NV2500 swap 71 sweptline?? Anybody been there

[GrassRoots]

Just bought this truck and am looking for some information. Hopefully you guys/gals can help. It has a pretty stout little 318 it it and runs really well.
The truck was originally a 3 on the tree. Someone has modified it to a floor shifter and did a very poor job. Very tricky to shift cleanly and gets stuck in gears. I do plan to go through the truck pretty thoroughly and have three options in my mind.

1. Find linkages to put it back to a 3 on the tree.

2. Truck came with a “Nv2500” out of a 98 2wd ram. Swap it in? Heard new cross member? Figure out hydraulic clutch?

3. Automatic of some sort? I have a auto for a 2001 2wd 2500 ram with a 5.9? I would prefer a stick but it’s an option.

My preference would be the 5 speed.
Has anybody here used a nv2500? Advise on hydraulic set up. New cross member? What clutch and flywheel? New drive shaft?

[Jim100]

It currently has mechanical clutch? Why switch to hydraulic?

[GrassRoots]

Without having a lot of knowledge about the nv2500 I assumed it was set up to use hydraulic clutch. Just got the truck yesterday. Haven’t picked up the trans that comes with it yet

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Not simple to put a clutch master on the firewall where the bulkhead wire connections are.

[Wildergarten]

Just bought this truck and am looking for some information. Hopefully you guys/gals can help. It has a pretty stout little 318 it it and runs really well. The truck was originally a 3 on the tree. Someone has modified it to a floor shifter and did a very poor job. Very tricky to shift cleanly and gets stuck in gears. I do plan to go through the truck pretty thoroughly and have three options in my mind.

1. Find linkages to put it back to a 3 on the tree.
Not a fan of that linkage.

2. Truck came with a “Nv2500” out of a 98 2wd ram. Swap it in? Heard new cross member? Figure out hydraulic clutch?
There was nothing wrong with the 4spd NP435. What's your final drive ratio? In '69 they went to a mechanical clutch linkage, got rid of the front crossmember, and hung it from a different crossmember to the rear of where it had been (three point suspension of the engine and trans, similar to most cars back then). Buy local. Shipping costs on that sort of thing are a killer. But then, so is finding all the pieces.

3. Automatic of some sort? I have a auto for a 2001 2wd 2500 ram with a 5.9? I would prefer a stick but it’s an option.
In a 61-8 you'd have to tear out and replace the dash to accommodate that linkage. I don't know about 69+ for an auto. The driveshaft would be different, but you'd be better off starting from scratch on that anyway.

In my marginally-educated opinion, '69 mechanical clutch bell housing with an NP435 linkage through the transmission hump is the simplest to accomplish in your truck. You've got me contemplating putting together a kit as I just pulled down, cleaned, and saved the whole morass from a '69 318 W200, but without that intention. Crating it all would be a big hassle though. Shoot me a PM if you are interested. As I said, shipping wouldn't be cheap from California to Rhode Island. I just scared up an estimate and it would be somewhat north of $400 just for shipping.

[dodge674]

Sorry for the late reply, haven't noticed the thread earlier. Yes I've actually been there. I've swapped my 1969 sweptline to a nv3500 transmission. I've searched a lot of forums and everywhere I've read it could be done, but haven't been able to actually find anyone who did. But I could me mistaken offcourse

Mine is a 318 with the 4 speed np435 without power brakes. But because I've had some issues with the transmission (lot of noises and vibrations) and because I drive it as a daily driver I wanted something that makes it a bit more comfortable. A 5 speed nv3500 is perfect for it in my opinion.

It actually wasn't that bad to be honest. The transmission bolts right up to the engine, I've used the original flywheel with a 2002 dodge ram 1500 11 inch clutch kit (but other years will work as well). It bolts right up to the original flywheel and is needed because the nv3500 has an 10 spline shaft.

I've bought a complete hydraulic set from a 2002 dodge ram for the hydraulic clutch. You can buy a complete set including hydraulic line and everything prebled at rockauto. The master clutch cylinder fits perfectly next to the brake cylinder with some tweaking and the hydraulic line is exactly the perfect length. But if you do have power brakes it will be harder to fit the cylinder.

The crossmember was the most work actually. I chose to keep it in the original place and rework it to make it work with the nv3500, it was quite a lot of work. It needs to be further back for the nv3500 and lower as well.

A driveshaft shop made a new driveshaft for it. If you or anybody else want more info please feel free to ask.