. On all the trucks there is a hole for the clutch master cylinder with a plug in it. Knock the plug out to install your clutch master cylinder. Now I dont know what year the master cylinders changed but mine bolted in with two studs were the 94's just snapped in place. I replaced both my Master cylinder and slave cylinder on mine in this install.

Next I jacked the front of my truck up and slid 8x8's under the front wheels along with my 10 ton jack stands. I then blocked both sides of the rear wheels and took the drive shaft out. Make sure you have a drain pan under the tail of the shaft becuase when you pull the shaft out it will allow fluid to run out of the trans. Again this only applies to a 2WD truck like mine. I then removed the inspection pan form the botton front of the trans so that I could use a large screwdriver to turn the flexplate so I could access the TQ convertor bolts. Now to get to the TQ bolts there is a small access panel half way up the engine that has tow small bolts under the heat exchanger. The bolts for the TQ convertor are a 16 metric and are a bit of a pain to get to. I removed all the TQ convertor bolts from there. After the TQ convertor bolts were removed I went ahead and removed all the bellhousing bolts but the two that were in the center of the trans. I then went ahead and removed the three electrcal conetions, the shift linkage, and kickdown cable. After all of this was loose I unbolted the the linkeage brackets for the shifter and the kickdown and removed anything I saw that could get in the way. After all the electrical conections and shift linkage was removed I disconected the two oil lines and allowed them to drain out while I took a break. After they drained I crawled back under the truck and removed the lines from the heat exchanger, and then up front to disconnect the oil cooler for the trans. For this take the bolts out and move the cooler around to allow access to the two clamps on the hose. Remove the clamps and twist the hoses off, there are two plactic clips that hold the lines secure to the oilpan you will need to remove. Once all of this is done take a transmission jack and secure the transmission. After your transmission is secure remove the bolts from the transmission mount to the bottom of the trans. You can now remove the 8 bolts and nuts that hold the crossmember in place, a spare set of hands is always nice but can be done by yourself. Once you have all the bolts out of it jack the trans up just a bit and take a large hammer and beat the crossmember out of the way. Try knocking it forward or backward before trying to knock it down. Once you have the crossmember out of the way remove the last two bolts out of the bellhousing and start wiggleing the trans back toward the rear of the truck and lowering it out of the way. Now once you have the trans out you can pull the cooler lines out the back were the trans was easy. You can now remove the flexplate, the rest of the shift linkeage and the kickdown cable. You are now ready to start your assembly.

To start the assembly install your preasure plate useing the correct bolts and torqueing everything to specs. Take a can of break clean and a clean rag and clean off your flywheel of any finger prints or grease. Install your alighnment tool into the clutch and flywheel so you can now install your Preasure Plate. I had you flywheel resurfaced since I went the route of installing a used clutch and preasure plate that I got from Bill(Bouncer). What ever you do make sure everything is in line and that the preasure plate is firm against the flywheel. I had to shim my factory bolts the way Peter from South Bend informed me to do. I also took the time to install a new throwout bearing as well. You will need to cut a hole in the floorboard now, I raised the trans up and marked were I needed to cut so I didnt go to big. Once your hole is cut you are now ready to assemble it all. Now take your time trying to get the trans and clutch together, wiggle the trans once you get them lined up to get them together. Whatever you do, do not force them together, they will slide on there one when they are lined up. You can now install the bellhousing bolts and tighten them up. Next reinstall the manual crossmember, I suggest replacing the mount when you do this. Once the crossmember is in you are now set to install your driveshaft. I had one made special for mine that was the thickest they can for the abuse it will see in the future. Now you are ready to istall the slave cylinder, I replace mine as well and had a heck of a time getting it bled. We hooked the new one up and pumped it manually against the floor to bleed it since there is no bleeder screw on it.

I then proceeded inside the truck were I remove the covers over the steering colum. Once these were removed I unpluged the wires for the OD control so I could knock the pin out of the auto shifter and remove it. You can take the blck plastic piece and reintsalled it in the plastic surounds for the steering colum. I then took the cover off of the guages and put a piece of black electrical tape over the PND21 so you can not see it. I then put the dash all back togerther and moved on to wiring it.

You are now ready for the wiring to make it run. What you will need to do with the 47re is take the plug with three wires and cut the plug off of it. There will be a black and white wire in the middle, attach a wire to it and run it up to one side of the safty switch on the clutch assembly. There are two wire on that safty with a green plug, the other wire you will need to ground. This is now your neutral saftey system. The other two wires are your reverse lights and get plugged in to the top of the manual transmission. Now with my truck and many others I have found you will need to have the ECM reflashed for the 5 speed I found out. I was in contact with Bob Wagner today and he told me he can reprogram my ECM and fix my problems. If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to ask me. If you see something I missed let me know and I will fix this. I hope this helps out everybody.

As for prices this is what I would have in it if I didnt wheel and deal for everything.

Trans, pedals, crossmember, driveshafts = $1,000
Clutch used Southbend Con Fe = little dealing with old friend
Throwout bearing $50 shipped from South Bend
Resurfaced flywheel = $50
Transmission mount = $40
Clutch Master cylinder = $120
Clutch Slave cylinder = $111
Custom driveshaft = $211
Reflashed ECM = $250
Miscelanious parts= $100

How much I have invested in it? Right about $250 so far.

Andy  
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