Charonblk07's build thread

WOW! what an awesome build. nice work. I love the way its coming out.

sub'd

Awesome build! So what all is involved with getting the ECU to ignore the fact the OE trans is no longer there? I assume with an external 4L controller, you are just pulling a TPS or VS off the ECU or TB?

Johnnymac2k6 said:

Awesome build! So what all is involved with getting the ECU to ignore the fact the OE trans is no longer there? I assume with an external 4L controller, you are just pulling a TPS or VS off the ECU or TB?

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TPS signal is coming off the pedal harness. As for disabling the trans in the PCM, in the HP Tuner's Suite you can select a manual transmission which will disable all the trans inputs to the PCM. Historically you'll end up with a CEL/MIL but nothing that prevents the system from functioning properly; that was on the 3rd gens though, we'll see with the 4th gen but I'm hoping since mine's an '09 it's going to work the same since there was no security changes, just the update to the VVT programming.


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charonblk07 said:

TPS signal is coming off the pedal harness. As for disabling the trans in the PCM, in the HP Tuner's Suite you can select a manual transmission which will disable all the trans inputs to the PCM. Historically you'll end up with a CEL/MIL but nothing that prevents the system from functioning properly; that was on the 3rd gens though, we'll see with the 4th gen but I'm hoping since mine's an '09 it's going to work the same since there was no security changes, just the update to the VVT programming.


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Cool, Mine was also tuned with HP but i'm not a wizard on it. My tune was professionally done, and i had my Tech kid upload it.lol

Worked on the trans crossmember today. I had it all laid out yesterday and got it welded up today. My buddy dropped off his little Lincoln for me to play with; Turns out the 20A circuit in my shop wasn't enough to run it without tripping the breaker so I swapped it out for a 30A breaker just for doing this job and I kept checking the wire temp while I was working just to be on the safe side and there was a negligible rise in wire temp running the higher amps through the circuit.

I'm not a welder by any stretch, most were decent welds, some just looked like crap but had good penetration so I just cleaned them up and called it good enough. Overall, this isn't a difficult thing to do, it was dead easy with the old notch kit I had laying around it was almost a perfect fit to get the trans output at +3 degrees once bolted into place. I could have used 3/8" plate for the upper mount but the 1/4" with gussets will be more than strong enough to handle the transmission's torquing with the urethane trans mount.

I was curious to see how much longer the new driveshaft will be, and from the 4L80's output seal to the old driveshaft's seal groove it's exactly 12".

The flexplate and yoke came in yesterday so I got them installed. I thought all was good until I started measuring the required pullback on the converter. On the 4L80 it should be between .060-.187", and with the current configuration and with the Reid bellhousing it's at .403" and the starter is fully engaged already, so something's not right. I remember talking to the builder about using a dished flexplate and this one's perfectly flat. I have three options that I can see: see if there's a dished flexplate, see if there's an adapter hub, or make an adapter hub.

Now that I know who made the current adapter flexplate, j.w. performance transmssions, I had a look on their website and turns out that there is an adapter hub required when using the UltraBell, which is another brand of adapter bellhousing but should have the same measurements as the Reid one I'm currently using. I'll give them a call today and see what they say. I don't think I"m even going to get in touch with Jake's, I've been less than impressed with their customer service at this point.

I got the final driveshaft length measured up and I'll be dropping the old shaft off to the builder today. I go back to work for 2 weeks so I'm hoping by the time I get back I'll have the adapter and driveshaft ready to go in. Those are the final 2 pieces of the puzzle that I can think of. The shifter cable and wiring harness fit nicely and I'm still amazed by how much room there is around this transmission.

So, it turns out the flexplate I have is the correct one, but there is a hub adapter required when using the Reid or UltraBell adapter bellhousings, which I have now ordered myself since I don't want to deal with Jake's again if I don't have to.

I dropped off the driveshaft for the rework and it turns out I will need a 2 piece driveshaft since neither shop with make an 82" long single piece for my application. They'd do it if it was a diesel that typically runs bigger tires and runs lower top speeds, but with my 4.56 and short tires I'd be hitting the 3500rpm critical speed just in D let alone in O/D. They'll be piecing it together while I'm away at work and when I get back I'll be fabbing another crossmember to support the intermediate bearing just in front of the fuel tank. Since it's a quad cab this is coming up, regular cabs won't have this issue and can get a 1 piece drive shaft that'll work.

charonblk07 said:

TPS signal is coming off the pedal harness. As for disabling the trans in the PCM, in the HP Tuner's Suite you can select a manual transmission which will disable all the trans inputs to the PCM. Historically you'll end up with a CEL/MIL but nothing that prevents the system from functioning properly; that was on the 3rd gens though, we'll see with the 4th gen but I'm hoping since mine's an '09 it's going to work the same since there was no security changes, just the update to the VVT programming.


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When you find out let me know, cause this will come in very handy if it works when I go to swap in a manual into my truck, Honestly I'm doubtful that it is an option on a 4th gen 1500 since none were produced with the 5.7L and a manual trans.... I'm curious if the software or "tunes" used were based on the same platform as the 3rd gens.

There is a way to toggle off the auto trans like you said on a 3rd gen and not get a CEL light, I just don't remember how. Its been a long time since I did the manual swap on my 3rd gen diesel using StarScan

Well, I am apparently being affected by Harvey/Irma all the way up here in Canada. I ordered the flexplate adapter hub before I left for work 2 weeks ago hoping it would be here when I got back but after not hearing anything from the guys other than taking the money out of my account when I placed he order I wanted to see where it was. Well, guess where they're located in Florida? Yup, direct path of travel and I can safely assume they've evacuated already so there's nobody overly concerned with answering the phone, understandably so. I'm measuring everything up and may possibly get a spacer made up here, we'll see.

To make my day even better, I stopped by the driveshaft shop expecting to pick up the new driveshaft but the owner misplaced the workorder paper which had all the specs and my contact info on it. Being a completely paper based company has its drawbacks. I had to remeasure everything but I should have the driveshaft early next week.

At this rate, it looks like this truck isn't going anywhere this year because it'll be a month before I'm home again and there'll probably be snow on the ground shortly after that.

Physically, the trans is now completely installed. I got the adapter from JW Performance and after finally getting in touch with them about how the ring gear was sitting on the very edge of the converter's mounting face and not sitting flush they told me to notch the converter. I was a little worried about notching it but I was told that as long as it's very close to the same amount of material from all 3 lugs that it won't affect the balance, so I gave it a go. The flexplate now sits flush to the converter, yay! I did several dry test fits on the bench, the clearances were very tight and I had to polish the converter snout and inner flexplate bore to get the adapter to fit.







It should be noted that Dodge doesn't use standard bolts for the flexplate, they use M10-1.0 extra fine threaded bolts which no fastener supply company seems to be able to get. JW supplied bolts for this but they were standard fine thread and wouldn't work. I ended up searching through the ARP catalogue and found a set of ARP flexplate bolts from a 6.4L diesel that work as well as the 4L80e ARP converter bolts and got those as well. The 6.4L bolts come in a pack of 10 which was handy for later since we only need 8 of them. I apparently don't own a set of 12-point sockets in a 1/2" drive so I had to buy a 16mm 12-point to install the ARP bolts and I used blue loctite instead of their fastener lube just because I prefer to use loctite on flexplate hub bolts.







With the converter fully seated and flexplate/adapter installed there should be a gap of 0.060" - 0.187" for the converter pull back. I tested this using drill bits since they're gauged and I don't own a set of feeler gauges this thick. My gap was .077" so I'm in good shape there. This gap is absolutely vital, too much and it pulls the converter out of the pump, too little and the converter rubs on the bell housing and can impact the pump.





With the proper gap I could now bolt everything up and check the starter. The starter was barely touching the flexplate with everything fully bolted together and torqued so I needed to shim the starter a bit to have the proper clearance and it needs to be perfectly square to the mounting face so normal washers won't work, luckily the 6.4L ARP bolts had 2 left over with washers and the washers were half the thickness of the alignment face of the starter so with them in place there's a nice gap for the starter to turn before it engages with the flexplate. I had previously run new 4ga cable to the starter so I just trimmed that cable to the new required length and crimped new ends to the cable.







With the trans fully bolted and torqued in place I installed the trans cooler lines to the aftermarket cooler I had previously installed. I used -6AN/1/4" NPT fittings into the trans and -6AN hose to the cooler. It was ~5ft of hose to the front of the truck where the trans cooler was installed. The front/lower port is the pump out and this needs to be mounted to the lower port of the cooler to get all the air out of the system when it gets primed. Yes, I colour coordinate my hose fittings: black/red are fuel lines, black/black are oil lines, and black/silver are trans fluid lines.



I started looking at fabbing together the new intermediate crossmember for the driveshaft and after doing about 10% of the work I decided it would be better to have a professional shop do the work to get it properly aligned and the angles dialed in. I could have probably gotten it to work but I've never messed around with a 2 piece shaft before and the last thing I wanted was driveline vibration so off it went to CutterUp Performance in Calgary and while it's there its getting a set of his heavy 4-link control arms installed to replace the Spohn arms and a pair of driveshaft loops for the 2-piece shaft.

Thank god I have a Premier CAA/AAA membership: 3 free short distance tows per year. I love just calling them up and saying it needs to be towed somewhere and no real effort on my part required. I've made my money back on this membership for the last 2 years just in savings on service tows.







I completely removed the exhaust system and will get a new one fabbed up to allow me to drop the rear more, I'll probably end up dumping before the axle with a single pipe instead of the true duals. The last thing I did was setup the shifter linkage to the proper tension following the TCI installation instructions; the linkage then got pinned into place and the shifter installation is complete.

Once I get back from work in 2 weeks I will begin playing with the electronics which will be the hard part of this whole build.

For anyone still following this after a 3 month ordeal with the electronics; I now have a truck that starts and runs and a transmission that shifts gears too! I finished everything up this evening and am just topping up the trans fluid which is a bit painful since the Lokar dipstick is a small diameter and the indicator picks up fluid as it's being inserted/removed from the flexible tube. I basically have to fill it up with how much I think it'l take, let it sit for 30 min to drain out of the tube, then read the dipstick to get an accurate level.

I'll be putting a full write up of this swap in the next week or so for anybody who's looking for info on swapping out the 545/65rfe for a better trans and who doesn't/can't buy a new truck with the 8-speed.

Have you driven it yet?

I have to top up the trans fluid tomorrow and install the headlights, then we’ll see how it goes. I also need to wire the reverse light switch and tie in the back up lights before I take the truck into the road. At least this week’s above freezing and the roads aren’t covered in snow so I can take it out if I get everything done.


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Awesome! Good luck

Yup, this happened today.

Took it on a short trip today after taking it through the subdivision to make sure everything works the way its supposed to. Trans is shifting fine but I did manage to overfill the case so ATF was puking all over the place through the vent tube which made a mess of the undercarriage. I wouldn't recommend the Lokar trans dipstick, it's a PITA to get an accurate read with it.

I really need an exhaust, my ears were ringing for about 30 min after the drive with just the headers and the exhaust temps are still high enough to melt stuff which is what happened to the brake line plastic retainer clips that were right at the end of the collector, oops, lol.

At this point, I know it's drivable so it can be put away for the winter in favour of other projects. It'll get an exhaust this winter as well as tidy up some other small items I've been waiting to do but wanted the truck mobile first.

Short bed short bed short bed short bed!!

Also, do you still have any pics of the old truck? The 07? I wanted to see what that hood you had on there looked like. Couldn't see it properly from the pics in the original thread. A full front on from shoulder/head height would be perfect, as would a 3/4 or so from the same height.

Drunken Hamster said:

Short bed short bed short bed short bed!!

Also, do you still have any pics of the old truck? The 07? I wanted to see what that hood you had on there looked like. Couldn't see it properly from the pics in the original thread. A full front on from shoulder/head height would be perfect, as would a 3/4 or so from the same height.

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It's a Suncoast creations hood. After the accident, it found new life on my brother's '05.

charonblk07 said:

It's a Suncoast creations hood. After the accident, it found new life on my brother's '05.

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Looks pretty good. Only seems a little narrow from the side angles. I wonder what it would look like with pre facelift heads and fenders.... When I get my SCRB, I'm thinking of frankenstiening it together with a post facelift grill and laramie bumper on pre facelift heads and fenders with aftermarket flat, lineless headlight lenses, and, of course, a full custom retrofit and all that jazz. Still trying to decide on a hood, though.

charonblk07 said:

It's a Suncoast creations hood. After the accident, it found new life on my brother's '05.

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That was a sexy looking truck.