NV4500 locked in 4th

[Mopar1973Man]

Yup. It finally happened to me. Dropped from 5th to 4th rolled up my power tried to shift to 5th again... NOPE so I'm stuck in 4th limped into Hoots Cafe in Whitebird, ID. Im glad my sockets with me. Quickly pulled the cup holder up. The the boots. Then the shift tower. Everything was good just jumped out of the gate. Push the center fork back to neutral. Reassembled. Took 20 minutes with basic tools. Now in Grangeville ID getting breakfast.

[Wet Vette]

Here's the pics to go with that!!

[Great work!]

Just wore it out. The ball's and springs and the notches on the shift rod are all shot. Sometimes the housing part that hold the balls wear. I had to weld and re-grind notches on my old bulldozer shifter. Because its obsolete. 

[Doubletrouble]

 You said "it finally happened to me" is this a common issue with the 5 speed? Just curious.

 I also have the nv4500 but with what I consider low miles (148k now) so I'll know what issues may pop up later and how to fix them.

 Thanks for the pics @Wet Vette!

[Dieselfuture]

Wow, just think if someone had no idea what to do next, probably cost them few thousand bucks to deal with that. Good thing you had some tools with you. So is this something that may have been overlooked by the rebuilder or is it not obvious till it happens. I'm now wondering if I should change that little plastic cup at the end of a shifter on my nv5600, see if it helps shifting at all 

[That Guy]

3 hours ago, Doubletrouble said:

 You said "it finally happened to me" is this a common issue with the 5 speed? Just curious.

 I also have the nv4500 but with what I consider low miles (148k now) so I'll know what issues may pop up later and how to fix them.

 Thanks for the pics @Wet Vette!

I'm not sure if common is the right word.... Inevitable? Potential? Incipient?

 

It will likely eventually happen to all units if they were put into service for 500k. It's not a NV4500 issue, it can happen to all ball detents given enough cycles.

 

 

 

 

$2.63 for regular??? bought diesel the other day for $1.97 and regular for $1.70.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by That Guy

[Towrigdually]

6 hours ago, Dieselfuture said:

Wow, just think if someone had no idea what to do next, probably cost them few thousand bucks to deal with that. Good thing you had some tools with you. So is this something that may have been overlooked by the rebuilder or is it not obvious till it happens. I'm now wondering if I should change that little plastic cup at the end of a shifter on my nv5600, see if it helps shifting at all 

Not gunna lie, I put in a new shifter from all state gear. Shifts like butter now compared to what it was, 3rd even grinds alil less. I also went short throw and it made the shifts considerably shorter. Won’t break any records, but it’s nice. 

[Dieselfuture]

1 hour ago, Towrigdually said:

Not gunna lie, I put in a new shifter from all state gear. Shifts like butter now compared to what it was, 3rd even grinds alil less. I also went short throw and it made the shifts considerably shorter. Won’t break any records, but it’s nice. 

Just looked them up, decent price and looks promising. So you like the short shift vs original? Sounds like you do, I think I'll get one just to see if it helps, cheaper than a different tranny... Just not sure on short throw how much shorter is it, guessing the pivet point is in different spot and it makes it shorter, you'd think it'd make it harder to shift, no 

[Doubletrouble]

 I am curious as well. I'm guessing that Mike's trans is just basically wear from all the miles. The engines run forever but mechanical parts do wear out. 

 Was there any sort of warning? I would guess not since the wear is very gradual over a long period of time.

 Be a good idea to put the needed tools in a tool kit just in case.

[Royal Squire]

May have been speed shifting!

[Towrigdually]

19 hours ago, Dieselfuture said:

Just looked them up, decent price and looks promising. So you like the short shift vs original? Sounds like you do, I think I'll get one just to see if it helps, cheaper than a different tranny... Just not sure on short throw how much shorter is it, guessing the pivet point is in different spot and it makes it shorter, you'd think it'd make it harder to shift, no 

I do like it, I had the original with 393k on it, changed it out and shifter was much tighter, but that may have been due to wear over its life.

Either way I like it, and it took some time to get used to it because either the old was so worn out, or I wasn’t used to shifting the new way yet, I missed a few gears (mostly 3rd) the first few trips.
If I had to guess the shifts probably got shorter by 1-2” from going through the gears at the handle. And I feel like reverse isn’t as far of a reach. Another plus is when I have a trailer on I don’t lose as much rpm between shifts, easier to float if your into that sorta thing.

 

 

5 minutes ago, Towrigdually said:

Edited October 18, 2020 by Towrigdually

[Dieselfuture]

I'm thinking just getting a bushing for now just to see what happens

[Mopar1973Man]

Like I said the front two tower bolt were not tight so when I pulled down to 4th I pull the shift rod right out of the gate. If the tower was tight it might not have happened. Being I normally just stay in 5th for most highway driving. Remember 55 MPH is about 2,200 RPMs in 4th. Again normal just stay in 5th.

[Tractorman]

On 10/16/2020 at 9:30 PM, Dieselfuture said:

So you like the short shift vs original? Sounds like you do, I think I'll get one just to see if it helps, cheaper than a different tranny... Just not sure on short throw how much shorter is it, guessing the pivet point is in different spot and it makes it shorter, you'd think it'd make it harder to shift, no

 

I put a short shifter in my NV5600.  I am going to replace it with a new regular throw shifter because of one issue.  Being that the pivot point is higher than the OEM shifter (as you were thinking), the spring that aligns the shifter to the natural 3rd / 4th position loses its leverage because of the extra shaft length to the pivot point.   Consequently, the shifter will not align itself to the 3rd / 4th position.   This causes missed shifts.  It really shows up during a down shift from 5th to 4th.  If I didn't have this problem I would have really liked the short shifter.

 

Granted, I have 345,000 miles on the NV5600, so maybe that spring is getting tired.  Or, maybe it's just a side effect of a short shifter.  But, I do know that the OEM shifter does not have that problem.

 

- John

 

 

 

 

 

[Dieselfuture]

12 hours ago, Tractorman said:

Consequently, the shifter will not align itself to the 3rd / 4th position.   This causes missed shifts

I've done more reading and others have reported same, I got a new bushing coming from flebay for $15 + tax see if it helps to tighten it up a bit. It's not bad now just figured I'd try bushing first before I jump on shifter. Mine only has 175k on it. And it seems that lots of people have same issue with going my to 3rd. So maybe it's all normal with these nv5600

[Mopar1973Man]

Yesterday I pulled it all back up to re-seal the shifter tower. I was weeping fluid out a little bit not enough to lower the level but enough to make a mess. Just as I finished that up I had to pack up and head out on the road side recovery for that Monaco RV (Cummins ISL) with a coolant leak.

 

This is done and fixed. Snugged up the 4 tower bolts and with the silicone I should be good. 

[Tractorman]

On 10/19/2020 at 9:00 AM, Dieselfuture said:

I got a new bushing coming from flebay for $15 + tax see if it helps to tighten it up a bit. It's not bad now just figured I'd try bushing first before I jump on shifter

 

I just removed my short shifter and re-installed my OEM shifter with a new bushing on the end.  Shifting is back to normal.  I never should have installed the short shifter.

 

- John

[dripley]

Going to have try a new bushingn on mine too. 300k+ on it and it doesnt like to line up on the 5th to 4th downshift. Could just be me since it will line up if I let go of the shifter while in nuetral.

[Dieselfuture]

@Tractorman thanks for the update, I haven't tried new bushing yet after I changed fluid shifting seem to be improved a little. Still not sure if amsoil changed something in their synchromesh fluid as it looked and smelled different then old bottle I had left. New fluid is darker and has some smell to it, not sure what to compare it with.

[Mopar1973Man]

Both Nv4500 and NV5600 should be using synthetic fluids. Be aware syndromes is not synthetic. Good reason why NV5600 has bearing issues.