Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) 6 speed problems

[DCruger]

Hello all from San Diego

I have noticed that my 6th gear is not syncing as fast as it use to.

all gears are great except when going from 5th to 6th.

I used to be able to speed shift ( from my trucking days driving a 18 speed)

and now i have to hold clutch in a little longer then the other gears.

it goes into gear but just have to wait longer.



1999 2500 dodge

all factory have about 85,000 miles nothing has been replaced except filters and fluids



DC

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

What fluid is in it now?

Godspeed,
Trent

 

[WalterRyan]

I am also interested in this. Mine has developed this over the last year also. I used to be able to shift as fast as I wanted but now it will give a short grind on a fast shift. As DCruger says if I pause very briefly between gears it will just slip right into gear effortlessly. My truck has 140,000 on it and has had a recent fluid change using Penzoil synchromesh witch the bottle says meets the Dodge spec.



Walt

 

[DCruger]

specs

so does anyone have the official specs

i went to jiffy lube ( instead of doing it my self)

and should have gone the amsoil route.



and they put in GL4 75w90p oil



this was put in in march and i did not notice it grinding until June or so.



anyone have any ideas

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

DCruger you've got one of those rare 1999 6-speeds. Take a look here: Ram NV5600 specs

I used to have a 6-speed, I ran Redline MTL (manual trans lube) in it once and I liked how it performed. I also tried Amsoil Series 3000 5w30 diesel oil but did not like it, harder to get into gear.

Vaughn

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

DCruger,

If I were you I would get that stuff out of there immediately!!!! Gear oil is much to thick for the NV5600 synchronizers to work properly. The "correct" fluid is what Dodge sells. I changed mine and put in Royal Purple Synchromesh and it worked better than the Dodge stuff. I left it in for well over 100,000 miles and never had an issue with it. After replacing the NV5600 three (yes, 3) times last year (none of which were due to fluid) I now have the fluid sold by Blumenthal's in Oklahoma City. They reman the NV5600 for Dodge. As an experiment I installed 12 quarts of the fluid instead of the usual 5 that Blumenthal puts in (which is one quart more than full). I did this to help get oil to the rear main bearing because the design of the transmission leaves little way for fluid to bathe the bearing. Some of my fluid came out the rear seal as I went up and down hills until the level got to the place where it doesn't come out anymore. My guess is that one quart or so came out. Hopefully I will be able to get a reading of how many inches of fluid is left and convert that to quarts so I know how much Royal Purple to put back in. To overfill you put the fluid in through the shifter tower.

The NV5600 is a funny creature. Some guys had great luck with the Dodge fluid, others liked Amsoil, still others the Royal Purple. Put something in, quick! Get rid of that gear oil!!!!

Godspeed,
Trent

 

[DSeamans]

Lube

These are very sensitive to fluids. Jiffy lube screwed it up bad! Blumenthals does recommend 7 qts. To get it in, you fill through the shifter. Some have had bad luck with Blumenthals, but I had no problems. They are mopar's official rebuilder. Most people love RP and my transmission shelled 400 miles after putting it in. It had 180,000 miles on it when I put it in and had NEVER had metal in the oil when changing. It looked like new and then 4000 miles later a pile of synchro pieces in the pan. Get that gear lube out now. Other than mopar, RP, amsoil, and pensoil make fluids that meet the specs.