Nicks Machine

Working on vehicles is dangerous. Mechanics are trained in how to do it safely.If you choose to work on your own vehicle, DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. This page is simply an account for how my experience went.

Swapping my Dakota from an Automatic to a Manual

It boggles my mind to think that people would pay more for an automatic from the factory (especially with Chryslers reputation for building reliable automatics). In any case I decided I wanted a manual and so began to acquire parts to do the swap. I did a similar swap on a '98 Mustang V6 a few years ago so I thought how hard could it be? Turns out with 4x4 vehicles, there’s a lot more work. There’s also a lot more work when things do not bolt up like you assume they would.

This is just about all the parts I needed to do the swap. 5 speed transmission, NV3500, had to be from a 4.7 with 4x4 specifically a Chrysler vehicle (salvage yard 500 bucks 78k miles), flywheel, flywheel fasteners (IIRC M25x1.0, grade 8 bolts are fine for stock application - veteran racecar engine builder), clutch pedals, hydraulic clutch system, clutch (kit usually includes pilot and throw out bearings), shifter if you don't have one, and a few other odds and ends. The rear drive shaft gets lengthened exactly 2" and the front one shortened 1.5".

My garage, still needed to clean it up a bit to fit my truck inside!

Got my truck in there and jacked it up.

Skid plates were the first things that had to come off.

Got the driveshaft out. It was really stubborn after I took out the bolts holding it in so I just put the trans in drive and stepping on the brake at the same time. Popped it right off the differential.

Disconnected the front driveshaft.

Supported the transmission from the transfer case as I removed the crossmember.

The crossmember is out. Needs some paint.

Ahhh... thats better!

Pulling out the air boxes and other things.

The wheel well really did need to come out to gain access to things.

Having the right tool to remove body pins makes this much easier.

Now I can work on getting those rusted bolts out. Ended up grinding down the top then with a bit of heat punching the remaining neck through the hole.

Also can now see the cooling lines.

Dropped the exhaust. I couldn't reach the plugs to disconnect the O2 sensors. Had to cut them. Really I should have replaced the sensor as the wire cannot be re-soldered and it is unadvisable to crimp them back together because the junction changes the resistance of the sensor. Since the sensors are expensive I crimped them and no problems running rich/lean so far.

Don't try to remove these tubes without a wrench made for going around tubes. They are normally very tight!

bracket that bolts to front differential and transmission. I had to modify this to fit manual. (Cut and welded new metal to it)

Supporting the engine.

A collar that mounts the lower half of the auto transmission to the engine. I had to build a custom one of these.

With the collar out I gained access to the torque converter bolts.

Part of the auto transmission mount.

Another bracket also part of the auto trans mount.

Removing transfer case bolts.

Dropped some of the suspension components for more space.

Used a mirror from the hole I cut for the shifter to gain access to the top 2 bolts.

I ended up splitting the rear end of the transmission off of the transmission and left it attached to the transfer case for the moment.

Another view of it late at night.

Took off the bumper. This has to be done to remove the radiators and take out the transmission cooling lines.

Ripping the dash out. I wanted to get to the cooling core to completely remove the AC. I did not get it out but that turned out to be a good thing as I have a new idea for AC and it will require I still have the cooling core installed. My AC never worked.

AC compressor pump.

AC radiator.

AC lines.

While I had the torsion keys out I decided to clean and paint them.

Dropped the steering column to remove the pedals.

The automatic cluster is on the right and the manual cluster is on the left.

Had to swap, cut, re-weld, ect...

Cut automatic brake pedal.

Welded manual brake pedal.

The finished unit. Original body with new shaft, clutch pedal, and welded manual break pedal on automatic brake arm.

This thing is in the way of the manual clutch master. Had to knock it out.

Installing the clutch master. Fit tightly.

Almost there.

Got everything in and hooked up.

Finally split the automatic from the engine.

How I supported it.

Lowering it down.

Painted the front drive shaft (I did this before I knew I had to shorten it).

You can see the manual is smaller than the automatic.

Another shot.

The automatic was about 2 inches longer than the manual.

The bellhousings are a bit different. The manual has one bolt at 12oclock position not on manual. The upper 6 bolts on the manual bolt right to the engine. The lower 4 I had to make a new collar for.

Test fitting the transfer case. It bolted right up.

Pulling out the radiator to get at the cooling lines.

Antifreeze getting everything sticky.

The rear side of the engine with the flex plate still attached.

Ready for the pilot bearing to get installed in the crankshaft.

Flywheel installed.

Clutch with alignment tool.

Pressure plate installed. Don't forget to remove alignment tool before you try to bolt the manual to the engine.

Raising manual first try.

Made this block of wood with a cut out section to fit the drain plug.

Now that's much better.

In order for the computer to let the engine start, it must know the transmission is in neutral or park. That is this sensors job.

So I checked the continuity of the pins to figure which ones needed to be tied together. I ended up reading the service manual to find the wires I needed.

Tie the Black/Red, Violet/White, and Black/White wires together and then tie them all to ground.

The crossmember did not match up so I had to adjust mine.

Marking where the transmission would sit on it.

Welded everything and then painted it. I had to spot weld and check several times before I got a good fitment.

Side view.

Things continue to go back together.

Got the upper half of the transmission bolted so now I am testing the shifter out.

Remember the collar I pulled out? Well this is my reincarnation. Building this was probably the most challenging part of this project. The tolerances are very tight.