I have a 2000 3.0 4x4 that has been through 3 automatics in the many years I've had it, and I really want to take on this swap. This week I am planning on picking up a 99 3.0 4x4 with a manual. It's been in a wreck with some front end damage. I plan on swapping over everything needed, I understand what I need to swap over as far as the trans itself, clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, master cylinder and slave as well as the little reservoir, and the interior pieces needed. The thing I have found conflicting info on is what problems I might run into swapping the engine harness and pcm from the donor truck. Will I run into any problems with the two trucks being 1 model year apart? What problems will I run into with the much loathed PATS, and can this be remedied by swapping over any extra parts from the donor truck (ie PATS module, keys, column)? I'm trying to make it as factory as I can. Little stuff like the cluster block off doesn't matter, but I'd like everything to run smooth and reliable. I will have two complete trucks sitting in my shop by the weekend and would appreciate info from anyone who knows about or has done this swap.

PS I don't wanna hear the BS about just trading for a manual or fixing up the donor (bent frame and high miles). Used prices are nuts around here and despite this being one of the biggest projects I've taken on, I'm not afraid to do it, and my truck holds sentimental value.

 

You don't need to swap wiring harness in a 2000/1999 swap
The clutch switch wiring is there(above brake pedal area, just has a jumper/extender plugged into it, to send those wires down to automatics DTR sensor, just unplug it and plug in the clutch switch
You will need to isolate the two Reverse light wires on the DTR sensor plug and splice those to the reverse light switch on the manual trans
There will be a Purple/orange stripe wire with 12v key on
And a Black/pink wire, out to reverse bulbs
Just splice those to the manuals switch, no polarity or order, and wires should be the same color in any case


PATS module is above the glove box, in both years, you will need that and the computer from the 1999...........AND the 1999 Keys and key cylinder
PATS module and computer are a "matched set", so have to be swapped together
All the wiring will be the same
Remove 2000 key cylinder and install the 1999 cylinder so you can use the 1999's programmed PATS keys
You can also swap door lock cylinders if you want them to be keyed the same, not hard to do

You don't have to swap the PATS module(keys) and computer until you are done with the swap and everything is working
All that will happen is the CEL will come on and stay on because there are no solenoids hooked up so automatic computer will turn on CEL
But it should drive just fine, maybe a higher idle

Then you can swap over PATS module(keys) and computer, so if there is an issue with that part of the swap you will KNOW its a PATS computer issue

 

Great info, thank you. I started tearing into the parts truck and it got me thinking, the parts truck is a base model and is not equipped with keyless entry (remote fob). Will I be able to program my key fobs after I swap in the pcm from the manual? I'm not sure if the computers are trim specific. The truck I bought actually turned out to be an auto that was also swapped to manual at some point, though everything I need appears to be there. The parts truck has a separate door key and only one chipped ignition key, because I guess the guy I bought it from was too lazy to swap the door locks. Wondering what else might be hacked up under there.

 

PCM isn't part of Keyless entry, so no effect on it
And no, the PCM just runs the engine and transmission(auto), 2WD or 4WD or trims don't matter to it

Keyless entry Fobs "talk" to the RAP module which uses the GEM module to lock and unlock doors

 

I also noticed when pulling the clutch pedal out of the 99, there was no clutch pedal position switch installed. There were also a bunch of wires hacked up underneath there coming from the plug for it, leading me to believe this guy bypassed it at some point (or tried to). Is it necessary for me to buy one and install it when I swap everything over? Certainly easy enough. Knowing that this truck used to be an auto and was swapped, and knowing all the half assery I've found so far, is there any way of knowing if the computer is even for a manual? I have all the parts out that I should need, but like you said earlier, I'll only swap in the computer if I need to, because the clown who had the truck before me only had one programmed key and I'm really not even sure if the computer is for a manual at this point.

 

So just as an update, I finished this swap about a week after this thread. Only issue I ran into was the truck not starting when I had everything buttoned up. I used the ignition cylinder, PATS computer and PCM from the parts truck. After some research, I decided to jump pin #10 to #7 on the plug for the DTR sensor from the automatic. That is the tan/red wire and the black wire. The truck proceeded to fire right up. I'd imagine swapping the whole harness would solve this issue, but it is not necessary. So to make this more permanent, I cut those two wires off the plug, stripped, twisted, soldered, heat shrunk and the wrapped the whole pigtail in electrical tape, plastic conduit, gaffers tape and ziptied it into the frame rail C channel. Also had to do some trimming of the bracket that used to hold the linkage for the auto's gear selector in order to fit the clutch pedal, as I kept my original steering column since the parts truck one was pretty beat on. Other than that and the PRND21 I left on the cluster as a joke, I swapped over all the other parts, put in an explorer console with the custom redline shift boot, and you'd never know the truck was an auto. No codes and no trouble other than the synchro in 3rd being a tad bit worn out, but that's just a feature of a transmission I ended up getting for free after I sold the parts truck. I'll eventually tear it all down again years from now when the time is right, but as a 2nd vehicle it does what I want it to do, and I've had a lot of fun with it.