swap my 66RFE for a G56....cost?

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BlackGold6.4

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I’ve been reading around trying to find more info on this. Talked the the guy at lazar in Texas today about the mechanical portion of it all. That part seems pretty straight forward. Take a diesel g56 and swap input shaft and front upper bellhousing and it’ll bolt on. I’m not sure what would have to happen with the transfer case just yet but mine is a manual one. I feel like the tuning shouldn’t be that bad either? I have a 2015 so I’d need an unlocked ecm but as long as someone can flash the manual tune I can’t see the rest being too bad? I also have the Alfa obd if I need to make smaller changes. I was seeing a lot of talk about the g56 being used in the third gen hemi with the 5.7. From what I understand, wouldn’t that bolt up to a 6.4?l as well? I’ve done auto to manual swaps in Audis, is a dodge really gonna be worse than that? Haha
Yes it will bolt right in with the 6.4.. but pcm communication with the systems from before 2013 is different than 2014 and newer. So reprogramming is necessary.
 

mtofell

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I’ve been reading around trying to find more info on this. Talked the the guy at lazar in Texas today about the mechanical portion of it all. That part seems pretty straight forward. Take a diesel g56 and swap input shaft and front upper bellhousing and it’ll bolt on. I’m not sure what would have to happen with the transfer case just yet but mine is a manual one. I feel like the tuning shouldn’t be that bad either? I have a 2015 so I’d need an unlocked ecm but as long as someone can flash the manual tune I can’t see the rest being too bad? I also have the Alfa obd if I need to make smaller changes. I was seeing a lot of talk about the g56 being used in the third gen hemi with the 5.7. From what I understand, wouldn’t that bolt up to a 6.4?l as well? I’ve done auto to manual swaps in Audis, is a dodge really gonna be worse than that? Haha
You seem to be farther along than anyone else here.... LOL. In theory the Ram should be easier than the Audi but I only say that from my experience with an older Mercedes that made me tear my hair out! This really does seem to be the tale of two things - physical and electronic. Getting the G56 to fit and then getting the "body" to not reject the "transplant organ." I'm VERY interested... keep us posted.
 

Wild one

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I’ve been reading around trying to find more info on this. Talked the the guy at lazar in Texas today about the mechanical portion of it all. That part seems pretty straight forward. Take a diesel g56 and swap input shaft and front upper bellhousing and it’ll bolt on. I’m not sure what would have to happen with the transfer case just yet but mine is a manual one. I feel like the tuning shouldn’t be that bad either? I have a 2015 so I’d need an unlocked ecm but as long as someone can flash the manual tune I can’t see the rest being too bad? I also have the Alfa obd if I need to make smaller changes. I was seeing a lot of talk about the g56 being used in the third gen hemi with the 5.7. From what I understand, wouldn’t that bolt up to a 6.4?l as well? I’ve done auto to manual swaps in Audis, is a dodge really gonna be worse than that? Haha
Blocks have the same bolt pattern,so the bellhousing should be fairly easy,but the G56/5.7 isn't really a common combo,so the big issue might be sourcing the parts.If you can find the mechanical parts,getting the PCM flashed to a manual transmission shouldn't be all that hard. If guys can put Powerglides /Turbo 400's / 4l80E / 727's behind the 5.7,putting a G56 behind a 6.4 should be do-able. Check with Rick Tapp (Tapped automotive) / Russell at Sound German Automotive / Jon Sipple at Sipple Speed etc. if they can't flash the PCM,they'll know who can.I'd imagine the pcm will have to be flashed with some of the parameters from a late model 6 speed Challenger with a 6.4
 

907powerwagon

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Yeah i found the bellhousing upper portion on ebay. All i gotta to is give that and a g56 tranny to lazar in texas and he'll change the input shaft and housing and then its good to go. shouldnt be too cosmic. i need to put together a list of the other components though. should be able to use the manual parts from any other g56 truck as far as i can tell
 

907powerwagon

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The only other thing that mike at lazar was telling me was that with the different input shaft and bellhousing of the 5.7 g56, is that the clutch/pressure plate combo is basically a custom job, which means money, not to mention the availablility of parts. Im not planning on breaking anything since im not adding power or towing heavy often, but its still a small concern
 

ScubaSteve178

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The only other thing that mike at lazar was telling me was that with the different input shaft and bellhousing of the 5.7 g56, is that the clutch/pressure plate combo is basically a custom job, which means money, not to mention the availablility of parts. Im not planning on breaking anything since im not adding power or towing heavy often, but its still a small concern

Would a flywheel and clutch assembly off of the 5.7 trucks not work?

For what it's worth, Mexico has trucks with the 6.4 and G56 from the factory, I'm fairly certain.
 

907powerwagon

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If you use the g56 that came with the hemi's then yes, I believe everything would be normal, however, lazar uses the g56's that come out of the cummins and then throws in the input shaft and bell housing from the hemi so i think that changes the size of the flywheel and clutch because of the thickness. Im going to call him back today and get some more clarification on that so ill post what i find.
 

907powerwagon

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Just for clarification, you could absolutely just take the manual transmission that came in the 5.7 hemi and use it behind the 6.4 with the normal flywheel and clutch combo. Additionally you could take the cummins g56 and swap the hemi input shaft and bell housing on to it and then also use the flywheel and clutch set up from the stock application. what lazar does is use the cummins input shaft with the hemi bell housing. This is the reason you cant use either clutch combination, the bell housing is not big enough to fit the cummins clutch. For this reason, he has a custom size that you order. It is available though and not hard to source. So for me, ill go that route so I get the added strength. I dont have extra horsepower or anything in my truck right now but I'd like to just do this once and call it a day. I will most likely go with a factory style dual mass fly wheel though so that it drives a little nicer since im not raxcing or towing heavy.
 

BlackGold6.4

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Just for clarification, you could absolutely just take the manual transmission that came in the 5.7 hemi and use it behind the 6.4 with the normal flywheel and clutch combo. Additionally you could take the cummins g56 and swap the hemi input shaft and bell housing on to it and then also use the flywheel and clutch set up from the stock application. what lazar does is use the cummins input shaft with the hemi bell housing. This is the reason you cant use either clutch combination, the bell housing is not big enough to fit the cummins clutch. For this reason, he has a custom size that you order. It is available though and not hard to source. So for me, ill go that route so I get the added strength. I dont have extra horsepower or anything in my truck right now but I'd like to just do this once and call it a day. I will most likely go with a factory style dual mass fly wheel though so that it drives a little nicer since im not raxcing or towing heavy.
Right on .. that is how I understood it and that's the same route I'd take. I'm still stuck on how I'm going about the programming part but the stand alone pcm from MMX for Hemi's looks interesting so still in research on that. Also the resources mentioned above will hopefully aid in this adventure.
 

392DevilDog

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Right on .. that is how I understood it and that's the same route I'd take. I'm still stuck on how I'm going about the programming part but the stand alone pcm from MMX for Hemi's looks interesting so still in research on that. Also the resources mentioned above will hopefully aid in this adventure.
I was curious if you were still attempting this. Have not been on here or allpar much lately. But glad to see it seems you are still working the dream
 

White six four

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Been following this thread for awhile. Would be awesome if someone could make this happen. I would definitely be interested in doing it to mine. Sadly I usually drive my work beater car with a 5 speed over the ram because no matter how much I drive them (automatics) I just don't like them at all.
 

BlackGold6.4

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I was curious if you were still attempting this. Have not been on here or allpar much lately. But glad to see it seems you are still working
Hey DevilDog .. same..haven't been here as much mostly cause I retired from mining. I did give up on the idea for awhile but this fing 66RFE is still a curse My mechanic wants one more kick at it to try and make the all billit RFE work .. have my doubts.
 

907powerwagon

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I did talk to Jerry at Tapped performance about the tuning aspect of this. The 6.4 manual combo was offered on trucks in canada and mexico so the factory operating system already exists. It should be as simple and taking the pcm, unlocking it, and then uploading the new factory tune. Im not going to add anything else to it for now, but he also assured me that when the time came, i could do regular tuning for power options. The 4th gen trucks have everything already set up for both automatics and manuals, compared to to the cummins guys swapping a 68rfe to a g56, the only differences should be the bell housing/ clutch setup and the flashing of the pcm. I will also have to use the 271 transfer case but that should be easy considering i already have the bw 47 manual transfer case. the template for the holes in the floor for both that and the shifter are already stamped. only thing i havent completely figured out is the driveshafts. for the 68rfe guys going to g56, they end up shortening the rear drive shaft and lengthening the front by 1.75 inches. but driveshafts are pretty easy to take to the shop and have done so ill probably try it out with mine first and adjust as neccesary.
 
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392DevilDog

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I did talk to Jesse at Tapped performance about the tuning aspect of this. The 6.4 manual combo was offered on trucks in canada and mexico so the factory operating system already exists. It should be as simple and taking the pcm, unlocking it, and then uploading the new factory tune. Im not going to add anything else to it for now, but he also assured me that when the time came, i could do regular tuning for power options. The 4th gen trucks have everything already set up for both automatics and manuals, compared to to the cummins guys swapping a 68rfe to a g56, the only differences should be the bell housing/ clutch setup and the flashing of the pcm. I will also have to use the 271 transfer case but that should be easy considering i already have the bw 47 manual transfer case. the template for the holes in the floor for both that and the shifter are already stamped. only thing i havent completely figured out is the driveshafts. for the 68rfe guys going to g56, they end up shortening the rear drive shaft and lengthening the front by 1.75 inches. but driveshafts are pretty easy to take to the shop and have done so ill probably try it out with mine first and adjust as neccesary.
Are you sure about that...the only thing I have ever seen was the 5.7 with the manual still sold in Mexico. I have never seen the 6.4 with a manual. I would love to see the verification on this.

I was trying to think of a CC option ..but do not ever remember reading that either.

Very interested.
 

907powerwagon

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update again after talking to jerry and rick at tapped. Rick informed us that you actually only need to perform the unlock on the pcm (since mines a 2015) and then all you need is a tuner from say HP or diablo and you can literally go in there and disable the automatic transmission setting and thats it... sounds too easy but apparently thats all it takes. Thats what they do when they swap their other platforms like magnums and challengers.
 

907powerwagon

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Are you sure about that...the only thing I have ever seen was the 5.7 with the manual still sold in Mexico. I have never seen the 6.4 with a manual. I would love to see the verification on this.

I was trying to think of a CC option ..but do not ever remember reading that either.

Very interested.
Im not 100% on any of this haha. Im just trying to get as much research done as possible before attempting it!
 

392DevilDog

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I know what you mean...I have been researching this too and following along with any chatter on the web about it

@BlackGold6.4 was so close.

I have a 99 with the 8.0l V10 and NV4500 HD. It is such an awesome combination...but if I could get a 6 speed...or even the same 5 spd as the 99 would make this 6.4 the beast it is
 

White six four

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update again after talking to jerry and rick at tapped. Rick informed us that you actually only need to perform the unlock on the pcm (since mines a 2015) and then all you need is a tuner from say HP or diablo and you can literally go in there and disable the automatic transmission setting and thats it... sounds too easy but apparently thats all it takes. Thats what they do when they swap their other platforms like magnums and challengers.
That does sound too easy.

When do you plan on doing the swap?
 

907powerwagon

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That does sound too easy.

When do you plan on doing the swap?
Still putting together ideas right now but I imagine I will start the process after the holidays. I have my daily to drive so it’s not a big rush for me. I’m still debating getting the diesel version g56 with having to change the bell housing and custom clutch setup vs just getting the g56 that was mated to the 5.7 hemi in the third gen rams. Internals are all the same, only thing that would be better in the diesel version is the larger input shaft. Realistically, I’m never gonna put more than 600hp in this thing or tow more than 10k pounds so I’m wondering if the stock hemi g56 (which is rated to the same spec) will be just fine for me.
 
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