Archived No 5th Gear in South Carolina

[Alphacowboy]

Hey guys, made my trek down to South Carolina this weekend from Minnesota and going through the mountains I just about lost 5th. It still works, but it shakes from time to time in 5th and 5th only, so I am sure the nut is about to fall off. Normally I would do this myself, but all my tools are in MN to do this. I called the dealer around here (Charleston) and they want $350 bucks to put the updated 22 dollar nut on! Anyway, any of you guys down here know somewhere I can have this done for less or any of you willing to help a guy out? I am leaving for Nashville on Thursday, and then Back to MN Saturday. Hoping I dont have to drive back to MN pulling a trailer at 55 mph... . :{



Thanks Guys.

 

[GCroyle]

Might call John Glascow at Performance Diesel, 843 881 4433 in Mt. Pleasant.



John is at 483 Longpoint Rd, Mt. Pleasant. He runs a performance shop and would be a good call to make, tell him Gary said hey.



Good luck.

 

[GAmes]

When I lost 5th it was gone, period. 70mph, cruise on, on the freeway (leaving MN by the way) then nada. I have never heard of one "shaking", but I suppose it is possible. I drove back to TX in 4th. It wasn't that bad, and it sure beat paying tourist prices to have it fixed.

 

[highgear]

i also lost my 5th gear nut, i continued on my trip for 2000 miles and then fixed it with a new fully splined shaft and upgraded nut.

 

[Alphacowboy]

Thanks Gary, I talked to John yesterday, unfortunately his transmission guys he uses are booked up and wont beable to get to it before I leave. At this point, I am just going to take off tomorrow for Nashville a pray that it stays put for the trip. I am only going to be in Nashville for a day and a 1/2 so I am not going to be able to mess with fixing it until I get home. Hopefully I wont be posting up here in the next day or two with a busted transmission, but I dont see much else I can do. Oh well, if it breaks, guess I'll just have to look into a G56 swap! or maybe find a 6spd auto in a wrecked truck and attempt that... :-laf

 

[Missouri Mule]

If you have a 3. 54 rear end you should be able to get to 60-65 (65 mph=2500rpm ) in 4rth don't know what a 4. 10 will do. You will use more fuel.

 

[GCroyle]

Sorry John couldn't pull a rabbit out of his hat for you.



This happened to the ZOOM 5 speed in route back from FL to SC, they just drove it as a 4 speed, we replaced the trans later with a rebuild, no problem.



Safe travels.

 

[Alphacowboy]

Made it home ok guys! Thanks for the help. I actually think its not the gear, I think its the clutch. After doing some looking around, looks like the rear main seal decided to leak pretty good on the trip. Only lost a quart of oil, but it is all over the bell housing. More into the trip, the clutch started getting chattery, when ever I try to feather it, it jumps, just how it felt in fifth when i had issues. It was only doing that going up hill when the engine was trying harder. By upping the rpms going into 4th, I think I was bypassing the feel I was getting with the clutch. My guess its soaked with oil Oh well, i have a SBC 13" waiting to go in anyway.



Oh, and I have 3:73 gears, not 3:55s. I have 3rd gen AAM axles under my truck.