Another very smooth shifting G56 owner here. Mine's all stock with the original fluid.

 

A G56 that is harder to shift than an NV5600 has got something wrong with it.

Dual-disc clutches can be expected to cause slower shifting.

Sometimes the shift fork-shift rail welds can break, causing separation and eventual loss of gear, with major damage possible.

Hard, intermittent or notchy shifting is one of the warning signs.

 

First time owner of a Diesel as well as a truck with a standard tranny so figured I would see if anyone else has encountered this or if this is normal for a heavy duty truck and transmission
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As best I can put it into words it feels like there is excessive play in the driveshaft or one of the joints. There is an audible "clunk" almost like something I would expect out of an ancient farm truck or something of that nature.
It is most easily noticed if I am backing up an incline and am feathering the clutch.
I also notice it to a lesser degree at lower speeds if I let the RPM's drop arround or below 1K when I shift.
I am not sure if I am describing this as well as it could be, but does this sound familiar to anyone?

Other than the "clunk" I am loving the G56
16k miles on the truck, less than a year old.

 

How does one tell which transmission your truck has? I've seen a few different shift patterns on the Dodge 6-speeds. Which is which?

garrett

 

I believe the switch was in late 2005 or early 2006. The G56 has 5th gear upper right, 6th gear lower right and reverse is all the way left and down.

 

Sounds like what they call "torque wind-up" in the drive line. I hear it sometimes when starting out uphill with a loaded trailer in low gear when I release the clutch to shift to 2nd. There is a lot of energy wound up when pulling a load and it lets go when you disengage the clutch.

 

When you release the clutch with the driveline loaded up it can make a pretty big springy clunk or loud spranging as everything relaxes. It's worse at low speed, low-RPM... don't forget the zero-throttle launch feature will fuel hard enough to drive through the vehicle in front of you at idle - so there can be a lot of torque application during slow speed manuevering even if you don't touch the accelerator.

Traction bars help by preventing the leaf packs from winding up and storing so much energy. You'll still get some of the same noise, but it'll be caused by the springs in the DMF storing & releasing driveline torque.

Your truck has the NV5600, as did early '05s.

 

Just to clarify a bit. When I say I wanted to improve the shift quality,I should have said I wanted the final bit of engagement to improve.

The shifters travel is silky smooth,its that last bit before the shift is complete that I don't like. Like I said 3rd is always really notchy,and 5th is not quite as bad.

Its been that way since it was new,I don't believe anything is wrong with the transmission,I think its just one of the charachteristics of the G56.

 

you guys need to try a weighted shift **** for your shifting woes...altho the G56 does normally shift really nice for a big trans it could be improved some.
weighted shift ***** have been used on the sports car shifters for YEARS with great results...I figured if it helps that much on small gearboxes that it will work just the same on our BIG gearbox trannys...let me tell you it does.
weighted shift ****=shifts like butter

http://www.uintadieselperformance.co...ift_Knobs.html

 

i agree i had a 2003 with the nv 5600 and now i have a 2006 with the g56 and the 06 shifts WAY BETTER,

im getting ready to change the tranny fluid myself, anyone here worried about not using the mopar fluid for warranty issues? really thinking about running royal purple in all the driveline

 

I would not worry about using RP. Very good fluid, and as long as it meets the specs required by Dodge (which it does), then they cannot mess with your warranty. That is one of the reasons for the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

 

Re-confirm the RP option for your G56... Last I recall, they DID NOT make an ATF+4 equivalent. Maybe a new product has come out recently, but you should check to make sure.

 

I just checked...they don't have an equivalent. IIRC, Amsoil, Redline, Castrol, Valvoline, and Mopar are of the some options for ATF+4.

 

i talked to the tech at royal purple, he told me to use thier synchromax, its for use in trannys that require atf+4


what i was told , still a lil unsure, ive used redline before and liked it, but see lots on here dont really get good results with amsoil. so still not sure what ill use

 

My G56 is the smoothest shifting truck tranny I have ever driven..

Including my NV4500, ZF 6spd Ford, M5Ford, NV5600 Dodge, etc etc, It's a dream in my oppinion.