Trying to get it mostly right the first time: A 5.9 Magnum, 46RE swapped and tummy tucked daily driver TJ

A Niner! It's a shame that was beat up but works well for you :)

The Niner was the fastest SUV until the SRT Grand Cherokee almost a decade later. It was also the only "Jeep" 46RE to have the starter on the "Jeep side" (passenger side; all the Dodge 46RE/RH transmissions had it on the driver side).

https://www.drivingline.com/article...ted-delivered-muscle-beating-suv-performance/
I didnt know much about it until I posted here. I did some searching and reading on it today. I am looking forward to it
 
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I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and good new year.

My riding group hit a few roads in the Talladega National Forest the weekend before Christmas, the most notable being 600-1. It’s a scenic gravel road / light trail that runs from Sylacauga to Talladega and then from Talladega to Mt Cheaha.

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The only real ‘obstacle’ we hit was this rock climb coming out of a creek crossing. Everything else was rutted out muddy roads.

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I also spent a minute over the Christmas holiday working on the Jeep. I got the Motobilt bumper, Custom Splice fairlead and Diamond winch line, Currie Rock Jock Anti Rock and Roadshock LED bar installed.

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II installed the Anti Rock with the links as short as they’d go without trimming and set them on the middle hole as a starting point and will play with adjustments in time. I’ll get the angle of the arms dialed in once my final ride height and springs are selected. My first impression of the Anti Rock is positive and aligns with everything I’d read about it– The Jeep absolutely rides smoother and the added body roll was definitely noticeable on the first test drive but I got used to it quickly.. It’s not anything I’d consider a negative – it’s just different. The decision to go with the AR came from not having the budget for a Sway Loc but wanting an upgrade over disconnects and still wanting some sway control when on the trails.

And here was my view on the way to work this morning – 2” of snow and 30 degrees. It has been high 60’s for the past week and had tornado warnings 24 hours ago.

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Progress has been sparse due to prior commitments, me being sick for a week and it being far below my cold threshold for working outside. This build is primarily being done in my open carport at home.

Two Fridays ago I received a notification in the morning that my seats had been delayed another 3 weeks which was a bummer but not the end of the world since I don’t have to have them. Much to my surprise, my doorbell rang later that day and:

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Go figure. I had a free day this past weekend and decided to focus on the interior so I could enjoy the new Bedrug and Baja RS seats.
Mastercraft wanted $89 per side for the seat adapter bracket, which looked like nothing more than a piece of flat bar with 2 spacers welded to it so I decided to make my own.

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I managed to get the seats and front Bedrug installed as well as mounting the transmission temperature gauge and switches. Here was the final result:

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First impressions on the seats is positive – the fit and finish is great and the seats sit really well. The only complaint I have is that they sit way too high, but that is entirely due to my brackets. I was unable to find any installation instructions to borrow pictures from so I really just winged the install. I used 1.5” x .25” flat bar for the mounts and 1” coupling nuts for the spacers. The limiting factor here is a bracket that’s riveted on the factory seat base that has a 1” rise, so I can’t go below that without cutting that bracket off. I’m going to ponder on this issue and live with it for now.

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The O/D switch is an OEM Mopar unit and the others are from Gold Coast Distributing on eBay. I wish they all matched, but GCD doesn’t offer an O/D switch so I’ll live with the slight variation. The transmission gauge is from Glow Shift and fit nicely in this space. This will all get wired later.

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I noticed the forum post that the JB Conversions SSSYE was back in stock about the time I received notification that my Advance Adapter SYE was pushed out to a possible 2/26 ship date, so I canceled the AA order and ordered the JB Conversion unit which arrived yesterday.
 
Anti Rock update: I’ve put about 500 miles on it so far (all on pavement) and continue to be impressed with it. Just from going over potholes and driveway transitions I can tell that the Jeep rides much smoother. I’m eager to see what it does in the dirt.

I also learned the hard way that soft top windows get EXTREMELY brittle when its cold.

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This past weekend brought King of the Hammers coverage and some warmer weather, so I turned on the live feed and went to work getting the driver side seat lowered. I cut off the factory bracket that was previously holding the seat up and bolted the seat directly to the sliders. I’m 5’ 9” and the seating position is dead on. As with any suspension seat, getting in and out of the Jeep is slightly more difficult but having this quality of seat is well worth it.

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The live stream coverage was on point, as always.

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If I had it to do over again, I’d probably still make my own brackets as I still think I’m ahead of the $200 price tag of the adapters.

Last night I started what seems like the most feared part of this swap – the wiring. And yes, that's 11x17 paper. Not today eye strain! I’ll write a dedicated wiring post that outlines my method to approaching this once I’m further along. Once I figured out how to find information in the FSMs, this seems straight forward.

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Since we’re all gearheads here, I figured some of you would want to see my ‘shop’.

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It’s a 12’x24’ building that stores all my tools and some small parts – the big stuff lives at my in-laws farm about 30 mins away. Everything in here is on wheels so it can be rolled outside to service any project that doesn’t fit in here. I’ve been in this space about 18 months and it’s still evolving as I figure out what layout works and what doesn’t. Once I purge a last bit of clutter it’ll be just about dialed in. I’d like to tell you it’s messier than normal, but it’s not. I ALWAYS have something in process that keeps my workbench occupied. I sit behind a desk 40+ hrs a week, so projects that enable me to work with my hands are what keep me sane, really.
 
Wiring Part 1 – The Approach

The wiring for this swap seems to be what scares people the most. The intention of this post is to provide a guide for how to pick up the FSM from both your donor and your TJ and work through this swap.

My search for a donor started with confirming which vehicles would be compatible with the TJ’s CCD Bus setup. Break out the Google machine if you’re unfamiliar with that as there is a ton of information online that I won’t get into here. I wasn’t terribly picky on what my donor rig was, so I bought what I could get cheap and around here that’s Durangos. I also have a but of a soft spot for the GCs and would hate to cut one up. So far I haven’t found anything that makes a Durango (and I’ll loop Rams and Dakotas in here too) substantially better or worse than a Grand Cherokee. I’ll touch on those differences later once I’ve confirmed what works from the Dodge.

Remember, I am going from a 1997 2.5L AX-5 to a 1999 5.9L 46RE out of a Durango. Everything engine related would apply if I kept a manual transmission, but since I am swapping an automatic transmission in place of a manual, I elected to use the Dodge engine harness and make it ‘plug in’ to the Jeep harness. There are too many circuits related to the automatic transmission I’d need to add to the TJ harness for it to make sense as the base.

Both the Dodge and Jeep have 3 plugs on the PCM; 1 is a body harness and the other 2 are engine related. Additionally, there are 2 plugs that tie into the PDC to provide power and grounds (C103 and C104 on the TJ and C105 and C106 on the Dodge). This means that you can separate the ‘engine’ harness from the rest of the wiring harness. The PDC plugs for both the Dodge(C105/C106) and the TJ (C103/C104) have many of the same circuits in them but utilize different plugs which prevents this from being a re-pin, plug and play deal.

Now, let’s talk about the splicing / de-pinning that many other threads mention. Splices are fine when done correctly, but that’s a pretty tedious process. Add to that the factory connectors are over 20 years old and very brittle, so de-pinning them would likely end up with a broken connector. And I’d probably end up with the pin tool stuck through my hand.

To avoid all of that, my goal is to cut the plugs off the factory harnesses and swap to a common Deutch/Molex/ Delphi type plug where I can match the pins to their prospective circuits, plug it in and go. As mentioned before, I didn’t want my TJ down for a long time during the swap, so I purchased a 97 TJ 2.5/AX-5 engine bay harness, including the PDC, off eBay for about $150. I bought. It occurred to me later that since I’m swapping to an automatic, it might have made more sense to purchase an automatic TJ harness since the control relay would already be there. Even if you don’t buy a spare harness, I’d strongly recommend unplugging your TJ harness and laying it out on a table.

It took me a minute to figure out where to get information in the FSM. THIS thread and THIS thread were beneficial to read through. Here’s what I learned:

• Since all the changes were being made at the C103/C104 and C105/106 plugs, and many of these are fed from the PCM, I started looking at the PCM circuit descriptions under the Connector Pin Out section. I built a simple Excel spreadsheet that listed the cavity number, circuit number, wire color and size, and page number. This Excel sheet has been major asset for the electrical portion of this project. A link to it can be found HERE.

• Review the rest of the Connector Pin Out Section and fill in the remainder of the circuits. Be sure to note what plug it appears on and page number in case its needed for future reference.

• Compare the TJ C103/C104 to the Dodge C105/106 and make notes of what matches. I used the spreadsheet to create pinout guide by copying and pasting. The neat thing about this swap is that many circuits use the same (or similar) wire colors, gauges and descriptions.

Here is a sample of the spreadsheet I made:

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Part 2 will get into the actual execution of this plan.
 
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Let me know if you need any help with the wiring. I have a PDF file of different wiring wiring cheats and suggestions to I collected from other build threads. If you want it let me know.
 
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Lots of detail on that wire harness. Lol. I’m starting a part collection for a magnum swap on my 98 2.5. Will be keeping a manual trans as well.
 
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Once I figured out how to find information in the FSMs, this seems straight forward.
This right here is what I tell everyone regarding wiring. Once you learn how to decipher and cross reference things in the FSM it becomes a breeze, just time consuming as you double and triple check. Check out the last couple pages of my build. I just finished a custom transmission harness for my 42RLE swap.

I sit behind a desk 40+ hrs a week, so projects that enable me to work with my hands are what keep me sane, really.
Literally felt this on a spiritual level. Looking forward to the progress!
 
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This right here is what I tell everyone regarding wiring. Once you learn how to decipher and cross reference things in the FSM it becomes a breeze, just time consuming as you double and triple check. Check out the last couple pages of my build. I just finished a custom transmission harness for my 42RLE swap.
Your thread has been a good resource on how to navigate the FSM. Appreciate the effort you put into documenting that!

Literally felt this on a spiritual level. Looking forward to the progress!

/start derail
I'm going to date myself here... My 30th birthday is right around the corner. Ever since I've graduated college I have the constant internal debate about what 'the world' says is a good job looks like and where I see my strengths and aptitudes are. If any of this resonates with you, Mike Rowe was recently on the Ed Mylett podcast on an episode titled 'The Dirty Truth about Passion' that's a phenomenal listen. I could have a long conversation about this, but as King George says, that for a 'cold beer conversation'
/end derail
 
Let me know if you find any harness differences between the 97 and 98 harness. My 98 was manufactured 9/97. I was going to pick up a TJ harness so I could get the wiring started. Most the engine harnesses I find are listed as 97/98 so I have been hesitant to pick one up for fear there is a change between it and the one On my Jeep.
 
Let me know if you find any harness differences between the 97 and 98 harness. My 98 was manufactured 9/97. I was going to pick up a TJ harness so I could get the wiring started. Most the engine harnesses I find are listed as 97/98 so I have been hesitant to pick one up for fear there is a change between it and the one On my Jeep.
Are you referring to the engine side or the body side? I wouldn't be concerned with any major differences between the 2 since nothing really changed between those 2 years.

*So far* I'd definitely recommend buying a harness so you can bench build one. I bought an entire 97 TJ engine bay harness, including the PDC, off eBay for around $150 for the sole purpose of being able to drop it in and go. My wiring post will detail this more, but the engine portion of the wiring harness detaches from the rest of the jeep with 4 plugs - 2 on the PDC and 2 on the harness (the C104 and C104 plugs). 100% of my modifications will be made at the C103/104 plugs since I'm pairing the Dodge engine harness to the Jeep body harness.
 
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The harness runs from the PDC to under the dash on the drivers side. Most the changes will be done between the engine harness c103,104. If there are differences in the body side that would cause issues no? Just trying to understand.
 
The harness runs from the PDC to under the dash on the drivers side. Most the changes will be done between the engine harness c103,104. If there are differences in the body side that would cause issues no? Just trying to understand.

You're on the right track. I'd be really really surprised if there are any major body harness changes between those years since that wasn't a generational change year (like a 2002 vs a 2003). The only caveat to that might be an early production 97 TJ (someone can fact check me here- these would have a build date prior to 4/96) and even at that I don't see an issue.

I'd download a FSM for both year jeeps and compare the pin outs for the plugs that come through the firewall at the driver's feet and the body harness plug on the PCM. That'd be a quick check IMO.
 
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You're on the right track. I'd be really really surprised if there are any major body harness changes between those years since that wasn't a generational change year (like a 2002 vs a 2003). The only caveat to that might be an early production 97 TJ (someone can fact check me here- these would have a build date prior to 4/96) and even at that I don't see an issue.

I'd download a FSM for both year jeeps and compare the pin outs for the plugs that come through the firewall at the driver's feet and the body harness plug on the PCM. That'd be a quick check IMO.
Looks like the PDC has a part number sticker for the PDC/harness assembly. May be able to get exact harness a bit easier.
 
I'm in agreement with Dan that I don't think 97/98 wiring harnesses are going to be different in anyway that will affect you in this project.

Gollywomper,
Same thing goes for the Ram harness. I guess I was lucky in that I already had my engine & transmission so I knew what yeas I was dealing with.
But again for your swap you want a 1996-2000 Ram/Dakota/Durango engine but build it with 1998 emissions to match the year of your Jeep. The actual build date of the engine block doesn't matter.

Dan,
The one difference between what you're doing and what Golly is doing is the transmission. Since he's wanting to use a manual transmission it's actually easier to take the TJ harness and add the needed V-8 circuits to it. While those who choose to use an auto trans it makes more sense to use the V-8 harness becasue of the transmission wiring and blend in the TJ harness to it.
 
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I'm in agreement with Dan that I don't think 97/98 wiring harnesses are going to be different in anyway that will affect you in this project.

Gollywomper,
Same thing goes for the Ram harness. I guess I was lucky in that I already had my engine & transmission so I knew what yeas I was dealing with.
But again for your swap you want a 1996-2000 Ram/Dakota/Durango engine but build it with 1998 emissions to match the year of your Jeep. The actual build date of the engine block doesn't matter.

Dan,
The one difference between what you're doing and what Golly is doing is the transmission. Since he's wanting to use a manual transmission it's actually easier to take the TJ harness and add the needed V-8 circuits to it. While those who choose to use an auto trans it makes more sense to use the V-8 harness becasue of the transmission wiring and blend in the TJ harness to it.
Ya I’m still very early in my parts collecting. If I can find the exact same harness as mine I will grab it. There may or may not be changes I dunno and haven’t put in the effort yet to verify the 87vs 98.
 
The wiring post has been updated with Part 1. You can find that HERE. I have also updated my spreadsheet with the wiring page I created HERE.

I have completed the wiring on the body side of the harness and have the rough shape of the engine harness completed. I’m waiting to trim wires down to length until the motor is in the TJ so I don’t cut anything short. I’ve also started tearing the motor down to re-paint it, install the Hughes plenum plate and see what accessories, sensors, etc might need replacing while I’m here.

Getting the engine in my shop was a little bit of an adventure. It started with getting the motor off the trailer with the help of my Jeep co-dog Mitchell. He’s a rescue that found us at Lake Mitchell (hence the name) when he was a 6 week old puppy and we couldn’t stand to leave him. After 2 years I’m not sure who has trained who.

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I then had to build a new ramp since my old one was a loaner from work and wasn’t tall enough. Since I have gravel around my shop, I had to drag the motor up to the ramp with the new multi mount winch I built from leftover Rhino parts. To get it into the shop I lagged a D ring to a joist in the floor, rigged up my snatch block and started pulling.

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The end result:

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With the motor torn down and an initial parts list ready to order, I’m bringing the 98 TJ home this Saturday to start mocking up the swap and see what else I might need to order in addition to the motor parts. The big ticket items I want to verify are:

  • Will the stock Durango exhaust manifolds and y pipe fit the TJ?
  • Inspect the transmission to see if it needs to be rebuilt.
My goal is to hear this run by April 1st. Here goes nothing.
 
Just read through your updated post regarding wiring. Sounds like you have a good plan in the works.
 
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