I recently bought a 2001 Dodge ¾ ton 4X4 with 20,00 miles and a six speed transmission. When the tranny is cold and I shift it I have to go slow and very precise from second to third or it wants to grind, normally I start out in second. And if it is cold and I am going over lets say 10 mph I cannot shift down to second unless I dbl clutch or it will grind. As a rule if the tranny is warm it seems to be OK. Do I need to take it in or is this normal. I have thought about changing out the oil and replace it with synthetic.

 

I am aware of a 2001 6-speed with the same symptoms, he took it to the dealer a couple of times complaning about the trans & the second time he told them about hard shifting into 3rd gear, they said that was all they needed to hear & ordered him in a new transmission. I don't know any of the details of why but he did get a new trans & it worked out much better.
Good Luck

 

not the same thing, but my getrag 5spd acts the same way when it's cold, even with syntec in it. As soon as there's a little heat in it it shifts real smooth. When it's 0* out I tend to give the lube a break, and consider it normal behavior.

 

Movin' this on over to the 2nd gen forum, since it is about a 2001.


phox

 

My 5600 does the same thing, but without the grinding. It is harder to shift into 3rd from 2nd when it is cold out. I dont run synthetic in it either. PM me if you find out anything worth while about our little prob. Thanks.

Hunter

 

Have a peek at this:

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2001/21-009-01.htm

 

I have not experienced any of that.

At 20k miles, you should be able to have this corrected by the dealer. Hope the dealer repairs it quickly and completely for you.

 

Guys, these are truck trannys with HUGE gearsets in them. They ain't gonna shift like a Muncie tranny in days of old.

You'll notice that a lot of guys that had their tranny replaced have ended up with the SAME problem again. It's the nature of the beast.

Take it easy and slow when the trannys cold. The syncronizers need time to work in the thicker oil.

And if you HAVE to downshift for slowing down (BAD on the marginal clutch, by the way) double clutch it--bring the engine rpm's up to somewhere near where you'll be in the next lower gear.

 

Mine has 23K and I notice similar circumstances when going from 2 to 3 or the reverse, but it does go away once things are warmed up.

 

Agree with Roadranger. Big gearsets, cold oil, need time to synchronize. I've driven five different 2nd gen. NV5600's -- all have the same issue from 2nd to 3rd, including my own. Takes several miles for oil to heat to point where the rough performance goes away. Continually trying to "force" the transmission to synchronize faster will, over a range of miles, damage the synchros. Some transmissions have then gone boom. In 2002, NVG changed the materials in the synchronizers to provide better durability in abusive situations like these.

Stock/specified oil that comes with original NV5600 is synthetic. However, there are better synthetics on the market that can help, if you're not worried about warranty issues.

There is a DC TSB describing a "fix" that works only in some trucks where the problem doesn't go away when the oil heats up. However, that fix requires a 20 ton press and some other equipment that dealerships sometimes don't have -- which is why some dealerships simply avoid the issue by replacing the transmission as a whole.

 

Army_Guy, how cold is cold?

Changing the lube might be the first thing to try.