Well been driving RAE now for almost 2 weeks...Lovin it BTW...but I might have an issue with 4th gear in my NV4500.

Now since all this is new to me, CTD and the NV4500 etc...I'm not sure if this is a problem or just something that is common place. I'll try to describe what's happening.

When rowing through the gears, this is how I'm driving, 2nd gear to start, then to 3rd gear to about 30-35 mph then to 4th gear. I then stay in 4th for most in-town cruising and if I get to about 50-55 mph I go to 5th.

Now after I shift from 3rd to 4th I get this rattle/shimmy through the tranny, seems to be at the lower RPM range, sorry I have a tach but not installed yet. Kind of feels like the whole gear cluster is vibrating, and you can hear it too, kind of a tin sound to it.

Seems to make this noise more when under light load, up to about 40-45 mph then it mostly goes away. If I am accelerating hard in 4th it doesn't seem to make the noise/vibration as much.

I checked the fluid level before I started driving, since I had that bad tailshaft seal leak. I topped it up with the Syn-torque, and put in the 1/2 quart extra as well. Clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing etc are "supposed" to be new, as per the previous owners, but who knows.

Thoughts?

 

THat's what our getrag did in 3rd and forth like a month before it locked up in 3rd and sounded like i threw rocks in it.

just sayin

 

Did your Getrag grenade? I don't mind pulling my NV4500 and rebuilding it BEFORE it blows, but don't want to go to all the hassle if it's something simple.

I decided to check the fluid today, drained a little out....it's very brown and murky looking, and looked like there were tiny metal flecks suspended in the oil....Good/Bad? I'm thinking Bad......or will a fluid change help things?

 

Yea it grenaded i guess you could say. Sounded like rocks were inside it and we kept driving it, one day we parked and it was stuck in 3rd.

pulled the trans out a week ago and chunks of metal were coming out and input shaft was so floppy it was rubbing on the release bearing retainer on the front (where the release bearing slides back and forth around the input shaft.)

I didn't know the 4500's did that grumbly noise like getrags do when they are being lugged...

 

That's a good analogy...Grumbly....Is it bad for the tranny to be lugging it in gear or should I stay at higher RPM's in a lower gear?

 

if you rev up 3rd higher before shifting to 4th, does it get better?
I have the same issue with mine: I want to hope that it is due to the big gap between 3rd and 4th ratios, so I push 3rd gently high enough in the rpm, and doubleclutch into 4th, most of the time it works pretty good.

 

No manual trans likes to be lugged but my 4500 doesn't start makeing that noise in 4th till I get below 30mph. If that trans is fresh u may want to take a look at your transfer case cause they can make that same noise.

 

The OP's truck we are discussing is a 2wd.

I thought about that as well until i realized its a 2x4 (thrashingcow's)

 

I didn't even think to look Well I guess you better start thinking about a rebuild. It could be other stuff to so you may want to crawl under it an look for stuff that might be rubbing like the exhaust an trans mounts. I had a real bad vibration when I first done my conversion an it turned out to be the trans mount rubbing on the crossmember an my exhaust was touching my transfer case.

 

Well the exhaust is good, I redid it all myself and I spent extra time making sure it wasn't touching anything.

As for mounts, they all seem good and tight, they are home made but seem to be OK for now. It seems to only make this noise in 4th, the other gears all seem fine.

I have tried bringing up the RPM higher in 3rd then shifting to forth but it still makes the noise, just a shorter duration.

 

Well I got some advice form a couple board members and decided to change the fluid and install a filter kit from Geno's.

I got my Syntorq from, www.blumenthalmfg.com for 5 quarts it cost me $59, not a bad price!!

So I removed both PTO covers and did the complete clean out, wiped the inside of the case, sides and bottom until it was as clean as I could get it. Then installed the filter kit on the pass. side and refilled with the new syntorq.



I noticed it shifts a little smoother, and it doesn't grumble quite as much. But before I did this I noticed that it didn't grumble as much in the mornings when the fluid was cool, once it warmed up the grumbling became much worse. So hopefully it will help, but at a minimum I at least know have the peace of mind knowing the condition of the fluid in the tranny.

Another thing that I noticed when I pulled the PTO covers was that both the side covers had a fair amount of scratches and gouges on the inside. I think this tranny might have blown before. So who knows how old the tranny rebuild is but my input shaft cover seal is weeping a bit.

 

$59 for 5 qts??? That's unf*****believable!! Any dealer sells it around $28 a quart!

The filter is a good idea: some Fuller transmissions have it or it's an add-on whatever, but it's smart. If you have a transfer case, you could also put one at the TC PTO