SimpleW250

How's it going everyone!

I have a 91.5 W250 with the getrag as my daily. I'm sitting at 345xxx miles right now and my getrag is on its 2nd rebuild, recently started chattering/grinding again and I'm getting really tired of pulling this thing. I have a turned up pump, fuel pin, hx35, hvlp lift pump and 4inch exhaust, making roughly 300hp. My goal is low 400s once I get new injectors and a wicked wheel for the hx. I don't race, quick shift or pull anything over 4000 pounds, this is purely a daily and takes my boat to the lake on the weekends. My question is...would it be worth my money to upgrade to an nv4500 with the larger input shaft and 5th gear locknut, or just rebuild the rag again and hope it holds on? Or is there another transmission in the nv4500 price range I can look into? I baby this truck but I'd like to be able to have a little bit of fun without having to worry about my tranny giving out as soon as I hit the fun pedal.
Thanks for your input.

boeingguy

curious about your lubricant choice,change interval and running level in the rag, how much preload is being put on the rag during rebuild . if you baby it, should not be having trouble ... i would rebuild unless going to the G56. just my .02c

edwinsmith

I'm wondering just how well these rebuilders do their work. I just recently replaced my G360 with a rebuild because of shifter problems. Well the rebuild is very noisy especially in neutral with the clutch out. I had a mechanic put a stethoscope on it and the noise is definitely coming from the middle of the trans and NOT the new throwout bearing as the rebuilder suggested.

It has a years warranty but I'm angry that to get it replaced I'll have to drop the trans and ship it back to the rebuilder and risk getting another shoddy job.

thrashingcows

From my own experience rebuilding and converting my 2wd NV4500 to 4wd, and what I have read about others and their getrags, the pre-load on the bearings is one of the most important things in the rebuild. It is time consuming and tedious to do it right. I couldn't use the shim pack that I pulled out of the NV before the rebuild, but didn't discover this until I was setting up the pre-load. So had to wait a week after ordering a new shim pack.

Edwinsmith.....I would suspect that the pre-load on the counter shaft was not set-up right.

The NV4500 is a good tranny, but so is the Getrag, each has weaknesses and benefits. If my crewcab had not already had the NV4500 in it when I bought it I would have not had a problem running a Getrag. Having said that I have about 60K km's on the tranny since my rebuild, with many thousands of miles pulling heavy with no problems so far.

BHD

I think the G360 gets a bad rep from 1) improper lubricant, or 2) improper rebuild. I've owned a few, the longest one for about 65K miles after a rebuild. And, most of those miles are truck miles, not driving to the WallyWorld or the fat food store, but hauling heavy junk. No complaints from me about the G360, I'm a fan.

edwinsmith

Thanks. I wonder how hard it would be to check/fix this. It would probably be cheaper for me to do than shipping it back to the rebuilder. I'm not averse to trying to do it myself. The hard part is getting it out of the truck.

BHD: As far as lube I was told by the rebuilder to use 5w30 synthetic oil. I have heard that Getrag is a good trans also. The only problem I had with the other one was the shifter problem. It was otherwise quiet except for a slight growl in 4th at low speed which I attributed to the cluster gear banging back and forth due to the pulsing of the engine. This noise sounds similar only worse since it does it in neutral.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Edwin

MrFusion

To me the advantage of the G360 is that it is pretty straight forward to rebuild yourself. Preload is a big issue that most re-builders ignore. Generally by the time the trans fails due to improper preload at rebuild it is out of warranty. They also give you the run around by telling you it is improperly installed in order to run out the warranty. The disadvantage is that it is barely within torque/hp spec with a stock engine and the angle at which it sits require an extra quart of lube so you don't starve the bearings.

The advantage to the NV4500 is that it is rated a bit higher for torque and hp. The disadvantage is that it is harder to rebuild for a DIYer. The 5th gear nut is an issue but not generally a catastrophic failure (drive home in 1-4 gears).

NV4500 is basically a bolt in replacement. G56 or NV5600 is MUCH more involved and generally much more expensive.

I replaced the broken (snapped output shaft and case full of shrapnel) G360 in my rig with an NOS NV4500 with updated output shaft and an Advance Adapters bell housing from Midwest Transmission for $2500 shipped to my cousin's shop. Most places in my area want $1800 for a used unknown mileage NV4500 by itself. They want $3k-$4k for any 6 speed.
Most places around here "test" a trans by hand turning the input shaft in whatever gear and if the output shaft turns they call it "good".

The reason I went with an NV4500 is that the countershaft on the G360 is pretty small. To me it is an inadequate design to put behind a Cummins. By Getrag's own nomenclature the G360 is designed to handle 360 ft-lbs of torque. Our engines put out 400 ft-lbs stock de-tuned.

Just my opinion from the research I've done.

u2slow

I'm not convinced the NV4500 is better enough to justify spending a whack of $$$$ on.

A ZF5 or a 6speed are about the only way you get away from the large 2nd/3rd gear jump.

MrFusion

I've driven a Ford gasser with ZF5 trans and I liked the trans. Not sure how difficult it would be to put in the Dodge.

There are a couple of guys who have put medium duty truck transmissions behind the Cummins in a 1st gen. I can't recall specific trans model numbers right now (Eaton brand comes to mind) but if you search here or Google it you should be able to find the info. That is more involved than a rebuild or NV4500 swap but you'd probably have to try pretty hard to trash the trans.

oliver foster

I like my Getrags. I have my Navy friend rebuild them for me. I over fill them with 5W -30 Mobil1 and add PTO trans coolers.

thrashingcows

It's actually the 3rd to 4th gear jump. The NV4500 is great 1-2-3, then big space in gearing to 4th.

oliver foster

I agree. The 3rd to 4th jump is the big one, I find.

BHD

I used to work for an agricultural company that had Ford F-350 spray trucks with 7.3L IDI engines and we would grenade those ZFs 5spds like fireworks in July, to the point where I had a spare in the shop. Not a fan. Whatever 6spd they stuck behind the late 90's PS 7.3L was a awesome trans, about 60% less failure.

u2slow

Doh! Ya, that's what I meant

boeingguy

i use 40 weight amsoil in my rags with pto coolers. no issues.My 90 has 26 plus years hard use no issues . 5w30 was used primarily for ease of shifting and numbers...was never heavy enough.Rag is easy to rebuild, get preload right and youll be fine... any swap cost money$, i wouldnt swap unless going to 6 speed