Hello Everyone,

 

Well over Memorial Day Weekend the 47re began its slide to the point of no return on my way back from my camping trip.  I knew this day would come when I purchased the truck (mechanical items don't last forever) so its no real surprise (still feels like this though ).  Taking that into consideration, I have always planned to convert my rig over to manual as I am a 3 peddle guy.  I am not concerned with the $$ (sort of) but am really concerned about doing it right with a solid end product.  I decided on the nv4500, so I will be needing help from all of you 5 speed owners (or past 5 spds).  

 

The goal of this thread is to seek knowledge from those who performed the conversion and for getting items clarified prior to the truck being torn down.  My timeline is to have the conversion complete for m Aug camping/fishing trip so i better get on it !

 

Thanks in advance and this week I am creating the shopping list which I plan to post for advice/confirmation.  The first links below is what I am considering, any thoughts?

 

http://www.high-impact.net/NV4500 into an 94 and Up Dodge Truck with 5.9L Cummins.htm

 

http://www.midwesttrans.com/Dodge_ Auto_NV4500_5_Speed_Conversion_Transmission.html

 

 

Just food for thought, would it be possible to find out the last 6 digit combo of the build sequence to represent my truck with the auto option not selected as part of the build order sheet? I do not wish to create a whole ton of work for you but if my numbers are 288451 would say 288441 be a non-auto version build of my truck?

If you don’t want to / have the time (completely understandable), anyway for me to decode/select what the last 6 digit sequence means on a build sheet?  Two hours of research found that the vin for the dodge trucks doesn’t produce the transmission listing, which is part of the last 6 digit sequence coding given to the truck at the time of production.

See this is the issue, you need an already established vin. Have anyone local with one of these trucks that is a 5 or 6 speed? One with security would be preferable.

 

Changing a sequence number may or may not produce a result. Using your example of changing the 5 to a 4....doesn't exist in the system. 

On 3/7/2017 at 11:28 AM, jlbayes said:

See this is the issue, you need an already established vin. Have anyone local with one of these trucks that is a 5 or 6 speed? One with security would be preferable.

 

Changing a sequence number may or may not produce a result. Using your example of changing the 5 to a 4....doesn't exist in the system. 

 

I am the last of the 2nd gen owners among all friends and friends of friends, they are all CR owners who I had the chance to join with my own 6.7/6 speed but didn't as I enjoy the 2nd gens or do I.... .  Having a conversation while listening to your favorite band on a road trip is so overrated....

 

Back on topic, I am happy to report no more check engine light and the pcm is happy!  I drove 30 miles today post my custom alterations and no more yellow/orange glow with the truck acting way better.  I re-read above and if the pcm is the master brain it would make sense to me if when unhappy it would impact the ecm even if flashed to "ignore" its problems. 

 

How did I fix it...well its still a auto pcm....  I will say time spent researching and  understanding what the pcm needed paid off  with regards to wiring/signals.

 

NightHawk,  Where at in Northern California are you?   I am in Yuba City.  I am also looking to do the 47re to NV4500 swap and I was wondering how your setup is doing?  Has your CEL lights come back on?  Have you had to do a smog check?  Thinking back is there anything you would have done different?  

15 hours ago, BRI7070 said:

NightHawk,  Where at in Northern California are you?   I am in Yuba City.  I am also looking to do the 47re to NV4500 swap and I was wondering how your setup is doing?  Has your CEL lights come back on?  Have you had to do a smog check?  Thinking back is there anything you would have done different?  

The setup has roughly 5,000 miles on it since last summer and to date the only continued issue is the transfercase drip at the case seam (must split to change the impute shaft).  I have been please with the performance both empty and loaded with the camper, the only major gripe is the lack of cruise control for the longer trips as my foot tends to cramp up/fall asleep after a few hours of hwy cruising.  

 

I will do my best to answer questions / help out, just keep in mind this swap is time consuming/not for the novice mechanic.  I do not mean to question any of your skills, just trying to warn as i would have never tackled this if I had not had exposure/completed serious work with mechanic friends/family.  Examples would be prior to this swap I was involved (with friends) 1 in-frame engine overhaul, 2 engine removal/rebuilds, 4 transmission overhauls, 2 transfercase overhauls and a cummins conversion into a 60's power wagon.

 

Where at in Northern California are you?  

I now live in SF due to work, was near sonoma/petaluma and truck lives on family property near there now so it only gets driven about once a month.

 

Has your CEL lights come back on?

My CEL has been off since building my PCM fooler that interconnects with the harness & provides the same output signals as the 47re did under driving conditions.  The smarty flash with the factory dodge tune took care of the ECM, but I did fight that PCM for quite awhile.  I recommend getting a manual PCM to make the swap easier if you go forward.

 

Have you had to do a smog check?

The CA smog check for diesel as you know deals with visual (mods), smoke output (via snap test) and electrical (OBDII) proper function testing (codes/readiness monitors) for the 98-02 dodge generation.  The purpose of me using all factory parts (including tune) was too replicate the factory version as closely as possible to remain in complaint with emissions. The main guideline in CA is to make sure all parts are either factory replacement or improved factory replacement that came on the truck as standard equipment.

ok guys I need a list of parts bout to start my swap on ole blue I know all the big ones just need a list if stone has the time 

Thanks for all the great info here Nighthawk. I did the swap but am beginning to show signs of trouble.I was curious about the "foolers" you spoke of. Did you have any dead pedal issues? I am currently having trouble more frequently from my throttle. I am fine in the fuel supply arena. Just have trans codes P0713, P0753, and P1763 . Will the manual trans PCM be compatible with my auto ECM? I don't have a tuner. So should I consider getting a Smarty to deal with the ECM issue? Thanks in advance.

On Thu Oct 26 2017 at 12:13 PM, Rmackin said:

Thanks for all the great info here Nighthawk. I did the swap but am beginning to show signs of trouble.I was curious about the "foolers" you spoke of. Did you have any dead pedal issues? I am currently having trouble more frequently from my throttle. I am fine in the fuel supply arena. Just have trans codes P0713, P0753, and P1763 . Will the manual trans PCM be compatible with my auto ECM? I don't have a tuner. So should I consider getting a Smarty to deal with the ECM issue? Thanks in advance.

 

The truck ran okay after the swap when running all of the auto tuning and got progressively better once manual tune was uploaded/pcm codes gone.  The smarty s03 can convert an auto ecm to manual ecm, if you dont want to buy an S03 check to see if you can borrow one from someone.

 

The manual version of the pcm should be compatible with the ecm as long as you get the options aligned correctly.  As noted earlier in the thread, pcms can in several configurations. 

 

As for my pcm fooler harness, i reverse engineered the 47re output signals to figure oit what the computer wanted to know. Took me about 6months on and off to figure it out but just rolled over 4000 miles on my conversation with no yellow engine.