261k miles and my NV4500 finally died. Not the 5th gear nut. I lost both 3rd and 4th gear. I was just leaving my place pulling the trailer back to New Meadows, ID with the a truck on the deck. Got into 3rd and the stick was rattling oddly. Poured the fuel to her to get rolling and it popped out of gear. Difficult to get into 4th. I knew the transmission had lost a bearing or something. Got up to New Meadows flats and check everything over no leaks. 1st gear works fine, 2nd gear works fine, 3rd pushing against you and BANG! Then tried 4th its missing. Rowed to 5th and barely had enough power to get the truck going. I had another 5-6 miles to go before cell service. I got a hold of the owner of the trailer and truck and told him to meet me at the 45th parallel.  So we swapped truck and and loaded mine up and I got trailed home.

 

I know Jon (Dynamic Transmissions) doesn't do manuals but I still asked if he knew of anyone. I talked to Muddy of Idaho Turbo Diesels he told me to call Six States Distributing. So I called there main office and they can get me a NV4500 for $1500.00 with a $1530.00 core. (Holy Crap Core Price!) So I found out Six States has a Boise Office but just missed them they are closed.

 

Just for fun I called NAPA and there price was $2359.00 with a $484.00 core. No go there...

 

Funny I didn't break the input shaft because I still got 1st, 2nd, 5th and Reverse. Just 3rd and 4th are gone.

Michael,

 

I bought a brand new 4500 a couple years ago.  A company called High Gear LLC, bought all the left over GM NV4500s.  They put a dodge tail shaft on it, and boom new trans. (I had to use my shifter, as the new shifter was GM...) but has worked out well for me.  They were great to work with.   I don't see the new transmissions listed anymore.  Give them a call though.

 

I want to see pictures!!!!!  I was going to rebuild mine, but there were multiple teeth from third in the bottom of the case, so I bit the bullet.  

 

Hag

I'm with IBM, loosing 3rd and 4th screams shift rail issue.  If you're willing to pop the top and look, it may be something simple.

 

The fix to not wanting to drive your "first rebuild" is to do it on a friends truck...  

5 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

The fix to not wanting to drive your "first rebuild" is to do it on a friends truck...  

 

That's funny... I was talking to @Taz he's coming Thursday for his ISSPro gauges I order him. He's made the comment "I better close my mouth now or we'll be doing 2 transmissions".

 

@IBMobile That makes sense being there is no grinding. Got all the other gears just 3rd and 4th are out.

 

Thanks guys you giving my the confidence to dive into this.

Edited April 20, 20168 yr by Mopar1973Man

Glad you are going to dive in.  I doubt there is anything in there you can't handle.

 

 

 

You know what caused this right?  

 

 

Your 2500 was jealous of the new dynamic trans in the 1500.  

24 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

You know what caused this right?  

Your 2500 was jealous of the new dynamic trans in the 1500.  

 

At least I'll have fresh transmissions in both trucks now.

Edited April 20, 20168 yr by Mopar1973Man

Well that really stinks but I will agree with at least it was close to home.  I have had similar upsetting things happen and then I have thought about how much worse it could have been.  I would not be afraid to at least check out what may be wrong.  I have gone through a number of manual trannies over the years but not this new.  Mostly NP435's and at least one 540 along with a couple SM465's.  Those are fairly straight forward but not sure about these.  I have dealt numerous times with Six States PDX and they are really great here.  You KNOW you have spent too much money there when you walk in and they say hi using your first name.      That was a number of years ago when I was rebuilding my '67 W200 that Dad bought new.   

Sorry Mike.  I certainly hope its something simple and cheap.

6 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

That's funny... I was talking to @Taz he's coming Thursday for his ISSPro gauges I order him. He's made the comment "I better close my mouth now or we'll be doing 2 transmissions".

 

@IBMobile That makes sense being there is no grinding. Got all the other gears just 3rd and 4th are out.

 

Thanks guys you giving my the confidence to dive into this.

Knew I could get you to eventually!

 

On a side note, if you need any parts from my shifter, let me know.

As for today I got the front and rear drive shafts out, the transfer case is out, slave cylinder is removed, and just got the 4 bolts holding the transmission in. My right knee is hurtin' so I quit early. I'm all setup for dropping the transmission. When the shift tower was removed I can see some in the inside I don't see any broken teeth on gears. The gear lube I drained out was darker than normal so there is sign of heat issues. No metal that I could see in the oil. I'll be ordering a transmission temp gauge for this one too.

 

 If my knee if feeling better in the morning I'll most likely get it dropped to the floor and popped open to see what happened. Other than that I'll wait till Friday and have @Taz drop it down with me.

Edited April 20, 20168 yr by Mopar1973Man

Good to hear you didn't find any chunks. Out of curiosity, how many miles are on that oil change? It could be syncro material as well. Mine came out black when the syncros were dying, so we'll see when you get it apart  

No metal in the oil is a very good sign.

A temperature gauge is a great idea.  You can either use a 3/4" to 1/8" reducer at the fill plug or better yet get yourself some Fastcoolers when you put the new one in.  Good heat dissipation and they come with 1/8" ports.

46 minutes ago, TFaoro said:

Out of curiosity, how many miles are on that oil change?

 

61k miles. So I'm going to say it could be syncro material darking up the oil but I'm thinking heat more so.

 

46 minutes ago, TFaoro said:

so we'll see when you get it apart  

 

That what I want to do is get it on the floor and opened up and inspect everything. Still got to see what happened with the 3rd / 4th gear issue I'm really curious if its a bearing or what.

Edited April 20, 20168 yr by Mopar1973Man

I put a temp gauge on my 5600 about a year ago. I have been meaning to find out what kind of temps are normal for a manual. Interesting to watch. I never knew how much heat you put in a tranny in overdrive.

 

Towng that is.

Edited April 20, 20168 yr by dripley

I don't know how the mainshaft would slide forward or backwards without causing every gear to misalign. Hopefully it's just in the top cover / shifter stuff

2 minutes ago, dripley said:

I put a temp gauge on my 5600 about a year ago. I have been meaning to find out what kind of temps are normal for a manual. Interesting to watch. I never knew how much heat you put in a tranny in overdrive.

 

Yeah I've been learning about gear usage in the little 1996 Dodge Ram 1500. You find that the most efficient gear will produce way less heat in the transmission. 

 

Just now, TFaoro said:

I don't know how the mainshaft would slide forward or backwards without causing every gear to misalign. Hopefully it's just in the top cover / shifter stuff

 

Again I'm not sure what happen I'm just taking a educated guess at the failure and it behavior. I know there is Quad 4x4 for most of the parts on the NV4500. So that is one resource for parts.

My aluminum deep pan keeps temps pretty stable, I never see it move more than 20 degrees below coolant temp except in stop and go traffic.  I wonder what temps are "normal" in manuals and in our differentials. 

I installed a temp gauge on my 4500 (and differential) a few years ago.  Very interesting too.....

 

As for parts, wherever you look Mike just try to get whatever OEM parts you can.  I understand they're very hard to come by too but even Quad4x4 will tell you that most, if not all, parts they have for this transmission are made overseas.  And those parts are nowhere near as strong as the OEM parts.  Sad thats the only option.

Edited April 20, 20168 yr by KATOOM

7 minutes ago, KATOOM said:

I installed a temp gauge on my 4500 (and differential) a few years ago.  Very interesting too.....

 

What was the range of temps? 

Anywhere from 100* to 210* F depending on the the weather, terrain, speed, what gear I'm in, and what I'm towing.  But in all honesty I did blanket the 6 feet of exhaust which passes directly by the transmission and transfer case which offered even more reduction in transmission heat.

I've got it more detailed out if anyone cares.

It interests me. The worst I have seen is near 220* with the 5th wheel in tow. That was in near 90* weather in some hill country but no long grades and using OD. I could get it to drop to around 195* using 5th a little more, but fuel consumption was up some. Made 2 almost identical trips a while back, one never coming out 5th and the other using 6th like I normally have over the years. 5th netted me just under 10 mpg and the return using 6th a lot and netted just over 11 mpg. But the tranny does run hotter, 20 to 25*. What is the danger zone on tranny temp for a manual? I run Penzoil synchromesh but did not see anything on there site as what temp range is ok.