40 miles from home on vacation to Florida, the NV-4500 developed a second neutral, right where 5th gear used to be.A mechanic friend got us right in and did the whole job for $250.He used the Chrysler split nut and some synthetic lube he uses in the NV-4500's.It is a little difficult to get out of 5th now when hot (towing) and didnt used to be. Fine when cooled down.We didnt have Royal Purple to put back; we have run RP for 110,000 miles with perfect shifting.5th gear was a little sloppy fitting on the shaft splines, 250,000 miles of wear I suppose.Any thoughts on the split nut fixing the problem of the nut backing off?And any thoughts on why now it is hard to get out of 5th gear when hot?TIA

I've really not had any experience with 5th gear problems yet... Except mine is starting to hang up get into 5th a bit now... As for the fix you currently have I would bet will do just fine compared to the early versions of fixs that included welding the nut back on.

I have had mine done now with the updated nut for about the last 100k.I have had zero issues with it since EEP in Ohio did the upgrade when we did the Dual Disc clutch install way back then.I have 206k on mine now and all but the first 30k have been done using Schaeffer Oil's moly equipped gear lubes and the trans is as tight as ever....Andy

Mine blew out on me last March. Was just driving at 65mph and it just went out.. :confused: I did lug it a lot that trip, which is a big no no when in 5th gear. From what I heard, keep it above 1700 in 5th and dont stomp on it and let off (which basically just unscrews that nut). It is very easy to put it all back together. If it happens to me again though, I am tiging the nut to the shaft! > I was also 20 miles from home when it happened. :| But I think you all know that you just throw it in 4th and go to the shop and fix it. LOL

I used to work for a gear shop and the only true fix is the updated main shaft and gear. The split nut update didn't last any longer or better than the original design from our experience with them. welding the nut never held up either, we had lots of customers try and they all wound up doing the updated shaft. From my looking this is a really good shop to deal with. http://quad4x4.com/