getrag shift feel?

[banjobob]

Hey guys-

changed the oil in the 5-speed this last weekend (used synthetic 5w-30) added extra quart as recommended. Haven't had much of a chance to drive it since then-but what little I have I noticed the shifter seems to grab/catch in 3rd & 4th when shifting up through the gears. Does not seem to feel the same "catch" when downshifting. I havent driven the truck far enough to get everything good and hot in there--if that makes any difference. Will be taking a little road trip to cabin this weekend - don't want to screw anything up. (I overfilled by removing shifter off top-went back together very smooth. ) Any thoughts?

 

[Tim1]

shift lever

If you truck shifted fine before you disassembled the shift lever, that is the first place that I would look. Tim

 

[AMikonis]

What oil were you using before? Is the only thing different the extra quart? I don't see how the shifter could go in wrong and work at all.



I realize you probably aren't shifting it differently but FWIW, all three Getrags I've owned would bark a little if you tried to hit 3rd too fast. Those synchros were fine - I got to see the inside of all three of those trannies



Andy

 

[sparks57]

Since I changed my oil out, quart over, with mobile one the shifting feels a little less... gummy may be the word. I feel the corners of the shift pattern more and whenever the trannie bumps going into thrid I feel it more finely.



My trannie will bump sometimes going into third. What AMikonis said made me feel better because I thought one of the synchros was going.

 

[JStoll]

yeh it would be pretty darn hard to get the shifter in rong & have it work you would have to be trying to get it in rong to do so & have it work

the diference you feel is probably both the level & new oil behaving diferently than the old oil I wouldent wory about it it is to be expected that it will feel a lil diferent perticularly when its still cold

you definatly cant hurt it by overfilling it a lil

take care

JAK

 

[rwinslow]

My $. 02 worth. . . . your change in shift feel when changing the oil to Mobil 1, is in my 287,000 miles of experience . . . . normal. I rebuilt the Getrag 5 speed at 250,000 miles and it needed a couple of synchros and two bearings. The gear teeth still had machine marks on them and looked brand new. I have consistently used Mobil 1 with a 1 quart overfill. It is a good transmission - the early problems were with lube starvation to critical rotating surfaces at low RPM's (and high torque loading). (Note that the NV 4500 can also be subject to this same type of failure mechanism - that is one of the reasons why the NV 4500 uses a special synthetic lubricant). Regularly changing the lubricant and over-filling by one quart and using Mobil 1 (or any other PAO Base Stock synthetic) motor oil will pretty much eliminate this failure mechanism. Originally, the transmission was supposed to be lubed for life - obviously that original assumption by the OEM was incorrect!



Shift feel on these transmissions is not "velvety" but they do hold together if some basic maintenance rules and common sense are followed.