has anyone swapped a 5 speed for a E4OD yet? I might have to so my wife can drive the truck. She's handicapped and just can't work the clutch.

Anyway, I did this in my old F150 years ago and had to get different driveshafts. I have a donor F250 extended cab with the automatic and want to put that trans in my 94 F350 crew cab. Any tips or suggestions.

 

It won't be too hard but it will REQUIRE a PCM for an auto and the auto wiring harness. Sounds like you have it all though. Is your donor a PSD or earlier? Is it 4x4?

 

The donor is my wifes 97 psd F250 3x4. I started using it for parts a couple years ago. I think I should have everything I need from it. The steering column too. I hate going from the stick to auto but this stick shift is in need of a rebuild real bad too. I just did the auto myself and did a really high dollar long lasting job on it before we parked it. I hope it can hold up to this one.

 

would you wanna part with the 5speed drive shaft???

 

Sounds like you've got your ducks in a row then. The only problems I'd possibly forsee then would be addressing drive shaft lengths and I'm willing to bet that some wires are going to have to be jumped around in the auto harness. My bet will be that if you have any trouble it will be 4x4 indicator lights, maybe reverse lights, and probably starting with the key. I don't think the wires that close the circuit when you turn the key are in the same spots from 94 - 97. They were different from my 95 donor to my 96.

 

Looks like your truck is a shortbed. There are wierd differences in the shaft configurations. Some are one piece and others are two piece. I know a 4x4 ext is two piece but thats about it. Neal knows more. Maybe he'll show his head around here soon. Also see my above response about wiring. I forgot that in my PM reply to you.

 

redman what did you have to do with the wires?? if i have 2 put a push button down to the starter for a while i will, lol my buddy steave is thinking my drive shaft will need 2 be longer , and with his truck being a long bed manual i though i could make it work even cut it to size

 

I just got a multimeter and checked continuity until I found out which wires ended where in the original harness. Then I did the same thing to the new harness and compared the difference and moved them accordingly. The truck would not start with the key and the 4x4 indicator lights didn't work although the t case shifted like normal. It was just a matter of moving the wires to where they mated correctly to the harness in my truck instead of the donor. I think I only moved 3 total. Took me a few days to figure out what was causng the issues and about 2 hours to trace all the wires then move some. I started the truck with a screwdriver at the starter relay in the mean time.

Your REAR driveshaft will be longer since the ZF is shorter but your front will be shorter. The front should work straight out of your donor. And I'd be apt to agree with your ideas on Rranch's rear DS as long as they are similar concerning one or two piece shaft. As long as it is long enough, even if too long, it will work because you can have it shortened but if it is too short then lengthing will be awful hard to balance. You may have to address differences in how they hook to the t case as well. The front should be the exact same but the rear may be different but you should just be able to swap end pieces for a correct match.

Clear as mud now?

 

lol getting there, ok the wire will be the wires on transfercase right?? also i no i saw it some where the clutch safty button, the wires are under are dash right?? do you realy need it ? i no you should but like back up lights dont realy need them , just asking i fill like i have done the swap 3 or 4 times now, thank you so much man 4 your time and help! like i said if i have to turn the key on and hit a push button for a day or year i will, lol. plan on spending friday night and my birthday sat working on it, ha i should fly you in!! lol

 

The manual harness will have one pigtail that plugs into the truck. At the other end there will be a two wire pigtail for the trans and a two wire pigtail for the t case. All they do is control lighting. The one on the trans does reverse lights and the one on the t case does 4x4 lights. I think the reverse light wires are already gonna be in the correct spots but thats an easy check to see(put it in reverse after the swap and see if they light up). If your 4x4 lights don't come on the take the pigtail from the t case and trace the wires backup to the main harness(this is where I used the multimeter as I'm not good with colors). Then do the same with the auto harness. Make the wires in your 5 speed harness match the spots from the auto one that was originally in your truck. Put it back in and check.

Now for the ignition wiring. The PCM does not actually know what gear the tranny is in or when the clutch is in or out. Two circuits have to be closed for the starter to activate when turning the key. The automatic harness has a thing on it that rotates when you move the shift lever. It is wired in such a way that when it is in park or neutral the connections match up and close that circuit allowing the starter to activate when the key is turned and not when it is in a forward or reverse gear. Not because the truck is smart but because it is then wired to start.

The manual harness is much more simplistic. It only has a few wires. Two for the reverse lights that plug into the tranny, two for the 4x4 lights that plug into the t case, and another that will only be on the truck side of the harness. It comes out of the harness and jumps right back over into another spot. Most likely will be a red wire with a light blue stripe. Since there isn't a cable running from the shifter of a manual to the trans harness that moves and opens/closes the circuit depending on position the circuit has to be closed another way. That is where this jumper wire comes into play. It is constanlty jumped in order to close the circuit needed to activate the starter when the key is turned. You will most likely have to move one end of it in the manual harness to match the spots that the TWO red & lt blue wires are in the auto harness.

The clutch safety: Since these are Assembly Line built trucks there are many things universal to different styles. The clutch safety wiring is no different. In order for manual trucks to be safe there needs to be a way to prevent starting while in gear. Well, we know that the PCM does NOT know what gear the trans is in. This is where clutch saftey switch comes in. There is another circuit that has to be closed to allow the starter to activate when the key is turned. There is a harness(4 wires I think) under your dash. In your auto it will be tucked up out of the way but you will find it in your donor attached to your clutch master cylinder(assuming no one has messed with it). That is where the 2nd circuit has to be completed to crank. In the manual this is achieved by installing a spring loaded switch(clutch safety switch). You put it on the clutch master cylinder pushrod. When you push the clutch down it closes this 2nd circuit and that is why the truck will only crank with the clutch down. The circuit is open when the clutch is out thus no cranky. Your automatic has a thing that plugs in and constantly makes the circuit closed(similar to the jumper wire in the 5 spd harness). Like I said, the truck never knows what gear the truck is in so in order to crank it safely, wires have to be manipulated in such a way that an auto only cranks when in P or N and the manual when the clutch is pushed in. You can leave the auto under dash jumper in and start your manual without having to push the clutch in but you have to always make sure it is in NEUTRAL. It would also be a bad idea to let anyone else drive it that way.

I'm not good with quick answers so sorry for all the reading. I'll also try to come up with some illustrations too.

Rranch, not trying to hijack. I figure this is pertinent to your swap as well.

 

So it's almost easier to trade in the wife than to do this conversion I guess. Boy is she lucky I'm kinda attached to her.

 

Hahahaha!! Nah. It's not too bad really. Everything is straight forward until you hit the wiring. Who knows. Yalls may even just plug and play. Just giving you a heads up in case. I swapped 95-96 and there was a difference there so I'm only figuring that 97-94 and 93-96 is gonna have a difference as well.

BTW. I told my girl that a guy was doing the swap so his wife could drive it and she says, "Oh wow. Now that's love there." Because she was present for most of my frustration during mine.