FATCAT

Apparently the G56 (new MB 6-speed) is off to a disasterous start. Seems that ALL trucks with the G56 transmission that are in transit or at the factory are being held back and they are not to be delivered to Dealers/Customers.

This thread discusses this problem. One guy in Ohio found two of the new 6-speed trucks on the lot and both were dripping tranny fluid. He took them for a test drive and appears the tranny fluid got into the clutch/flywheel area ... tosted one of the transmissions.

Looks like Dodge has a new disaster on their hands ... the Dual Mass Flywheel setup transmission was abandonded by Ford for problematic reasons ... why would Dodge switch to such a transmission? Who knows.

If your looking for a new truck with a 6-speed you are strongly advised to get the last of the NV5600 tranny trucks.

Jonesboro

I believe the Ohio guy actually reported toasting the clutch not the transmission.
Nevertheless, not the best of news for the G56/Dual Mass Flywheel debut.

jlasich

Doesn't this all sound familiar? Fall of '03 and into January '04, everyone was saying the Cummins 600 was junk and very few people had actually driven one. It escalated once everyone found out that DC had put the 600 release on hold. And, I imagine everyone said the same thing before the 305/555 came out, and the 24v before that, and the p7100 12v before that. No one knows what the issues are. One good thing though, if they are having a problem, at least they caught it and plan to correct it before they release them. I'm sure a lot of people wish that Ford had done the same.

BEHRMAN

What the heck was wrong with the NV5600? It's the strongest and most durable part of our trucks!

danram11

More durable than the Cummins??

texasredrider

I talked to my dealer friend on the inside and I dont know if he was misinformed but he talked to another insider at DC about this problem and was told this: There is no problem found with the new transmission. Whenever DC makes a design change, on the first run of trucks it is customary to have the first 4000 or so inspected thouroghly before being shipped to the dealers after they leave the factory. This entails an actual road test, visual as well as mechanical inspections. These inspections are done by non-factory, DC certified techs off site. This is done to ensure non-biased results. Some trucks slip through to dealers without this process being done, which is why we are seeing them out there. The trucks that are sold orders are the first to be inspected so we wont be waiting around forever for our trucks. He said his contact emphasized that there is no problem with the new G56 transmissions. They are heavier duty than the NV5600 and are more durable, heat dissapation is greater resulting in longer clutch life, so on and so forth.....

Sounds feasable on one hand and sounds like a crock on the other. I ordered my truck on January 27th and still havent seen it. Supposedly it is on a rail car somewhere waiting to be "inspected". Makes me wonder whether I should just tell them to keep the truck and go buy a Ford.

Jonesboro

Nothing was wrong with the NV5600!

The speculation I have read is that DC wanted to go with their in-house parts to save money. The G56 is a Mercedes (DC) transmission whereas the NV5600 was from an outside supplier.

I suspect there is more to this story that we haven't heard yet. My guess is that DC is planning for some major overall changes in the 2500 - 3500 engine/tranny drivetrain maybe as early as the 2007 model year. That's just a wild guess on my part, I have no inside information.

Jonesboro

FYI, for those of you looking for a 6-speed but are now concerned about the G56, I just read this post over on TDR:

"If anyone REALLY wanted a NV5600, The dealers up here probably have ~50 between the two of them. Billion Dodge Bozeman, Mt or Yellowstone Dodge Livingston, Mt."