How bad is a MT to AT swap?

[Advntrbound]

I'm thinking about giving my MT Gladiator to my son. He can kind of drive my MT but with our stop and go traffic I would prefer him not to have a manual. It's just easier. Other than the transmission, coolers, computer and console, what I am I looking at to replace? Has anyone here done this swap?

Sponsored

 

[wildtaco]

Almost always cheaper to trade for what you want instead of converting.

 

[Cape taco12]

Now is a great time to learn… let him beat the crap out of the clutch before jeep replaces it with the recall.

Edit: but seriously I’m waiting till the give me a date and I’ll be teaching a friends kids.

 

[KWin]

it'd be alot cheaper to replace the clutch later...

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

There are enough AT's out there that I would think your best bet would be to trade, heck I bet you could just about do an even trade for an automatic JL.

To do a swap like this you're looking, minimum, at a pedal assembly swap, wiring harness work, flashing the computer, replacing the actual trans, crossmember replacement, cooler, hoses, center console replacement, speedometer/cluster work as I'm sure the MT has different sensors than the AT, maybe a driveshaft swap, and that's just the obvious stuff I can think of.

Then at the end of the day if you ever try to sell it you'll be doing so at a significant loss assuming you can find anyone comfortable enough with your work to buy it.

If you do end up doing it you should document it as that kind of info will be desirable in 20-30 years when folks are hacking these things up to do restorations/etc.

And, to give myself a little bit of credibility, I've done an auto to manual swap but it was on a much older project vehicle.

 

[Concentric_Killa]

As mentioned above, have your son practice or do a trade in

I looked into this with my second gen Tacoma. My wife didn't like driving the manual. I eventually sold it and got my JT.

You basically need a donor vehicle for all the misc items and if you were to farm it out to someone, it will cost between $4k-8k on top of the cost of the donor vehicle.

If you were to do it yourself, expect to have it unusable for weeks.

Another thing is you might need a new rear driveshaft. At least with the Tacoma's, the shafts were different between the autos and manuals.

 

[ajkaz]

Brains not working this morning… I though this thread was going to be about switching from Mud Terrains to All Terrains. LOL

I was going to do this swap in one of our JKs and after I put together the full parts list and pricing along with some programming I’d need done I decided to sell and buy an Auto. The pricing at the time had me around $6k and even then I’m sure I’d have hit expensive road bumps.

 

[Bonanza]

There is no way to do this in a cost or time effective manner.

 

[Shopshirt]

Let him drive the stick...he'll have it down in the first couple of weeks. It's a vanishing skill and I think ultimately make him a better driver.

AT swap would be expensive! As others said, a new clutch would be much cheaper.

 

[BuyHold]

America's Most Wanted Hellcat engine swaps come paired with automatic transmissions. That seems like a viable option to rid yourself of the MT. No need to meddle with a clutch any longer. Surely your son will appreciate that.

 

[Hootbro]

I am open for adoption if you want to give me the MT Gladiator.

Sponsored