dieselfreak21

Well dodges "solution" to the 5th gear nut issue was worthless and it backed off on my 03. Got to love the pop when it lets go. Well any way took it to a shop to get repaired. No damage to the gears or the sharft. Put new nut back on and welded to the shaft. Go 200 miles and didn't pull any of the hills along I44 or US 65 in 5th, only used 5th on the flat strechs with minor inclines or going down hill. Never much over 70 and if got near 65 i grabbed 4th. Well it broke again. Not sure if the nut came lose again or if the 5th gear cluster broke this time. Everything was inspected to ensure no other damage and i looked at it my self. (not claiming to be an expert but nothing visible looked wrong with the gears or cluster). Tranny has 159k miles on it. 120k of it chipped. but only about 5k towning the camper. came in at 20K and GCVWR on truck is 19500. So assumeing not a workmanship issues with the repair is this something I can keep expecting to happen with this tranny? Any uprade options? Should I be shopping for a 5600? I thought the welded nut was the cure and you could tow in 5th with out problem in the 4500? I know it has the TST but due to EGT and to try not to tear anything up it is on 3X3 When towing the RV. I like to be able to tow the rv between 65 and 70 (traffic and road conditioning permitting) Turning almost 3k in 4th gear at that speed so don't see that as a long term solution either. Anyone got any ideas or suggestions or is this just a fluke?

FarmerJim

Google Quad 4X4 and you will find your answer. Had the same problem with my 96 got it put back and spot welded and it broke again. No damage to gear etc. but the problem is that the splines get worn. Quad 4X4 has the setup that you want. I did not wait for my 03 to go the first time and had Quads full shaft replacement done and no problems towing my 30ft 5er and I have the TST also. Used 3x3 for couple of years but found that I like 2x2 better. I do all of my towing 60 to 65. They have other options than the full shaft and gear replacement also but I have no experience with them. Check them out they are good people to deal with and their web site has a lot of information in it that explains why the problem and how he fixed it. I have
90k on my 03 now and still going strong.

dieselfreak21

I'll check them out. I assume you are running in 5th when doing 60-65?

FarmerJim

Yes pulling 30ft 5er 60 to 65 hit 70 once in a while passing but do not tow continualy at that speed. Run TST on 2x2 and have F1 40 hp injectors. Run in cruise control in 5th gear and all that happens when I hit an incline is the boost and egt goes up.

rich

part of your problemis that your running slow in 5th and then stepping on it some it puts some stress on it. I towed heavy in my 03 but never ran under 65 in 5th and never had a 5th gear issue. Any type of lugging will cause problems with it.

dieselfreak21

To make sure I understand the concept of lugging in 5th, is it when the truck is slowing down in 5th or pulling a load and the engine working harder in 5th but not slowing down?

I spoke with the guys a Quad 4x4(Dan is great BTW). His shaft upgrade should solve it but he is affraid damage is done. Learned alot about the NV4500. Basicly the way I drive it (biggest cause), the DD clutch and the extra power and towning about 1k over it "rating" 160K out of the tranny is a good thing. They are only expected to live to 200-250K behind a stock diesel not pulling much over 22k. Anything over that weight and running more than stock power and torque, along with towning in 5th alot just shortens its life. He gave a few things to check and confirm it needs an over haul but suggested it any way since it has to be pulled apart to the put the shaft in. Overall it is good tranny just my abuse shortend its life by 40K. I will be putting his shaft in it and getting it overhauled. Thanks for the driving and parts suggestions. I will do an adjustment to my driving style a little bit. I doubt i put 20k miles on the truck over the next 2 years and he said with a rebuild and his shaft and slight driving and power adjustment with the RV in tow 100k miles out of it easy and probably get more out of it. This seems like the best bang for the buck as NV5600 are getting outrageous.

ddestruel

put a nv5600 or other in if you plan to tow the extra gear in the middle sure makes life nice.

rich

lugging is running it under 2k rpm's. Also i found that mine would hold up a lot better with extra oil in it. ran it a qt over even with the fast coolers

dieselfreak21

Thanks for all of the tips. Since I needed the truck back faster than I had time to rebuild it my self I went with a factory updated shaft, that is an update from the 03 model year. It has a little longer shaft splines and a semi press fit. With putting in QUAD4x4 shaft and labor I would have been about the price of a used 5600. I couldn't find 5600 in good shape so having it over hauled with an updated shaft. If 5th goes again I will have the updated nut Quad 4X4 sells as it looked like good solution. Will keep the 2k in mind as the shift point. Thanks for all the help. Hope it holds.