47re to NV4500 Swap
 

I bought the truck almost a year ago, with a V8 in it. I swapped it to a 95 Cummins and put a 47re behind it. Well, that trans flat out sucked. Third gear by 10 mph if I just let it coast, etc etc. So, when I blew the center out of my flex plate last month, I decided it was time for a change. I got a huge break on an NV4500 that was in my buddy's old truck. My parents helped me out and we got it. The 47re is already out, and after gathering parts for a few weeks, I am ready to begin my install. I know there are already a couple threads out there, a few of which I am using, but I thought I could share my story with y'all.

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I started off the night by swapping in the clutch pedals. I bought my whole assembly for $150 at Truck Parts Unlimited in Spencer, Indiana. The assembly I bought included clutch, brake, and gas pedal, as well as the whole bracket that mounts underneath the dash and against the firewall. However, instead of changing out that whole assembly, I learned that you can swap just the brake and clutch pedals. There are two clip retention rings, one on each side of the rod that holds the pedals in place. If you knock those two rings off, all you have to do is knock the pin out. Do that for the assembly outside of the truck (if you bought a whole set up) and inside. Took me about an hour, and it's the first time I've ever done it. However, be ready to spend most of that hour in between a seat and half under a dash with a flashlight in one hand and either a flat head screw driver and/or a small pry bar.

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Next up, I screwed up big time when I set up my gauges. I ended up running the wires for my gauges and my two extra switches through the hole that is used for the master cylinder. I unfortunately had to spend about 30-60 minutes unhooking all of my wires so I could remove the grommet and put in the master cylinder.

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Which leads me to said cylinder. I absolutely hate this thing. I thought I read somewhere that it is super simple and all you have to do is slide it in and turn it a little and it will click into place. Well, I tried that, but I just can't get it to click into place. Even worse, I can't find any good instructions on how to do it right! If anyone can show me a video or give me some super clear instructions, I would be super appreciative! :tu:

When I finally gave up on the master cylinder, I went ahead and re-installed the bell-housing and flywheel. Super simple and literally only took me 30 minutes to do both (had to find the bolts and socket lol).

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Yes, I know I'm missing two bolts haha. I have them, but one was missing a washer, so I kept two out to get a new washer for the last one. I'm hoping to get my clutch in and the transmission at least on the jack and ready to be mounted, if not in and ready by tomorrow. But again, PLEASE, if anyone has ANY info on this silly Clutch Master Cylinder install into the firewall, feel free to share it with me!

your probably tying to install a 94-97 hydraulic system. you need the 98-02 system that bolts in place of the 2 pastic push taps pictured above. the 94-97 uses a keyed hole with locking taps. so you either have to get the 98-02 hydraulic system or change the big aluminium bracket that holds the pedels in place to the 94-97 style

Is there any way to change that bracket without having to remove the entire dash? I have the bracket, but I don't really feel like taking apart the entire dash. I tried the master cylinder on the other bracket and it worked, so it is clearly the older style bracket. My next question, will the newer master/slave work on the older tranny?
Thanks!
More updates in a bit!

You don't have to remove the dash, just take off the service panel under the steering wheel, in bolt steering column from the top bracket and fire wall, lower the column onto the seat, and you should be able to sneak the Assembly out. And yes the slave should work in the bell housing.


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At first I was thinking that this could be a little more difficult than I had thought, but after thinking about it for a few minutes, it sounds easier than paying 200 bucks for a whole new master cylinder. I'm going to try it this weekend. Unfortunately I'm going to be busy all this week until Friday, so there probably won't be much progress until then.

Now, time for some good stuff!
We got the transmission in Saturday night after a stupid amount of work. First, the flywheel I had on there (after torquing it up and everything) was not going to work with the pressure plate for the larger clutch I have. Thankfully, there was another flywheel with that clutch when I picked it up from my buddy's house, I just thought they would both be the same. I got a little lucky and the other flywheel didn't have to be resurfaced. But I put it up there, and it didn't line up with the teeth on the starter, which freaked me out big time. It turns out that the starter, when turned on, pops the starter gear out and connects into the flywheel. I had no idea this is how a starter worked, which caused some major panic on my end.

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Then, the alignment tool that I had gotten wasn't the right size on the tip, so it wasn't aligning perfectly. We ended up having to wrap blue painters tape on the tip to thicken it up, and we used the spare flywheel we had to get it the right size. Of course we didn't try this method until after an hour and a half of trying to get the trans stabbed in there. It took two more alignments on the clutch until we finally got it right.

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We got the hole cut out (obviously) and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. At first we used one of those huge circular drill bits to cut out the main hole. That hole allowed the trans to get up there, but it didn't allow it enough room to bolt to the engine. We had to recut the hole two or three more times before we got it long enough to allow the trans to bolt up.

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Sunday was not as fulfilling as I thought it would be. Unfortunately that master cylinder (as I have now learned) won't work with the 2001 firewall I have. Fortunately, I have an older style firewall bracket that I can hopefully swap out in a few minutes. Really the only successful part was getting my wiring ready and I got the crossmember up. I haven't hooked up the power to my truck yet, so I guess my wiring could be wrong, but I won't know until later in the week.

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Question time (again):
I probably need to make some kind of bolt on piece that sits on the trans, right? Or is it possible that the rubber piece from the 47re will bolt onto the end of the nv4500 and I can just connect it to the crossmember that way?

Ok, so I have a question: the speedometer for my 47re was on the overdrive housing, not on the transfercase. I'm going to look again tonight, but I only found one plug on the nv4500 and that was for the reverse lights and safety switch.
Now what am I going to do about the Speedo? Did I just not find the other plug on the tranny? I have heard that there is another Speedo sensor located on the rear axle, and that supposedly the one on the 47re overdrive housing and on the rear axle work together to bring out an accurate speed and also tell the trans when to shift or something like that.
Does anybody have any thoughts or suggestions on this?

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Pretty sure the speedo reads off the rear diff. That would have been one of your tranny sensors. It would never work as a speedo on the tranny. It would have needed to be on the t-case or it wouldn't read right in 4 lo.

Ahh, ok good. Does it seem odd that I don't have a sensor on my transfercase?

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No because the switch for the 4wd light is in the front diff and comes on once the little shift fork slides the collar over connecting the pass side axle.

Ok, well that really makes me feel better about this. Thanks!

In other news, I got the pedal assembly bracket unmounted and lowered the steering wheel, but after further analysis, my Dad and I can't find a way to get that bracket out without taking the dash out. If anyone has any pointers on this, speak up! We are considering getting a new Master Cylinder.
My Dad decided that he likes the idea of the bolted in Master Cylinder rather than the screw in one. Tomorrow he is going to call Advance to see if they have a Master Cylinder in stock.

We are also having issues with the transmission mount. The one for the 47re will not, without being modified, work. My Dad took some measurements and has a good idea on the bracket we are going to make for it to work, we just have to find the steel to do it.
It's a really big push, but I'm trying to get this all done by Sunday night. The Jeep I have been driving might be losing injectors, I'm not sure just yet. That problem I'll post on a different forum lol

Again, if anyone has any suggestions on taking out that bracket, please let me know. I'm not sure if this makes a difference, but my cab is a 2001 and my entire dash (excluding wiring and steering column) is 1998. Thanks guys!