Only when stopped is it becoming harder to go into gear, reverse is the worst, sometimes 2nd when im starting from a light every now and then...
Sometimes it will go into reverse if you go into 3rd first and and slam it down into reverse...

Should I start saving for a rebuild?
'97, 250k miles

 

I've seen this happen when folks use other than the recommended fluid in the tranny. The wrong kind eats the sychros.
What are you using?

 

Cant remember, I think Royal Purple, or something similar, but I fully trust Forrest's judgement on what he ran in it before....

 

I've had three five speed trucks, 96, 98, 01 and every one of them got hard to go in gear before the fifth gear went. Mileage was 125k, 160k, and 180k respectively. May be a coincidence, maybe not.

 

A lot of folks use other than the recommended Castrol synthetic fluid in their trannys and say it works fine. Problem is they don't use it long enough to find out that it eats the syncos.
My feeling is that you've had the RP in there long enough to find out that it doesn't work.

 

The thing is its only been reverse once stopped, every other gear while moving is fine and dandy, smooth as can be.
2nd is only occasionally, and going into 1st first, it slips right in.

I doubt its the fluid, since its been running strong with the same type of fluid for a while, and was recently changed...
Like I said, I trust Forrest and plenty of people know him on here and TDR, and he knows what hes doing when it comes to diesels...
And if it was the syncros being eaten by the wrong tranny fluid, why wouldnt it grind or not go into gear in any other condition?
Double clutching has no effect on going into reverse either, its just hit or miss by shifting to another gear first, then sometimes it will go in with some force, other times it will go in just fine.

 

the truck has always had Castrol Syntorq.

the clutch hydraulics have less than 30k miles brand new from Dodge.

the 5th gear fix has been performed as a preventative measure before the first clutch went in.

remember, you DO have a 12" clutch in there!

I have a 2wd NV4500 in the garage... it's got a fully splined shaft that has a boogered tip. Standard said they could put a new tip on it pretty cheap. if you wanted to work out a deal on using it as a "builder" so that when you do the tranny, you can just yank the old one out and stab the new one in. only thing is I want the top plate back! (it's the later style plate)