yarddog

I've got an 02 5spd 4x4 that you guys can crawl around and take pics or whatever if you need to.

CODODGE2500MAN

We might take you up on that, but I am really hoping that we will beable to find a shop nearby that would do it for us.....man oh man please say there is a shop that will rip this crappy auto out for a manual!!!!!

Lunyfringe

I think your best/ cost effective way to go is to pickup a similar year rollover/wreck from an insurance auction (like http://www.klode.com ... never been there, just have noticed they have alot of insurance salvage vehicles of all types)

get one with the appropriate 5/6 speed that you'd like, and swap out the parts... I don't know of a shop that's done this already, tho... I don't bring my truck to shops..

I have a '98 12v 5-speed that you can look at, too...

there's probably more to change than you imagine- for example, you probably have the Dana 70 rear... but Dodge always put the Dana 80 behind the manuals
the 6 speed is longer compared to the 5 speed, but I don't know compared the the auto, so you may need driveshafts... besides the obvious (trans, xfer case, shifter, instrument cluster (unless you don't mind leaving the PRNDL up there).. flywheel, pedals, clutch master & slave cylinders... it's a big job...

I think quad4x4 had instructions for swapping a 6-speed into a 5-speed truck... but they even recommended against doing an auto-to-manual swap..

I know people that have done it on a Neon... but that's a little smaller scale... but means it can probably be done..

CODODGE2500MAN

I think this may be the way to go.....just depends on how much of a deal I can get on one of those wrecks.....
Thanks for that link!
Got lift....did you check it out? Wanna go to one of these to check them out?

CODODGE2500MAN

I would have thought that someone would have offered some help over the weekend.....come on someone who has done this!

Gotlift01

Ahh I'm back....I'm gonna do some checkin around and see if I can find any salvage yards with some dodges laying around......not sure how easy that's gonna be but it's worth a shot!!


~Nick

CODODGE2500MAN

I emailed Klode and they emailed me back and said that (of course) the prices vary based upon damage, title (salvage or clear), miles, etc. But they did say that they only range from 250 -25000. Nice ball park right?!?! They have a good amount of ones there that would work. I'm thinkin of gettin a 3500 and maybe converting mine to a 3500 when I do the trans too. Like I said, are you up for diving into this together? How long you lookin till you might be doing this?

Gotlift01

Not sure yet, I'm trying to figure out if I wanna spend the cash right now or wait for a few months. My tranny is not liking life right now so I was thinking of doing something soon, but I don't ever drive the truck so it can wait if need be!

How soon are you wanting to do yours?? I'd be game for helping when I have spare time......where is this place you talked to at?? I haven't looked at that website yet!


~Nick

CODODGE2500MAN

I Don't know where they are located but it is klode.com
I drive mine every day or two between that and the wife's camry...but my tranny hates when i do pretty much anythign to it, so I would like to knock it out in a long weekend or something maybe in september/october....just have to get the funds together. My brother has a shop that we could do it at, he's got everything we could possibly need tool wise down there....air tools, welders, torches, etc.

I just really don't know how complicated it would be to do something like this....Parts and all that should be here, but I don't know too much about the engine/trans.....I would bet we could figure it out.

Gotlift01

I wouldn't imagine it'd be to incredibly difficult, but then again I have had some of the easy things kick my BUTT!!!

I guess it all depends on how much you can get one of those wrecked ones for.....I looked at that website and saw some pictures of the ones they had. Some look REALLY bad and others don't look to bad at all.

One thing we might also look at, is most of those trucks have 100K plus miles on them.....might want to think about getting a new clutch before the install.


~Nick

CODODGE2500MAN

Definetly a new clutch....I'd think maybe even get the wreck down to the shop, pull the trans, put a new clutch on it, all that (they have cherry pickers and all that too) one weekend. Then pull everthing else off the truck and have it all ready. Then we could rip apart the original ones and put together.

My one question is I have no idea where the ecm is, or how much wiring would be needed. YOu?

CODODGE2500MAN

and the salvage/auction is a little SW of c470 and Santa Fe. Close for me, how about you?

Gotlift01

Yeah that'd be an idea......spend one weekend getting everything prepped and ready and another one installing......probably be less of a headache doing it that way.

That salvage yard is a little bit of a drive for me but that's no big deal, I drive down there everyday for work so I'm used to it.


~Nick

CODODGE2500MAN

We should grab lunch some time and just get things figured out.... What do you think would be your highest amount you would spend on a salvage/wreck? I'm not sure what to expect. I'd like to get a feel for the auction idea before we went and actually bought one, but I also don't want to miss out on a good deal.

Gotlift01

Yeah it'd probably be wise to go check out the auction and see how it goes and what some of the stuff goes for. I really don't have a use for anything else on a wrecked truck besides the tranny......so this may be a good idea or we could end up spending more money on stuff we don't need.

The auto I was gonna get from Dave G, was gonna be a little over $4k.......so I'm not sure which route to go.......I'd really love a 5 speed but if it's gonna cost somewhere in the $6k to $7K ballpark I might just say screw it and go with the auto!!

But if I do decide to go that route, I'd still be willing to help you out swaping yours......I think it'd be a fun little project......plus if I ever did decide to do it someday I'd know how!!

I just gotta see how much cash I can come up with and that may make up my mind!


~Nick