Thanks for watching. It was a pretty extensive job. Fiberglass was the only way to get the trim and switches to look factory. The hvac ducts could probably be done without it as Ive seen some guys do older 4th gen style dashes with hvac tubing on the forums. There was absolutley no way the shifter would work with out welding. It was either find a way to extend the steering column or cut and extend the shifter. The clearance between the dash, shifter, and ingnition switch is also so close that I can't tilt my steering column anymore. Its set at the highest position or else the shifter will rub on the ingnition imobilizer. I have yet to see anyone else with a completed 5th gen dash swap yet. It would be interesting to see others solutions.
@@kelw1296 Im assuming it will bolt in as it doesnt look like dodge has changed the mounting points on the cab, floor, and firewall. Getting everything else to work is a different story though. Im not sure how the 4th gens steering column, shifter, or vents are placed. You wont know untill you tear into it.
@@justinmusall6272 I couldnt tell you how to get the heated and cooling functions working. All I got working was the power which was easy to do. Just hook up the positive and negative leads from the 3rd gen harness in the floor to the positive and negative leads in the seats. That enables full movement of the seats.
Its hard to find these trucks with good original interiors these days. Mine wasnt bad but it wasnt great and I just had to have the 5th gen interior without the brutal price of an actual 5th gen.
@@bigharryyy03 I cant remember who it was, but there is a guy on CZcams trying to get it to work. He has it partially functional, but it looks brutal to get the modern electronics to communicate with a truck thats almost 20 years old. Thats a dinosaur in terms of tech.
@@bigharryyy03 That I don't know. I know nothing about the programing side of things. If it did work though, you would have to do some trimming and custom part making to the 4th gen cluster as both it and the 3rd gen cluster are to fat to fit into the dash. I had to make my cluster about half of its original thickness as well as cut out a bunch of the inside of the dash to make it fit since the older clusters are rectangular in shape while the 5th gens is more round on the sides.
@@GarryJones-bn9rv The front seats bolted right in. If you have a megacab, the rear seat will bolt right in too. There is some modification to to make the rear seat fit if its a quad cab though. They also have to be 2500 or 3500 seats though. 1500 seats wont work.
do you have any pictures of the seats? Considering a 4th gen seat swap into my mega, but concerned about the black seats sticking out like a sore thumb against the grey interior.
@@TheViperGuy91 I do not. Its definetly a lot darker than the cement grey 3rd gen interior, but I've gotten used to it. The plan is to black out the whole interior at some point. The new seats are worth the color difference though. They look and feel way better than the stock 3rd gen seats.
@@MRVConcepts Does it feel "off" when you get in due to the color differences? I agree the seats are way nicer, just worried about the stark difference.
@@TheViperGuy91 Not to me it doesn't. Im just glad the recession quality plastic and cloth are gone. Its all personal preference at the end of the day.
@@TheViperGuy91 The lower trim level 4th and 5th gen trucks did come with a more modern folding jump seat that is similair to the stock one in our 3rd gens. I think they made some in black. If not then the earlier 3rd gens had a black jump seat since their interiors came in black from the factory.
@@sergioavitia7487 Much appreciated. Trying to decide on a 5th gen or 4th gen steering wheel. I've seen a bunch of trucks with 4th gen wheels, but I have no clue if a 5th gen wheel will work without more modification to the center spline area.
@@erickmondragon7152 Thats good to know. I haven't been able to find a 3rd gen with a 5th gen wheel yet. Im going to have to give it a shot. Thanks for the help.
@@trvllvibezz2538There is a lot of cutting. The 5th gen dash frame bolts right in no problem. The frame will have to be cut at the bottom near the center console as it will come into contact with the heater core. The A-pillar section of the dash will also have to be trimmed to clear the 3rd gen A-pillars. The inside top left corner of the glove box had to be trimmed to clear the heater core. The worst part is the column shifter. It will not work without cutting off the column shifter and exrending it. I removed the shifter then took a cut off wheel to the base of it and extended it by around 1.75 inches with some 1/4 inch plate. It had to be welded back in. Then you really have to trim around the shifter boot area to get it to clear the plastic on the steering column. Do not cut into the ignition imobilizer or you will cripple the truck. The fit is super tight here and will take some trial and error to get everything to clear and shift properly without coming into contact with the imobilizer.
how do you get the lap belt part of the seat belt to work. I just put 5th gen seats in my 06 quad cab. I swapped the buckle. But the seat belt bolted to the original seat. But the 5th gen doesn't.
@@danielbennett4328 Is it for the front or rear seat belts? For the front, I used the latch asembly from the 3rd gen seat and swapped it over to the 5th gen seats. Both of them where just held onto the sides of the seat with a large hex bolt. The belts are all still 3rd gen in my truck. My rear seatbelts dont work as I couldnt remove the latches from the megacab folding seat. Im going to have to switch to 5th gen belts at some point and figure out how to make the rears work.
@@danielbennett4328 They should be in the factory locations on the sides of the seat facing the center console. If you are trying to add the jump seat center console, then I don't think it will work with the 5th gen seats as the mounting brackets are different on the two generations.
@@MRVConceptsNo, I'm talking about on the door side of the seat. On the 3rd gen. The seatbelt is mounted on the B pillar, and on the seat. And you pull it across urself to buckle in the center. On the 5th gen seat. There's no where on the door side of the seat to bolt the seat belt to. Like on the 3rd gen.
@@danielbennett4328 I dont have an answer for that one. Ive got an 03 quad cab as well and niether of my 3rd gens bolt to the sides of the seat. Both trucks seatbelts are attached at the top of the b piller and then at the floor pan at the bottom of the b pillar.
A lot. I fabbed up some metal intake ports with a 3 inch round outlet that sits on top of the 3rd gen HVAC box. I fabbed up another metal intake port that is self tapped into the bottom side of the dash board for the defrost vents. I had to make a fiberglass intake for the main dash vents that face the driver. That one is also self tapped into the bottom side of the dash. Then I connected them together with 3 inch HVAC ducting from ace hardware. There is about a 1 foot gap between the 5th gen ducts in the dash and the 3rd gen HVAC unit. That space is where all these new intakes and ducts sit. Its right behind the infotainment unit.
@@wileycoyote3189 Nice and the vents could probably be made another way. Metal work was just easier for me. It will take some welding to get the 5th gen dash in though. The shifter will not clear the dash without cutting and extending it with a welder. It was that or find a way to extend the steering column.
@@MRVConcepts yeah my 4th gen fit pretty good, no passenger airbag though lol, the one I got had nowhere to plug it in so. It just looks a lil ugly rn because I’m missing a radio and a/c controls lol, I’m gonna get the one from phoenix audio or a stinger one
@@ryanseipel48 Yes for the megacab. If you have a quad cab the fronts will work, but the megacab rear seat wont work. You would have to find the rear seat out of a new quad cab and those dont bolt up directly without some modification. It doesnt look like Dodge has changed the floor pan on the megacab in over 17 years. The 5th gen seats do have the new fancy heating and cooled features that are not compatable with 3rd gens. Someone could probably get it to work, but I wont on this truck. Getting power to the seat for adjustability is easy. I just hooked up the positive and negative leads on my trucks wiring harness that comes up out of the carpet under the seats to the 5th gen seats posative and negative harness (big red and black wires) and they have adjustability. The fifth gen seats also sit alot higher than the 3rd gen seats, but it doesnt affect anything with the install. 5th gen 1500 seats will also not work without some cutting and welding. They have to be out of a 2500 or 3500 to bolt directly in.
@@flurkhan6650 I dont think the dash would be a problem, but It may have some clearance issues with the shifter since the infotainment part of the dash does stick out farther than the 3rd gens did. You would also have to cut out the cup holder/ac vent parts of the 5th gen center console and make some custom parts to make it work. You would probably have to fab up a remote shifter setup which relocates the shifter back about a foot making the shifter a short throw shifter thats like a sports car instead of a truck. Check out this 5th gen g56 swapped truck that used to belong to gabefarrelproductions. It has that type of setup. czcams.com/video/94beS2Wtb_0/video.htmlsi=opnPBYk0z7fMa_Cn
@@nicholassurla1088 All I did was connect the posative and negative leads from the 3rd gens seat harness that comes out of the carpet to the posative and negative leads coming off of the seats. There are other wires in both harnesses, but those controll other functions like heated and cooled seats. I dont plan on using any of those features anyway so those arent hooked up. Connecting the posative and negative leads enables the seats to move foward, back and recline. My truck also only had power seats for the drivers seat so I had to run another wire from the drivers side harness on the floor to the passesnger side to get the passenger seat to work.
@@Yourmomisthebombdotcom13 The radio is a cheap universal 9.5 inch touch screen from amazon. I had to make custom brackets on the back side of the infotainment center to make it bolt in. There is a guy somewhere here on youtube trying to make a 5th gen instrument cluster work on a 3rd gen, but he is having trouble making it work 100 percent due to the big leap in computer systems these trucks have undergone. I doubt the 5th gen touchscreen radios would work without some coding skills as well. I'd like to do a 5th gen steering wheel down the line, but I have not found any info on putting one in a 3rd gen either. I dont even know if the splines for the column are the same any more.
Looks great. A ton of work. I was pondering this until you sail fiberglass work and welding. But, I want to do a seat swap on my 3rd gen megacab.
Thanks for watching. It was a pretty extensive job. Fiberglass was the only way to get the trim and switches to look factory. The hvac ducts could probably be done without it as Ive seen some guys do older 4th gen style dashes with hvac tubing on the forums. There was absolutley no way the shifter would work with out welding. It was either find a way to extend the steering column or cut and extend the shifter. The clearance between the dash, shifter, and ingnition switch is also so close that I can't tilt my steering column anymore. Its set at the highest position or else the shifter will rub on the ingnition imobilizer. I have yet to see anyone else with a completed 5th gen dash swap yet. It would be interesting to see others solutions.
That’s bad ass. I was thinking if the 5th gen dash will fit in a 4th gen but know by seen your vid I think it will.
@@kelw1296 Im assuming it will bolt in as it doesnt look like dodge has changed the mounting points on the cab, floor, and firewall. Getting everything else to work is a different story though. Im not sure how the 4th gens steering column, shifter, or vents are placed. You wont know untill you tear into it.
Looks good so the front seats bolt up perfectly. I’m about to get some for my 3rd gen
@@ranger_dudeoff-roadadventu1903 Thank you and yes mine bolted right in.
Love It
I'm curious to see how you do the wiring for the seats. Trying to figure out how to get power, heated, and cooled to all function.
@@justinmusall6272 I couldnt tell you how to get the heated and cooling functions working. All I got working was the power which was easy to do. Just hook up the positive and negative leads from the 3rd gen harness in the floor to the positive and negative leads in the seats. That enables full movement of the seats.
I’ve had my 3rd gen mega for almost a year and my interior is immaculate but damn I wanna do this swap.
Its hard to find these trucks with good original interiors these days. Mine wasnt bad but it wasnt great and I just had to have the 5th gen interior without the brutal price of an actual 5th gen.
Thanks!!! For the video!!
@@etexcustomrigs2760 Anytime. 👍
Looks good brother good for you
people would pay good money for you to do that for them
@@FoTwentyVlogs Much appreciated and I dont know if I'd do another one that wasn't on my personal truck. I dont know if my skills are quite there yet.
I wish there was a way to make the newer gauge clusters work in the 3rd Gens
@@bigharryyy03 I cant remember who it was, but there is a guy on CZcams trying to get it to work. He has it partially functional, but it looks brutal to get the modern electronics to communicate with a truck thats almost 20 years old. Thats a dinosaur in terms of tech.
@@MRVConceptswould a 4th gen cluster be easier than a 5th gen?
@@bigharryyy03 That I don't know. I know nothing about the programing side of things. If it did work though, you would have to do some trimming and custom part making to the 4th gen cluster as both it and the 3rd gen cluster are to fat to fit into the dash. I had to make my cluster about half of its original thickness as well as cut out a bunch of the inside of the dash to make it fit since the older clusters are rectangular in shape while the 5th gens is more round on the sides.
Very nice , I’m looking to swap out 5th gen front seat into a 3 rd gen. Do the seats bolts right up or?
@@GarryJones-bn9rv The front seats bolted right in. If you have a megacab, the rear seat will bolt right in too. There is some modification to to make the rear seat fit if its a quad cab though. They also have to be 2500 or 3500 seats though. 1500 seats wont work.
do you have any pictures of the seats? Considering a 4th gen seat swap into my mega, but concerned about the black seats sticking out like a sore thumb against the grey interior.
@@TheViperGuy91 I do not. Its definetly a lot darker than the cement grey 3rd gen interior, but I've gotten used to it. The plan is to black out the whole interior at some point. The new seats are worth the color difference though. They look and feel way better than the stock 3rd gen seats.
@@MRVConcepts Does it feel "off" when you get in due to the color differences? I agree the seats are way nicer, just worried about the stark difference.
@@TheViperGuy91 Not to me it doesn't. Im just glad the recession quality plastic and cloth are gone. Its all personal preference at the end of the day.
@@MRVConcepts any idea about a center console that goes with the black thats not the one you have? did they make a folding middle seat that matched?
@@TheViperGuy91 The lower trim level 4th and 5th gen trucks did come with a more modern folding jump seat that is similair to the stock one in our 3rd gens. I think they made some in black. If not then the earlier 3rd gens had a black jump seat since their interiors came in black from the factory.
Love it, just need to do the steering wheel swap
@@sergioavitia7487 Much appreciated. Trying to decide on a 5th gen or 4th gen steering wheel. I've seen a bunch of trucks with 4th gen wheels, but I have no clue if a 5th gen wheel will work without more modification to the center spline area.
@@MRVConceptsI’ve seen one or two 3rd gen’s with 5th gen wheels.m, the airbag plugs right in
@@erickmondragon7152 Thats good to know. I haven't been able to find a 3rd gen with a 5th gen wheel yet. Im going to have to give it a shot. Thanks for the help.
@MRVConcepts can you reach out and give me some insight on some of this I have the exact same truck and I love the interior swap
@@trvllvibezz2538 No problem. What are you looking for.
@@MRVConcepts just the adjustments needed to make everything work properly
@@trvllvibezz2538There is a lot of cutting. The 5th gen dash frame bolts right in no problem. The frame will have to be cut at the bottom near the center console as it will come into contact with the heater core. The A-pillar section of the dash will also have to be trimmed to clear the 3rd gen A-pillars. The inside top left corner of the glove box had to be trimmed to clear the heater core. The worst part is the column shifter. It will not work without cutting off the column shifter and exrending it. I removed the shifter then took a cut off wheel to the base of it and extended it by around 1.75 inches with some 1/4 inch plate. It had to be welded back in. Then you really have to trim around the shifter boot area to get it to clear the plastic on the steering column. Do not cut into the ignition imobilizer or you will cripple the truck. The fit is super tight here and will take some trial and error to get everything to clear and shift properly without coming into contact with the imobilizer.
how do you get the lap belt part of the seat belt to work. I just put 5th gen seats in my 06 quad cab. I swapped the buckle. But the seat belt bolted to the original seat. But the 5th gen doesn't.
@@danielbennett4328 Is it for the front or rear seat belts? For the front, I used the latch asembly from the 3rd gen seat and swapped it over to the 5th gen seats. Both of them where just held onto the sides of the seat with a large hex bolt. The belts are all still 3rd gen in my truck. My rear seatbelts dont work as I couldnt remove the latches from the megacab folding seat. Im going to have to switch to 5th gen belts at some point and figure out how to make the rears work.
@@MRVConceptsIts front seats. Is there somewhere under the trim/side panel of seat? To attach the belt with the hex bolt?
@@danielbennett4328 They should be in the factory locations on the sides of the seat facing the center console. If you are trying to add the jump seat center console, then I don't think it will work with the 5th gen seats as the mounting brackets are different on the two generations.
@@MRVConceptsNo, I'm talking about on the door side of the seat. On the 3rd gen. The seatbelt is mounted on the B pillar, and on the seat. And you pull it across urself to buckle in the center. On the 5th gen seat. There's no where on the door side of the seat to bolt the seat belt to. Like on the 3rd gen.
@@danielbennett4328 I dont have an answer for that one. Ive got an 03 quad cab as well and niether of my 3rd gens bolt to the sides of the seat. Both trucks seatbelts are attached at the top of the b piller and then at the floor pan at the bottom of the b pillar.
What did you do for the A/C ducts?
A lot. I fabbed up some metal intake ports with a 3 inch round outlet that sits on top of the 3rd gen HVAC box. I fabbed up another metal intake port that is self tapped into the bottom side of the dash board for the defrost vents. I had to make a fiberglass intake for the main dash vents that face the driver. That one is also self tapped into the bottom side of the dash. Then I connected them together with 3 inch HVAC ducting from ace hardware. There is about a 1 foot gap between the 5th gen ducts in the dash and the 3rd gen HVAC unit. That space is where all these new intakes and ducts sit. Its right behind the infotainment unit.
@@MRVConceptsI have a 2013 4th gen in the truck now, just don’t have the means to fab anything lol
@@wileycoyote3189 Nice and the vents could probably be made another way. Metal work was just easier for me. It will take some welding to get the 5th gen dash in though. The shifter will not clear the dash without cutting and extending it with a welder. It was that or find a way to extend the steering column.
@@MRVConcepts yeah my 4th gen fit pretty good, no passenger airbag though lol, the one I got had nowhere to plug it in so. It just looks a lil ugly rn because I’m missing a radio and a/c controls lol, I’m gonna get the one from phoenix audio or a stinger one
@@wileycoyote3189Mine is a cheap amazon unit. Its decent enough. I made my original passenger airbag fit. It was kinda messy, but I got it to work.
Was the seats a direct bolt in?
@@ryanseipel48 Yes for the megacab. If you have a quad cab the fronts will work, but the megacab rear seat wont work. You would have to find the rear seat out of a new quad cab and those dont bolt up directly without some modification. It doesnt look like Dodge has changed the floor pan on the megacab in over 17 years. The 5th gen seats do have the new fancy heating and cooled features that are not compatable with 3rd gens. Someone could probably get it to work, but I wont on this truck. Getting power to the seat for adjustability is easy. I just hooked up the positive and negative leads on my trucks wiring harness that comes up out of the carpet under the seats to the 5th gen seats posative and negative harness (big red and black wires) and they have adjustability. The fifth gen seats also sit alot higher than the 3rd gen seats, but it doesnt affect anything with the install. 5th gen 1500 seats will also not work without some cutting and welding. They have to be out of a 2500 or 3500 to bolt directly in.
Okay thanks for the info!
@@ryanseipel48 👍
5th to 3rd gen?
@@JohnPhilipCo Sure is.
How bad would it be in a manual truck u think?
@@flurkhan6650 I dont think the dash would be a problem, but It may have some clearance issues with the shifter since the infotainment part of the dash does stick out farther than the 3rd gens did. You would also have to cut out the cup holder/ac vent parts of the 5th gen center console and make some custom parts to make it work. You would probably have to fab up a remote shifter setup which relocates the shifter back about a foot making the shifter a short throw shifter thats like a sports car instead of a truck. Check out this 5th gen g56 swapped truck that used to belong to gabefarrelproductions. It has that type of setup. czcams.com/video/94beS2Wtb_0/video.htmlsi=opnPBYk0z7fMa_Cn
@@MRVConcepts thank you
@@flurkhan6650 👍
Can you explain the wiring?
For the seats
@@nicholassurla1088 All I did was connect the posative and negative leads from the 3rd gens seat harness that comes out of the carpet to the posative and negative leads coming off of the seats. There are other wires in both harnesses, but those controll other functions like heated and cooled seats. I dont plan on using any of those features anyway so those arent hooked up. Connecting the posative and negative leads enables the seats to move foward, back and recline. My truck also only had power seats for the drivers seat so I had to run another wire from the drivers side harness on the floor to the passesnger side to get the passenger seat to work.
This is exactly what I needed to know thanks
@@ranger_dudeoff-roadadventu1903 Glad I could help. 👍
What Radio did you use. Could I make the 5th gen cluster work with some tinkering or is it not possible. Are you going to do a 5th gen steering wheel?
@@Yourmomisthebombdotcom13 The radio is a cheap universal 9.5 inch touch screen from amazon. I had to make custom brackets on the back side of the infotainment center to make it bolt in. There is a guy somewhere here on youtube trying to make a 5th gen instrument cluster work on a 3rd gen, but he is having trouble making it work 100 percent due to the big leap in computer systems these trucks have undergone. I doubt the 5th gen touchscreen radios would work without some coding skills as well. I'd like to do a 5th gen steering wheel down the line, but I have not found any info on putting one in a 3rd gen either. I dont even know if the splines for the column are the same any more.