Driven manuals all my life and was in the auto repair all my life and I'm 54.The nv5600 is pretty grappy in the shift area.I drove wreckers way back when and those trannys shifted better.I had a 4 speed on the column Fiat once that shifted worse. Can I live it with,absolutly.Can I bang gears and bark the tires,yep. Can I always hit the right gear on downshifts,nope.Its the gates more then how it goes in and out of gear.I liked the 4 speeds in the Chevy wreckers I drove way back when a LOT more then the NV5600.

 

no one mentioned changing the lube with fresh mopar stuff-it always helps with shift quality

 

Changed mine over to Amsoil fluid at 15k. It improved the feel of the unit.But the nature of the beast is clunky and rough with poor gates.

 

I guess that's the price we pay for a tranny that puts up with everything a modded cummins puts out and doesn't break-isn't there a short shift kit somebody makes? I cant' remember who

 

BD I think.I don't need to shorten up the missed down shifts or get to the poor gates any quicker. actually the missed down shifts is only once in a while always while towing and turning with a comment from the wife of 'So its NOT just me"

 

I still have no complaints with mine. I can always hit the gear I want, whether I'm towing or not. I can't understan why people have trouble hitting the gears.

 

Yeah, its a great big, strong, beefy tranny... not a little car tranny.... Its in a Truck, and the CTD with a 6speed manual is arguably one of the toughest combos on the road...

 

I didn't much care for my 01.5

I thought going 2nd to 3rd was smooth and the rest were notchy or rough. Especially 3 to 4. 4 to 5 wasn't great either.

My buddy has an 06 with the G56 and I find all the other gears smoother, but find it harder to grab 3rd.

That being said, no regrets on going auto on my 03!

 

last one I had had over 200k miles on it... wasn't too happy with it, but it wasn't horrible.

current one has less than 60k on it, and I LOVE the way it shifts!!!!!! I've got a solid hub dual disk, and this thing is like butter compared to the 4500/single disk in my '98 (granted, that 5sp has over 200k on it!)

the one G56 truck I drove was brand new on the lot, and the tranny probably wasn't totally broken in, but it was VERY notchy compared to either of my 5600's

 

No one has ever said it wasn't a tuff unit.It just has crappy gates.Until recently that has not been disputed.Kinda like saying a Harley is a engineering marvel compared to the popular Jap bikes. Some of you guys need to fill out your signatures so we can ALL see what you drive like the rest of us.

 

Hounddog,
Which statement are you saying has not been disputed until recently? The toughness of the transmission or the "crappy gates"?

 

Poor shift quality.

 

Not happy with mine...wont go into gear sometimes at redlights and plenty of missed gears. Just dont want the syncros to fail while I am towing. Drove and was a VW mech for 25 years...a lot of busses too. The type IV's have a pretty beefy tranny too. Talk about some crappy shifters. I have to admit, most all of those busses shifted better and left me with a more secure feeling than this tranny. LOve my truck, but just dont want to pay that much for a vehicle and have the tranny fail.

 

I grew up with manuals. I learned to drive 18 wheelers before I was old enough for a drivers license. I learneed on a 4 and a 4. The Brownie was connected with cables. The cables would streach and make it hard to shift if you didn't take the shifter put it in the location of the gear it should be in before trying to shift into the next gear.

300 rpm power band two transmissions and they still shift better than my 5600.

I'm afraid to let others drive it because I know what's going to happen. They are going to shift from 4th to 5th except they will stuff it into 3rd. When cold lots of tooth to tooth shifting.

 

Only time I have problems with the gates is when trying to rush it like racing (mainly going from 4th to 5th). No problems when shifting in a slow fluid motion.

MikeyB