Hello all.

I was thinking about this morning, a 5sp vs. a 6spd. Which is better? Which is better mileage? Have you had both manual trannies, and which do you like better?

 

For towing, the 6spd. For a daily driver, the 5spd. The 5spd has longer legs, were the 6spd splits up the gears to make it a better tow'r.

 

Towing a 6spd works best. If you are racing and have a manual, the 5spd is better. It shifts faster, you shift less, and the gears pull longer.

 

I have rebuilt lots of both and prefer the 5spd to the 6. the syncros have larger teeth that to not get damaged as easy as in the 6. the 5spd is much cheeper to work on then the 5 and is a lot simpler. Yes the 6spd gives you more splits for towing making it better I would take the simple 5spd. The mileage will be about the same becous the over drive is almost exactly the same, the only thing that may make it get beter is that you will lug it a little less with the better splits in the 6 spd.

 

I'm thinking for the amount of towing I do a 5'er would have been fine. I am developing quite the right arm from my daily driving! Lotsa shifts and you really can't skip any gears or she really lugs!

 

Having both I prefer the 5 speed around town , shifts much smoother also ,maybe my 6 speed ain't broke in yet ??? The gap between 3-4 is huge in the 5-speed even with no load , cant imagine towing heavy with it . Nothing like the sound of rowing through the 6 speed though , wish I got 4.10's in that truck would sound even better .

 

I ve had both n the same truck.....the 6 speed wins, but I tow heavy. Driving around town is negligable to me. My 6 speed shifts nice. If I could go back and fix the 5 speed, it would have to be nearly free, otherwise no worth it .

 

6 speed definitely better, towing is awesome, and when driving empty I usually shift 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th sometimes I do 2nd, 4th, 6th, but I have to pull 4th into the upper rpms.

Mpg is same, I have a 24v of course, but I think a 12 might get slightly better mileage.

 

Towing NV5600...daily driving, I like the NV4500 better just because it has less gears...but with the shorter 3rd in the NV5600, usually I can start out in 3rd when I don't want to shift as much!

Chris

 

I bought a 97 with a 5 speed, and have driven 6 speeds daily at a previous job. I like em both. Shifter throw on the 6 seems like a sports car in comparison to the 5 speed throw, IMO. As far as more or less gears, I drive a 10 speed daily, and will be upgrading to a 13 over the summer, so these little ones are nothing.

 

5 vs. 6 doesn't make that much difference. I'd prefer the extra gears for towing, but my NV4500 has been good to me, and it wouldn't be worth too much to change it.

As with kas83, I've driven plenty of 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 speed transmissions without syncros. An extra gear in town just means you have more opportunity to match engine with road speed, load, and anticipated load.

 

Hit the nail on the head here

having driven them both i like my five speed.. PLUS the big consideration here, Parts for the 6 speed are getting harder and harder to find...

The six speed is also more like driving a big rig, more constant shifts whereas the five speed has less frequent shifts IMHO, either ways you cant go wrong with either or...

Rick

 

I dig on the 5 speed, but my first real truck with a stick had a browning transmission. Now that was alot of shifting.

 

Ditto on the flat-ground 3rd gear starts .... let her run up to 2400 or so and catch 5th.

 

You start in 3rd with 3.55s ,WOWZERS , correct me if wrong but there must be some slippage goin on there.