rancherman

I've got 'Gross, Nebraska' just north of me, and 'Worms, Nebraska" to the south.

No doubt everyone's heard about the proposed Taliban prisoner exchange.. Ok, turn em loose, but secretly inject them with live small pox and let em go: Right back to their nest.

You can blame THIS site!!! If everyone who owned a Ram, and was a member here, there would be hardly any trucks for sale... (no reason to sell) Hey Mike, I should change my name to BROWN NOSE BOB

my right front on the dually wears real fast too, Plus our well pounded/grooved asphalt roads make for a white knuckle ride.. but I know it's past due for ball joints... your recent spring perch replacement might be a clue: somebody didn't get something tight enough during reassembly?? Just about every possible cause has been suggested on this thread.. Can't wait to hear what is found!

simpler than pulling the steering wheel and re clocking it!

I wonder how often they have to replace/repaint that sign!

good find Bill. I've been wondering for the past few years on what may be our 'tipping' point whether it would be some 'war', or disease, natural disaster... All of which the US has seen.. ok, not so much disease-wise, but certainly the past wars/manhunt and several hurricanes have had to taken their toll. We have swallowed a pretty hefty inflationary pill these past 10 years.. can you imagine taking away the one stable electricity source would do to us? s'pose we'll just buy our electricity from the Chinese?

geez, I'd sure think you'd be just fine then! Same set up here, and no problems SCRATCH my post above... I swear I have a mild form of dyslexia.. I have 235 85 16's too Sorry bout that!

Then most owner just sell the truck. ^^^^ Do I see a business opportunity here for you Mike??? 'MoparMikes 'built they way the should've' 24v Rams 4 sale'

shoot, there is far more wooded acres today, than when the Country was founded. Why? wildfires (or lack of these days) When my area was settled, I remember listening to my wife's grandfather telling us there wasn't enough trees to find a stick to 'beat the dog'. The Native Americans would intentionally set fire to the prairie, in order to keep the grass fresh and green... The resulting new fresh grass made the buffalo to come to THEM... instead of the other way around. Fire is a wonderful way to keep grass healthy, thick and profitable. These days, I have to spend a lot of time and money to keep the Eastern red cedar, Siberian elm from taking over my grass.. I'm afraid it's almost a losing battle!

hey Yabba, before you get spacers, can you tell us what your tire size is? I've looked at your pic a couple times... I'm wondering if the angle of the camera is making it look closer than what actually is 285/75/16's have been what I've run for 10 years on our '00, ranging from Michelins, Bfgoodrich.. and while they appear kinda close, I've never seen the telltale signs of kissing.. (chaffing on the inside facing wall) I run treadwrights, and a recapped tire is the last thing that needs extra heat/rubbing!

And there ya go! Let the games begin! There's several threads on this matter on CF, a lot with pics too. Once you get past their BS of 'why' or 'why not' of this project, you may actually get some info! (that's why I like www.mopar1973man.com ) I had in my mind to go 6 speed the whole time on my project truck, but didn't limit it to the NV5600... a G56 would've worked fine too. I waited until I found a fairly close one, and for a good price. I ended up with a NV5600 for 450 bucks, needing seals. It was actually cheaper than a core, so if I do have to abandon it, (something catastrophic inside) I'll be ahead of the game. I was told by my local salvage guy, he'll allow 600 on this trans, and would sell me a g56 for $1600 ..........1600 bucks towards repairing the nv5600 about covers the bearings, syncros, and seals.... Good luck, I fully plan on 'abusing' my welcome here LOL, with pics and build-notes on my Ram amalgamation.. So let's see who 'gets er done first'

around here, the county 'armor coats' the oiled roads... they spray down a liquid coat of hot oil, and sprinkle small gravel on top. run over it a couple times with a roller... which barely sticks the gravel down. Lets just say I go through at least 1 windshield per year on my various vehicles. Gives the local body shop plenty of business!

not sure if a rock coming off the tire in Nebraska can be blamed on the driver, but I do know a potato going through my windshield sure can! We have 'cover and restrain' your load laws.. Bill, ever get hit by a sugar beet? That'd really mess up your day! I had to enlist my 6 yr. old daughter to unscrew the valve caps on my inner tires, the goof tire jockey didn't align the holes, and they were offset. Daughter was able to get her hand between the tires, and reach the cap. ~ 1.5 inch is what my daughter's hand/wrist measured at the time (I used a dial caliper to measure)

I thought you were thinking 6 speed, no matter, It's still the same swap.. just have to get the right parts.. a donor sure comes in handy! If you bugger anything up on the dismantling of the donor, you'll know what NOT TO DO when the wrenches attack the 'good' truck!! One thing for sure, you'll LEARN a LOT about your rig during this process! I did a quick search on ebay and searchtempest, and there were only a couple of guys wanting to TRADE their autos, for manuals.. nothing today for a 'swap setup'.. That can change pretty fast! keep your eye out. Check your boneyards especially the smaller mom and pop type, They tend to 'have time' for our type of requests You could go ahead and upgrade the 4500 whilst it's awaiting it's new home home; large input shaft, and one of the 5th gear nut fixes

well, yes and no.. I consider an 'easy' swap, in which case old parts are unbolted, and the new desired parts bolt right into place.. 'hard' is where I consider you have to do fabrication/cutting/welding/rewiring... in order to stuff something into where it was never intended...

only differences will be if they are configured for 2 or 4 wd, (output/tailhousing) and if they have either the 1.25 or 1.375" input So, I guess that's kinda when the HO engines came out too.. and the larger input shaft upgrades. 5600's need the wide crossmember, yours will have the narrow one. 4500's will work either way, as long as the rubber mount is the correct one Now, I almost forgot, you may have to change your input gear on your TC, to go from auto to the manual. Not a tuffy, but chances are, if you find a donor, or a 'kit' offered by someone who is parting out a truck, just snare the whole assembly, tc and all. Plus, If you want to get rid of your column shifter, and make it look correct, You'll need the column too... ugg, more crap to swap! If you really want to do it up.. then there's the dash too (PRNDL)

your pcm currently runs your auto trans... and simply unhooking it will cause 'check engine' light to come on.. As far as the actual transmission, an NV 5600 is an NV5600..ok, make sure it's for your configuration ie 2 or 4wd.. BUT, the bellhousing is different on the small gasser versions. V10's and diesel bells are the same, but make sure you get a diesel flywheel. These engines are balanced differently. (internally vs. externally) I'd recommend you finding a ~2001.5 and newer nv5600, They'll have a 1 3/8ths input, and better synchronizer rings. (finding the old style ring has been hard, almost have to retrofit the whole trans for a rebuild then.) might as well start with something that has parts fairly plentiful. edit; make that ~ 2000.5 on the larger input size. 7/11/00 SUPPOSED to be the split date

it's pretty common to find a 'conversion set up' listed on ebay or craigslist.. Someone's parting out a truck. You'll get just about everything needed, trans, flywheel, clutch, hydraulics, cross member, pedal set up, Most of these run 2 to 3k bucks... just so you know, these will not be 'fresh' rebuilds, and probably could use a going though! a lot of remanned trans run 1800 up to almost 4 thousand.. So just from that, if the seller can prove its a good trans, then the 'kit' is good money. Remember you'll need a trans set up for your type of truck; either 2 or 4wd... Your existing TC bolts right up. driveshafts need to be lengthened, shortened.. or cobbed off the donor, if it's the right ones Then there's the pcm... will need the manual version After the parts are gathered, 2 guys can do it in a good weekend, 1 guy probably will need 2.. Easy? no, impossible? no. time consuming yes. lots of crap has to be removed/replaced.. but when done, it's just like the factory did it..

From what I've read, they only built them for a few months, before switching them to the 24v. The few I've seen have been the large cab. Mine will end up a regular cab, 1994 titled 6 speed I believe most years had more autos than manuals I like the regular cab.... it FORCES me to shovel/clean it out more often, so I can at least close the doors! I can't imagine the crap that would accumulate with an additional 2-3 foot behind the seat!

Alcoa conversion, not what you probably needed to hear! The family jewels WILL hate you... I thought there were aluminum jobbies out there, but for dually, I now see it's usually a steel rim and a nice bright cover. Had me fooled.

replaced with a rebuilt starter? Man, electrical components, especially in the rebuild industry have huge quality differences.... I'd be surprised at anything lasting half as long as the original these days! Ed has a good idea^^^^ might of had a stuck brush, and the banging fixed it.. or you may have a failing park switch too...

I look at it as if 'they' ever solve a problem, then what would they do then? I swear, 'they' have the best job security ever devised!... ......Don't ever fix anything, and blame the other-side-of-the-aisle when it goes south...... This country needs a Linux version of Govt... right Mike?? ;) (hard to corrupt, and light-on-it's-feet)

^^^^^^^YEP! racket, racket, racket! ^^^^^^^^