Dakota Durango Forum banner

R/T-Auto to Manual Swap build thread

121K views 220 replies 39 participants last post by  tscholt 
#1 ·
I have had countless threads all stating the same thing so here is my build thread finally! I have most of the automatic sensors and cables unhooked and steering colum converted, auto driveshaft is out and I'm almost ready to put the manual pedal assembly in. Gray truck is the donor and that is now sold. Enjoy! I'll post plenty more pics as the build progress's.





 
See less See more
5
#193 ·
Update - The truck is now down to only 2 CEL's, Governor Presure Sensor and Trans Temperature. After some research, it looks as though the Gov. Sensor also measures temp, so if I figure it out I'll be hitting 2 birds with one stone hopefully.


If I had some good weather again I'd be taking some video, wish I took advantage of the good summer we had but I missed out.
 
#195 ·
Harsh,...Just for a hoot, you might pull the Trans Relay fuse (F in PDC) and see if you lose the CELs....AND if you lose anything else that`s needed. Mine is running fine with that pulled, and the same CELs went bye bye. Regarding your P/N lead ground, maybe my point of ground wasn`t good enough, but I couldn`t get any start circuit with the BK/WT lead grounded. I am actually running with it spliced to the backup switch wire. WTF? Since I am no electronics wizard, and 100+ pages in the factory manual are wiring diagrams, this makes my teeth hurt. I love this conversion process because it`s such a damned challenge. P.S. Your truck sounds strong in the video.
 
#198 ·
Pratte - I did try this just for the hell of it, it didn't make a difference. I still have the same 2 CEL's. The computer is looking for some type of return voltage so I'm assuming manual Dodge dakota's have something wired differently in the wiring harness from the factory. I hear ya though, I have headaches from doing so much interenet and Haynes book searching. It's deff. a challange, my goal at this point is to be CEL free and I'm dam close!

And thank you by the way! That video was when the truck only had the cat for an exhaust, the rest is 3" spintech headers and Y-pipe.
 
#199 ·
Joe and J - You are correct, if he says built, he's lying and I call BS. However...... if it's just got a stock "rebuild" that might not be a bad thing. Only thing I'd check is the rear ears of the tranny that mount to the cross member as they are prone to breaking, I had a good welder mig me a 1/2" thick alum plate on and that baby aint breaking!
 
#200 ·
Welding the ears are no problem for me I welded for 6 years and used to be certified so beefin those ears up are nothin. :eek:nethumb:
And Harsh what I was wondering was did you ever look for an 01 computer to get flashed so you could still keep yours
 
#201 ·
Mike had a mail order PCM that was supposed to address the limp mode, hard limiter etc etc....but it never worked right. I'll leave it up to him to explain in further detail.

I am the one he referred to earlier regarding PCM flashing...
 
#204 ·
Thanks man! I appreciate that! I drove it up the road today just to rip on it, felt great to do it and not worry about electrical issues. Friggin thing pulls hard!
 
#206 ·
I hate to say it but I STILL have no new video's.... weather sucks in NY right now.
 
#208 ·
Haha, thanks alot man! I do very much appreciate the props! It wasn't easy but is a blast to drive. And yes, Dave can suck a monsterous horse penis for all care, I was respectful and instead of working with me he calls me out and says my vehicle is the problem.... whatever....
 
#209 ·
I am getting ready to do this swap into my 98 R/t. As far as the ecu...A friend told me that I could just get someone to remove the automatic transmission parameters and it will be fine...Don't know that for sure after reading all this... Hopefully it will work out. I'm sick of the problems with the 46re.
 
#210 ·
That is correct, late 90's dodges can easily have an ecu reflash turning automatic off and manual tranny on, and have no cel's.
 
#214 ·
Hey harsh... Nice work man... Lot of tedious things involved. I had a 92 dakota with intentions of a 5 speed swap... Rebuilt the motor completely and bought a new trans... Once it was done, I sold it cause I found a 4door 4x4 5.9 2000 dakota with a shot trans... I'm buying a nv3500 tomorrow... Since mine is a 2000, sounds rougher than I thought... The donar is a 2500 ram 5.9, think the PCM will swap or should I contact Ryan??? Thx
 
#216 ·
My dakota has been a project since I got it. Im always playing with things. I play with customer cars too. I got paid today for 40 minutes worth of work. My truck has big plans too. Stand alone computer with new motor and tranny.
 
#218 ·
I know this is an old thread but I have spent a lot of time looking at it and just put a NV3500 in my '03 R/T and thought I would share something I learned. If anyone wants to do this on a '01+ and doesn't have the funds for a custom tune, you can make it run and avoid limp mode for a couple dollars. Harsh informed us that you can ground the #6 pin on the trans range finder plug to get the truck started because it thinks it is in park/neutral. However, a problem he ran into was that the truck didn't like moving in p/n so it put itself into limp mode with a rev limiter around 3500 RPM. Not fun.

To get around this I put a toggle switch inline between the pin and the ground that is routed up to my console. So when the circuit is closed (on) it thinks it is in p/n and will start. As soon as the truck is started I turn the switch off (open the circuit) so it no longer thinks it is in p/n. I have been driving the truck like this for several weeks and the only time it went into limp mode was when I forgot to flip the switch off. I do have a couple codes for the trans but they do not impact how it drives. Hope this can help someone. Putting a stick in my truck is by far the best thing I have done to it.
 
#219 · (Edited)
(Sorry thread was hidden from me i see your nice how to remove all that senor BS, thank you)

9 years later but what the heck worth a try...
I got a little bit different of a scenario but Im still trying to mate the 5 speed and 5.9, just instead of having a 5.9 and wanting to put a 5-speed in it I have a 3.9 5 speed and I want to put the 5.9 into it since my enigne is going.

How did you basically tell your pcm to take hike with all the plugs and sensors and BS for that automatic trans? Did you lose cruise control?

After i run my wires for the 7&8 injectors because my v6 harness has the spots for it at the pcm plug. Im told i need a 2001 5.9 pcm or one from the r/t... Then once i throw the 5.9 in, plug it all up, i was told a need a trans delete and a tune.
You got a take one this? Any thing would help
 
#221 ·
9 years later but what the heck worth a try... I got a little bit different of a scenario but Im still trying to mate the 5 speed and 5.9, just instead of having a 5.9 and wanting to put a 5-speed in it I have a 3.9 5 speed and I want to put the 5.9 into it since my enigne is going. After i run my wires for the 7&8 injectors because my v6 harness has the spots for it at the pcm plug. Im told i need a 2001 5.9 pcm or one from the r/t... Then once i throw the 5.9 in, plug it all up, i was told a need a trans delete and a tune. You got a take one this? Any thing would help
Curious if you ever figured this out. I have a 2003 3.9 5-speed Dakota 4x4 with a bad motor (no cruise, security, power anything). Just got a donor 5.9 from an 01 Ram 1500 automatic. I do not have the donor ECU so assume I can just flash my V6 ECU to run the V8. Is this correct? I know I will also need a 5.9 flywheel and plan on replacing the clutch while it's all apart.
 
Top