I lost 5th gear Sunday night. I've been searching and reading some. It looks like most people don't hear anything when this happens. Well, mine made some noise. I was crusing along at 75 and "clunk", rev, drop to 4th and 55 mph the rest of the way home. Every gear 1-4 is still smooth.

I just had the tranny out to put in a new South Bend. Should have spent a few more bucks and at least put the new nut on 5th gear. Stupid. I figured since I don't tow real heavy, and it has been fine for 190K, that it wasn't coming off.

I don't think I can swing for a full rebuild at this point. So I'm think off just putting the new nut on and running it. The truck isn't my daily driver, so I shouldn't be putting too many more miles on it. The tranny has been scary smooth after puting in the SBC, too.

The sound it made has me a little worried though.

 

weld it on

 

I like the idea. Problem is I've only been successfull welding mounting flanges on dirtbike exhausts. My skills and equipment aren't up to the task of welding on that shaft. I may be able to find a buddy to help.

My next order of bussiness is to drop the T-case and have a look at 5th gear. Hopefully it just backed off. Has anyone heard a sound like I did? Or just nothing?

 

If you decide to weld, just do a small tack. I have heard of, but not seen the whole shaft shearing off because of a bad weld. Don't know how true the reports were. Mine made no noise, by the way, and it came off at about 70 mph. I went with a fully splined shaft from Standard Transmission and have never had another nut come off.

 

I'd weld it - but I have the equipment and the skill... is it possible to *****-punch it so it can't unthread again? We do that all the time in power transmission service....

 

Lost 5th on my 96 and had it spot welded 180 degrees apart. It lasted just over 20K and went out again. Quad 4x4 has a kit for first time loss or complete rebuild. Google Quad 4x4 for his web site and you will get a complete education on 5th gear loss that will help you make up your mind as to what you want to do.

 

I checked out quad 4x4 already. They are out of stock on the 1st time failure retro fit kit, and are not making any more until at least June. A local shop told me $2000-2500 for a full rebuild (they pull the tranny). I'm weighing my options. At this point, I think I'll get the nut and tools frrom the dealer, open it up this weekend, and hope that's all it needs.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the size of the nut/wrench. Will a socket do it or something else.??

 

no it's a odd notch type nut that u need a special tool to tighten, and IIRC it takes like 250 ft. lbs of torque. If u search "welded 5th gear" u can find a thread I did when I welded mine and u can see the nut in the pictures.

 

Dealer wants $101 for just the nut. Quad 4x4 has the gear, nut, wrench, and shaft holder for $259. They also sell a gear installer if I need it. I'll probably go that route. I'm tearing it apart Saturday to have a look. Everything depends on how the mainshaft and gears look.

 

The write up at Quad 4x4 is great. It looks like they really have the problem identified. I think the only long term solution is to install the fully splined output shaft along with a rebuild.
Good Luck

 

I dont know where you got the price on that nut,,I paid $27.00 for the kit,, I did mine 53000 miles ago with the Mopar repair works GREAT,, The job was not to bad either,, Here is the TSB .. I think I have a photo of the Mopar kit in my gallery..
Also Dont know if anybody else said it but, The tranny does not have to come out to do this..

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1998/21-10-98a_r.htm

 

That sounds very good. What was in the kit? Is it something that should be done before the nut comes off the first time or is it just a patch?

Ops, I see you have allready answered all of my questions! Thanks for the good info!

 

I got the tailhousing pulled Saturday. Me and the driveway got a nice bath of fluid. The last bit of threads where the nut was holding on for dear life were blown out of the nut. The gear splines wore into the mainshaft pretty good. Bad rear seal.

The positives: I didn't have to pound the crossmember out. I got the tailhousing bolts out woithout stripping them.