standingbear

my truck has a five speed manual transmision an it just started to grind when i go to 3 rd gear. a friend told me it is a cincro but i thought that would make it hard to get in an out of gear. any ideas would be appreciated. also do you have to pull whole trany to change them.

Ace

It would help to know what transmission we're talking about here. Getrag or NV4500?

standingbear

sorry i believe it is a nv4500. the truck is a 98 2500 5 speed

Captain Dean

Breakin' in...
How can I tell from a newspaper ad if a truck has granny gear? Will that be a 5-speed or something else?

Also, what year did the diesel engine start getting controlled by an electronic engine controller? I want to find the newest truck without an electronic engine control.

Dean.

jlipskoc

94 thur 98 has the 12 valves with p7100 injection mechanical pump, mechanical cam driven lift pump, all of which have no computer, though its very rare to find 98 12v. As they had the new interior.

98.5 thru 2002 got the new dash and have the 24v engine with computer, with vp44 injection pump, and electric lift pump.

2003+ went to the common rail & engine computer, same electric lift pump etc. Lift pump location changed to "in-the-tank" at 2004.5 I believe.

Grinding gear: synchro's I wouldn't think would have anything to do with grinding, have you tried changing fluid? I use Redline in my 5 sp, see sig, available from Summit Racing.com Its $8 a qt vs dealer $20 a qt. Use GL-4 fluid only. And yes I would think to change synchro's the whole tranny should come out.

All nv4500 5spd and 6spd have a granny/low/1st gear. Its just labeled differently on the earlier trucks, my 94 has it as L, the newer trucks have it labeled as 1.

This gear is typically used for starting heavy loads, but good to use normally to avoid wear on the clutch. Typically running empty you can start in 2nd gear, but its up to the driver's driving habits more than anything.

normht

I had the same problem with 3rd gear grinding.I lived with it about 6 months.Then lost 5th gear for a second time.According to Dan the gear man with Quad 4x4 the grinding problem comes from end play on the main shaft.He was right because when i got into the transmission to upgrade the mainshaft and 5th gear i had a lot of end play on the main shaft. Replacing the main shaft and 5th gear and shimming for the proper shaft end play the grinding problem was gone.I might add that i did not replace the syncro,s, only bearings.Could be you are losing 5th gear.Do you tow?

Dojman

I've had that happen before on our trucks(in the past). First symptom of losing fifth, for us, has been hard to get into third gear and and sometimes reverse from a stop, not necessarily going down the road.

normht

Mine was hard to get into reverse before the 5th gear upgrade and still is

coastal_diesel

I lost fifth gear a couple of months ago after several months of balky third gear shifting. Pulled the transmission and essentially had it rebuilt- new fifth gear, synchros, bearings, seals, and mainshaft. Mechanic reported that the tranny was also leaking from the rear seal before they pulled it.

The previous owner, a friend had used the truck for heavy pulling and might explain the state of the transmission though it did have about 150,000 miles on it when I lost fifth gear.

Does anybody know the life expectancy of the n4500 before major work is needed?