TFaoro

At least you gave it a good shot. Out of curiosity, which tools are you missing? I know I have the 5th gear nut tool, and probably some others for it. I believe the only one I'm missing is the bearing puller (I just cut my bearing off, then threw the new one in the oven to get it back on)

Thank you! Always good to hear from someone experienced. I will keep researching. As always, thank you for your input, @Mopar1973Man. I may drop some links to what I am finding in here to get your opinions. Either way I believe Dodge was being cheap dropping ATF in a manual transmission, especially when Mercedes does not recommend it. From the looks of it people are losing syncros and many believe the ATF has something to do with it. Got some information on the clutch. It'll be 1475 with the hydraulics. I plan to head home this Friday and stick the trans in so that I can start measuring driveshaft lengths and get them built while I'm still in Denver. If I have time I'll cut apart and rebuild the crosmember while I'm at it. From the research I've done it needs to drop 1" and mount 2" back. Should be easy enough with some angle iron and 3/16 plate.

How to the surfaces of the teeth look? Any sign of pitting or surface fatigue? If I remember correctly there's only one bearing you have to pull to get down to the 3/4 syncro. Are you planning on a complete rebuild with all new bearings and syncros or just a new syncro and call it good?

Gentlemen, I'm not sure how much anyone knows about this subject, so I'll throw it out there and let those who know more about it that me try and educate me. As you know, my 4500 grenaded, but my dad still has one in his 96 CTD. He's having a bit of trouble with 4th gear now and then. It feels like the detent ball in the top of the cover is getting "stuck." Like it's a little bit harder to push in, and there's no noticeable "clunk" when it drops into gear. Just slightly harder until the shifter is all the way down. Does this sound like an issue in the top cover? If it is, we'd like to swap the top cover with the one out of my 4500 and drop my old clutch in the truck while it's out. This leads me to the next question... are the top covers the same between a 96 and 02? I know that his is round, and mine is square, but if it'll still bolt up and shift properly we'd like to give it a shot. Thanks!

Got some pricing this morning... 2700 for the transmission and transfer case. He's going to throw in everything needed for a manual swap as well, so I'll be able to sell that stuff. My clutch is already sold for $1000 with the hydraulics, and I should be able to get a decent price for the np241 in the denver area. If I can get the transmission sold as a core that would be awesome too. The clutch is going to be right around 1500 for everything. I'll then have to get both driveshafts rebuilt, so I'm expecting the whole swap to cost me around 4500 or so. It's a hefty price, but you can't put a price on reliability. @AH64ID could you fill me in on fluid choices for this G56? I'm not going to put ATF back in it because that's not what Mercedes recommends. I keep seeing people talking about 4 quarts of mobil delvac 50 weight mixed with 3 quarts of amsoil syncromesh 5w30. Do you have any thoughts on that combo? Oil is definitely not my thing. I do plan on running full synthetic atf4+ in the transfer case.

Can you find info on that? I know I'll be sticking my Quad trans temp sensor into the G56. Wish I would have done it on the 4500 as well

MPG fooler

Interesting oil temp talk. Not much to add other than my buddy's Dmax trans temp doesn't hit the "red" part of the gauge until 280 or 300. Makes ya wonder

^^^^ From a friend who owns a diesel performance shop. I can trust him because it came out of his truck! He pulled it to suff in a 4r100 out of a ford. He's got a motor sitting on the floor that'll hold 1600, but he's trying to get 1200 on fuel only. He's got a SWEET set of twins on the motor that's currently in the truck... 68 over a 108. Ball bearing water cooled turbos. He said they were 10K with the manifold and external wastegates

Try going from 22 to 9. I'm not worried about how low it goes though because that only happens with the programmer set to kill. Normally it only gets to 15 at wot on milder tunes

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

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

Got some news today. Looks like the Tcase is brand new. 100% rebuilt with OEM parts and 0 miles. I may be getting a heck of a deal here!

Good to hear. I'me sure if you haven't changed injectors before you've seen the article. Keep us updated! Yeah..... that's what it does until it clears up though. Nothing I do helps it clear up until it builds some heat. If it's under 50deg I use the grid heaters though.

I only did it once. With the grid heaters on you can't even see the haze! Now with a blown up trans it doesn't even start

What was the temperature when you started it? It sounds pretty cold. It is likely the injectors are getting tired, but a malfunctioning grid heater can cause white smoke as well. Here's an extreme version with huge injectors that have about 2K on them and no grid heater. The end of the video is similar to yours.

Those pressures aren't going to hurt anything. I run mine at 22psi while idling and the VP has been fine.

Knew I could get you to eventually! On a side note, if you need any parts from my shifter, let me know.

I believe almost anyone on this site would be confident in having you rebuild their transmission. (I am one of them and I've never even met you) So you spend the first 500 miles near the house, then from there don't worry about it. I was a little skeptical at first with my own work, but my engine is still together and running strong.

The odds of success are very much in your favor. You're meticulous with your work, you take your time, and you achieve great results. When I tore into mine this summer, I'd never seen the inside of any transmission. BUT I figured it was a good time to learn. With the book you almost cannot screw anything up. Follow the procedure all the way through and you'll have a new transmission that YOU can be confident in because YOU built it

That makes me feel better. I am nearing 205K so I suppose they aren't that far behind. Mine has been abused much worse than yours too. I'm sure you'll have it rolling in no time!

You could rebuild it yourself, @Mopar1973Man. They really are a piece of cake! All you would need is a bearing puller with long jaws to get a couple of the bearings off. I understand not wanting to mess with it though. I just might call this company you speak of and see if they want my core. If they'll buy it for 1000 I'd be stoked!

Can you see if there is a slight film of oil on the boot? Usually that's the reason they come off. How much pressure are you putting through it?

That was the first place I checked, and they have 3. I've got a guy who swapped his g56 for a 4r100 though. Right after he swapped them he dropped in a set of ball bearing twin turbos... 68mm over a 108mm. Needless to say he didn't even attempt to make the g56 hold that power. If I can swing it I'll be getting the trans with the Tcase. The np271 is a monster compared to the np241 dld. Not to mention the price!

Thanks. I knew it was coming, it's just a bad time for it to happen. I've got a lead on one that came out of an 05 with 90K on it. It would come with the trans and an np271 transfer case. I'll talk to the guy more tomorrow about pricing.