dodgeguy71

So as some may know I recently experienced the dreaded 5th nut issue on my NV4500. The fix was not so bad, dropping 5th away from home and missing a day out on the job running my welder was bad. I just replaced the nut, used plenty of the supplied loctite from the dealer kit. I did not have time to wait for an aftermarket kit to be shipped in and did not have time for the truck to be down for a mainshaft upgrade.

I've read that 5th gear gives no indication that the nut is loose, coming apart or what have you. I for one believe that is bunk and noticed some things over the last few months that are now NOT happening since 5th nut has been repaired.

First Warning Sign-

I did a clutch awhile ago, southbend. After I did the clutch for some reason while coasting downhill in 5th either on the interstate or side roads around the house the trans would pop out of 5th gear. Not completely into neutral and sometimes when I did not notice it you could hit the accelerator and it would re-engage but most of the time it would just rev like in neutral. I would just hold the shift lever with slight pressure when coasting downhill and figured when I had time I would have the trans gone thru.

After repairing 5th gear I drove 150 miles yesterday with plenty of areas where it would jump out of 5th(every day prior to repair). 1st hill on my road about a mile long with a steep grade was the first test. Went the entire length coasting in 5th gear and did not pop out. My entire trip yesterday was flawless. Stayed in 5th gear the entire time, no issues. Now, I'm not a standard trans expert so cannot explain the why, my trans experience is all on CAT powershift transmissions but to me it looks like an early warning sign that you might want to get 5th gear looked at.

Second Warning Sign-

The second thing I have noticed and it has only been in the last month or so, possibly due the nut being further off the threads.

What I have noticed. While driving down the interstate, 70mph and you roll up behind some boob doing 60mph and you let off the throttle to let 5th gear slow you down my rig would bump fairly hard when I just dropped my foot off the pedal. Then when I got back onto the accelerator pedal it would bump again. I would have to very slowly ease off the accelerator and then back onto it in order to not have this bumping. My theory behind it is that with the helical cut gears, the slop/play in the nut when you let off the accelerator the gear would either roll out to the nut where it has backed off or back into it's normal position. When you get back onto the accelerator, same situation. The gear was moving back and forth giving that play or slop in the driveline which was felt as a clunk.

This is something else that seems to have magically disappeared as in my round trip yesterday I had no issues and ran up behind plenty of ***** on the highway doing 60mph in a 70mph zone.....in the fast lane!

Here are two places that offer repairs for the 5th gear nut issue. First is Quad 4x4, http://quad4x4.com/NV4500%205th%20Ge...0Solutions.htm that used to offer a nut and gear kit. They no longer offer the nut and gear kit due to high mileage and would prefer you buy a rebuild. If my trans is worn out at 150,000 miles I would tend to call that a worthless p.o.s especially if I have to rebuild it every 150k miles? However, they do offer a mainshaft, nut, gear and several other things to permanently fix 5th gear and looks like a good option if your going to rebuild your NV4500.

The second place I found and a dodge mechanic buddy of mine also mentioned this. http://www.fifthgearrepair.com/nv4500repair.html This looks like a pretty inexpensive repair and permanent. I'm not sure on the cost of this item but I plan to pick one up and some more Amsoil and pull the trans back apart and install the lock from these folks when I get some down time....maybe December!

Hopefully this will help some folks out or maybe somebody will experience the same things I did and catch it before they are far from home and driving back in 4th gear at 60mph, guess I was one of the ***** I refer to that day my 5th gear went out!! Hahaha!!