LiveOak

Pretty cool info. but too much hassle. Reminds me of my past days filling out PPC cards prior to flight on a checkride.

Sounds like you are good to go! Nice work and great thread you wrote up. I am certain many other will benefit from your efforts. I meant to ask you if you noticed any difference between the OEM slave and the Southbend slave? Much difference in pedal pressure? Any further comments and observations on the Southbend clutch?

Sorry to hear about the slave. What a bummer. You were almost home free. Sounds like you have the repair issue pretty well in hand now. Thanks for posting the great pics and the only stupid question is the one you DON'T ask. We are all here to learn. Hope the new slave goes in without any problems.

I run a Cummins eBrake which is a Jacobs exhaust brake rebadged with Cummins logo's. I modified mine to operate through a Cummins gearshift stalk switch and just leave the dash switch on all the time.

Is this what you are looking for? http://www.tstproducts.com/Torque%20Converter%20Lockup%20Switch.pdf

Have your tried spraying a modest amount of belt dressing on the belt? What condition is the belt tensioner in? http://www.turbodieselregister.com/Issues/TDR_FAQSheet.pdf

Check your relay for the grid heaters. Periodically when the weather turns cold my wife returns home in a panic with the check engine light on. It turns out that the grid heaters get stuck on and draw the system voltage down and latch the light and code. Once she shuts the engine down and I have checked it, all was well but I could tell that the grid heaters stayed on too long and caused the problem.

My headlights fail periodically when switching from high to low beam or vice versa. When this happens, I rapidly cycle the stalk switch until the lights come back on and they work normal for a long time. I think it is a matter of a cheap ___ switch that gets corrosion or bad contacts. I suspect that eventually it will fail altogether but until it does, I just keep rolling on with this fix. It has worked so far of the past 5 years. :banghead:

I suspect you will either have to modify the "fuel tank basket" or the easier route albeit more expensive route would be to replace it with a new fuel tank basket. http://www.vulcanperformance.com/DrawStraw-V-HiFlow-p/jlfmds.htm

hawkeye, sounds like you got some good advice and a plan to move forward. For some reason, I thought I remember reading that you found brake fluid or something similar to it leaking down the side of the trans area. I presumed that to be the slave cylinder fluid leaking and that you needed a new cylinder anyway. My personal decision would be to replace the slave since it has been on there for so long and start off with all new components matched up. I agree that in all likihood if the original slave was properly working, it will probably continue to work for a long time.......my luck is that it will break a week after I install it. Anyhow, glad to hear you got some good advice from the guy who knows his $!it.

The slave assembly can be installed both ways. I think you should wait and talk to Peter about this as there are some pit falls of breaking the seal on the slave assembly which comes as a complete pre-bled assembly but has a quick disconnect that should NOT be opened unless absolutely required. I am sure Peter and some others who do this for a living can better advise you on this than I. I personally would wait and get the SB slave assembly and install it as a complete assembly when installing the transmission. You will have to make that call. I have spare vehicles that I can fall back on not to mention making calls from a computer key board are MUCH easier than the from the guy who is doing this hands on. I commend your spirit and motivation to tackle this job on your own and think you are doing a great job it it so far.

If someone on here is an Amsoil dealer I would be interested in a case price provided it is a much better price than on that Amsoil website.

There is great value in "gettin' r done right the first time". I recommend you talk Peter at Southbend. I am sure he or one of his staff can give you some great pointers and explain the importance of installing a slave cylinder matched to the clutch. The OEM slave cylinders don't always work well with the heavier duty SB clutches and can cause shifting problems. NOT something you want to deal with on a newly replaced transmission. Get it done right and yes I realize this is yet more money out or pocket :spend:but once the job is done right, you likely won't have to deal with this again for a very long time.

hawkeye, my advice to you is to replace the slave cylinder you have with a the southbend slave cylinder assembly. The two are matched better that way.

I overfilled mine approximately 2 pints about 8 years ago. The first difference I noticed was somewhat easier shifting. I did the same thing with my wife's truck as soon as I got it. There was a minor improvment in shifting as well. I can't atest to any change in temps as I have no probe to measure temp. set up.

hawkeye, Looks like you are on the right track. Looks like you are gonna go with the Southbend clutch and Southbend slave cylinder assembly. Best to get it ALL while you are in there. It is gonna be expensive but in the end you will have that part of your power train reliable and correct for a long time to come. Not sure if you are a TDR or Dodge Forum member but here are some links to NV5600 rebuilds and installs that may come in handy for info. and pictorial views. http://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/24-valve-engine-transmission-1998-5-2002/207775-nv-5600-repair.html http://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-cummins-diesel/112548-diy-transmission-work-nv5600.html This kid did one hell of a write-up and job! His grandfather was a great mentor too! Hope these links help.

Doh!!!!!!!! I hate when that happens! :banghead: Thanks for the heads up.

The ECU's on the GE T700, T701, and T701C turboshaft engines I used to work on were not only grounded through the case, they had woven stainless strap grounds as well IIRC. In both, the engine and frame are the primary source of ground so it would seem logical for the Cummins ECM to be grounded through the case. I sure hope you checked the other fasteners holding the ECM to the engine block. They could be loose or may not have a good, clean solid ground connection. IF in fact this one loose fastener fixed the problem, you may want to go back when you have some time and remove the ECM and clean up the area where it is fastened to the engine block to ensure an absolute solid reliable ground.

hawkeye, I am not sure what level or experience of mechanic skills you have and surely no disrespect intended. I understand dollars are TIGHT and you want to get this fixed RIGHT without another mortgage payment. That having been said, have you looked into the complexity and difficulty of rebuilding this transmission yourself? It can be done but it is not what I would consider an easy task. Have you considered buying a rebuilt NV5600 and installing it. The prices I saw for a rebuilt NV5600 were $2850 and a $1000 core charge. I have a suspicion that a rebuilt trans will be your best option.

If labor rates are similar, I would go with the dealer in this case. There is not a lot of stuff they can find wrong......at least I would think. I would tell them to do the tappet cover only. IF they see something that is wrong that should be fixed (this is reasonable and happens) to call you FIRST to get the go ahead and give you a revised cost estimate.

Some like chocolate and some like vanilla. Tell my neighbor who hotshots for a living and just spent about $5000 to have his Allison transmission replaces at about 120,000 miles how good these transmissions are and I suspect he will have a few contrary comments. In my opinion, an automatic transmission can INDEED be developed to be durable, long lasting, and suitable for a wide range of tasks but not economically. An automatic trans that has full TQV lockup in all but 1st gear, with a converter clutch pack large and gear drum clutch packs strong enough to easily accomodate an exhaust brake & 850 to 900 ft./lbs. torque and 6 to 7 speeds, and include an fully aircooled oil pan in addition to a radiator mounted electric fan cooler, and lastley and MOST IMPORTANTLY design the transmission to hold a gear upto 90% of engine output if desired would be hugely expensive. I learned my lesson about automatic transmission with the 4L80E heavy duty trans in my last vehicle before this truck. Brand new it would over heat and puke oil all over the bottom of my truck and boat. Even after I added an extra auxilliary air cooler, a Mag-Hytec pan, and Amsoil, is STILL puked trans. oil pulling my boat. It did this with 4.10 14 bolts GM axles. I got fed up with this GM piece of crap and traded it in on my current truck. Now I can pull 3 of these boats if I want and not even know they are hooked up.

Althought I think we all appreciate the benefits of have a few extra ponies under the hood up to a point......these are trucks, not race cars. They were built primarily for hauling and pulling stuff. RARELY will you see a class 8 or over the road commercial truck that has an automatic transmission. The manual or gear shift transmission is the most efficient and reliable transmission for this purpose.

We we installed the Mach 1.6 injectors we did not replace the tubes. No leaks. Knocking on wood.

I take it you have already tried to snug the tappet covers down a bit more and observe is the leak stops or slows?