Step 15 – The small stuff
This one is easy to forget with all of the measure so I made it its own step! Don’t forget to install all of the small clutch parts! If a used tranny, be sure to install a new pivot ball and throw out bearing at minimum! These are wear items!
Step 16 – Wrestling time!
With the tranny now prepped, and the clutch in, it’s time to wrestle the pig into the truck! Two points:
1 – NEVER use the bolts to “pull” the tranny into the clutch. Always “feel” it in. If there is resistance, you may be hitting the pilot bearing and if you pull the tranny in by the bolts, you could actually have the input shaft nose press the bearing out the other side of the flywheel! So for sure, feel it in. Rocking it side to side while pushing does help.
2 – If you use 6x 3/8 course bolts that are about 3” long with the hex sawed off the end, you can screw them into the adapter plates screw holes and essentially use them as an alignment tool. Don’t rest the tranny weight on them as the leverage of the 3” long bolt on a aluminum adapter plate wont end well, but it will still give you a guide vs going in free hand.
One in, remove guide bolts and bolt the tranny in.
Step 17 – Fabrication!
Now comes the fun part. No one makes a mount for the tranny to the first gen crossmember. After trying the factory one with mods, a custom built one with bushings above the plate and into the tranny; I decided this way was best.
This is what the factory unit looks like.
The old, tired bushings are on the right. The new ones are on the left.
I ended up making this plate out of ½” hot rolled steel so it would have the strength I needed. My slope was 3 deg so I went with a plate, sliced it into almost 3 pieces (left ½” material uncut so it was still 1 piece), bent it to a 3 deg slope, then welded it back solid.
This was plan 2. All was reused except the plate was changed to allow for the 3 deg slope to be absorbed by it and not the bushings.
And the new plate:
New aluminum bushings being made:
Again, not the way it has to be done, but the way I did it. In my application, I had 2.5” between the crossmember and the bottom of the new plate. That put me to correct slope for my driveshaft angle. Everyone will be a slight bit different so do some measuring.
Step 18 – NP 205 mount
Once tranny mount is complete, you can reinstall the NP205. One thing to note though is the rear main seal of the 5600 will need to be pulled. You could machine down the collar, but I would rather have the strength than the seal as the liquid cant go far! So out comes the seal…. This will allow the liquid to fill the 205s front sump.
Step 19 – More cutting
Now that the tranny is mounted solid, you can see the location of the shift tower. Now its time to fine tune the hole for the shift boot. Also time to cover the old hole where the old getrag shifter came through the floor. In my case, I applied RTV to the bottom of a galvanized piece of sheet metal, then riveted in place. My welding skills are still developing so I felt this would be best for my application.
Step 20 – Interior
Next step is to reassemble the interior. Now as the shift hole has changed, you will require some new carpet. You can make the old work, but for the sake of $200 and your truck likely needing new carpet as it is 20 years old, do your truck a favor and put new stuff in. It will make the truck smell new inside too!
Also if ordering carpet, I highly recommend some mass backing and some sound deadener. Makes it super quiet (well, for what the truck is! LOL)
I think I killed a chia pet or something along those lines!
And if you went this far, let’s make the side sills look purdy again!
Step 21 – Gimme some traction!
Ah. The 4wd shifters!
Now, when out on the bench this is the easiest. I started there and finished with the tranny in the truck.
There are two ways to do the 4wd shifter. The factory way would just need you to lengthen the shift rod a few inches and make the tranny bracket as the original shift bracket wont fit on a 5600.
The other is the direction I went.
The NP205 is a dual shift, 3 position, manual gear drive transfer case. When you shift the lever, there is actually a total of 6 positions that the transfer case can be in. Due to the nature of the 205s design, you can actually manually shift each rail independently of each other. This allows a 2 low feature instead of just 4 low.
The 6 positions are as follows:
Drivers side (inner rail) operates range. Its positions are high, neutral, and low. When shift rail is pushed in, this is low. When pulled out, it is high. Central is neutral.
Passenger side (outer rail) operated 4wd. Its positions are 4 low, neutral, 4 high. When shift rail is pushed in, it’s in low. When pulled out, it is in high. Central is neutral.
To fabricate these shifters is literally trial and error. The shifter themselves are fairly easy to make as are the bushings. The rails themselves need to be fine tuned to clear exhaust, wiring, and sensors. Also you need to be mindful rod length determines the throw of the shifter handle (aka top) so if you want throw further to the dash or further to the seat, that needs to be part of your trial and error.
I had started off with the rod being adjustable, but it was too hokey and weak for my likings in the end. Not to mention the turnbuckle used in this application is not up to my quality standards.
For the interior, you will now need two shift boots. A trip to the junk yard will help this.
You then take the two boots, stick it into the same ring with each boot only being half riveted in, stable or sew the center sections together, and then have two shifter boots in the same ring!
For the handles, I used the factory handle and made the second one as a clone of the first. Bushings I made out of nylon. The shifters will need a bit of a curve put into them to get them to line up with the floor hole but nothing too major. One thing to remember, when bending the factory handle, it is hardened steel. You will need to heat it till it glows before bending it or the metal will crack.
Step 22 – Drive shafts
Drive shafts will need to be longer on the front and shorter on the rear. Measure between yoke centers and use this as the measurement for the drive shaft shop. It is not recommended you cut and weld your won as the shaft shops have a balancing machine to ensure you won’t have a vibration. Once they are finished, install.
Step 23 – Exhaust
Now, your exhaust will be an issue as the transfer case bend in the pipe will be forward 7”. So cut a section out of the strait area and weld in a section of same diameter and material pipe and everything will line up on the front. On the rear half, you may need to cut a 7” section out now (depending on exhaust set up).
Step 24 – Slippery!
Now is a great time to fill all the fluids! Remember that the 5600 will take more fluid now than book spec! I estimated about 7.5 QT and took it for a loop around the block so it would fill the rear 205 sump. When I got back I removed the upper PTO cover bolt and filled till liquid came out of there.
Also remember the 5600 requires Pennzoil Syncomesh fluid only! You can buy the Dodge version, or the Pennzoil one with their name on it. Same stuff.
Step 25 – Give me some spark!
Next is wiring. Yay! Everyone’s favorite part! And if not done right, your electronics wont work!
First, connect the starter.
Second, you will need to lengthen your speedo sender wire in certain applications (in my case as I have a Gear vendors unit).
Step 26 – Almost there!
Next, seat and install shifters!
Step 27 – Reinstall the clutch hydraulics. In my case, I decided to get a new one from South Bend Clutch as I felt the 20+ year old hydraulics system would eventually be a point of failure, but that is your call. To second this choice was the fact that the slave is inserted from the opposite side of the bellhousing vs the Getrag bell. As I did not want to get into heating and bending the fragile plastic factory hydraulic lines, this seemed smart.
If you order one from SBC, you will need to swap the reservoir off the new one to what you have on the old one as SBC only offers a 2nd gen version, and minus pulling an adapter off the master and swapping the reservoir, it is a 1stgen unit.
Step 28 – The small stuff
Reconnect battery, connect wiring under the truck for all sensors, remove bungee cord from pedal, ensure all fluids are filled, and double check all bolts and nuts.
Now the skid plate that is left over you wont be able to use again as it will be too short.
As for the crossmember, on the reg cabs you will need to install it backwards (left on the right side) and it will sit at an angle but still better to have the extra support there. For club cabs, you should have the length to leave it stock.
Now it should look like this!
November 2012:
Also a change as of fall 2012, the truck will no longer serve Daily Driver status. Well, at least during the winter! The truck developed a small patch of rust start on the passenger’s A pillar as well as the drivers drip rail. With that scare of my baby starting to rust away, the truck was taken off the winter driver status and a winter beater was located. These issues were repaired during November 2012 by a Chrysler body shop ad it was painted from the pin stripe up.
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Random pics from 2012:
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So, you think I am done with the mods right? Do I really need to ask you that question anymore? LOL I think it is clear to you now that I have a bad sickness and is the reason for my being a hermit in a garage. 😀