Nv4500 5th gear hanging issues

[eh-ef-kay]

OK so let me try to be a little bit descriptive about this. First off I’ve done a lot of reading about 5th gear issues but nothing seems to be quite the same.


So when sitting still with the motor off or idling this thing goes in and out of fifth gear just fine parked. However when you’re driving eight out of 10 times when you go to pull it out of fifth it’s like you’re hitting a wall. Eventually you’ll try to get finicky you’ll think it came out it’ll go in neutral but really the shifter just came out of the fork. It’s still engaged in fifth and you have to tear the shift tower apart and you can manually put it back into neutral either by using 1/2 inch extension Or by putting the shifter back into the proper place. I’m really not sure why it does this it would appear to me that when the vehicle was off it is more happy to go back into neutral same thing if it’s sitting on level flat ground idle. It would appear that if you try to move the shifter once and it gets caught you Will have to get it off the road shut it off and pull it apart. Once you’ve tried to pull it once and it doesn’t come out it is not going to come out of gear while it’s running at all. But again you can put it in and out of fifth all day long while it’s idling in your driveway. I don’t have a whole Lotta details about the transmission I got the truck used in a trade the guy told me that the previous owner had put a built nv4500 five speed in it. it was originally a six speed/ho. I know this thing leaks from up top somewhere. So I obviously keep an eye on refilling it. I’ve never really come across An issue like this on a manual. Seeing as I’m on a very fixed income I’m just curious if I missing something. I should also note that reverse can sometimes be very angry to get into. I don’t most feels like when you’re coming out of gear or going into reverse you can’t pull it for enough to the right. Another thought to consider I had this issue when I first got it and when I pulled the shifter tower apart the first time everything was happy again and it went into every gear easily again. They did retain the shifter from the six speed I’m not sure if that rubber plate is an issue that spaces it out. I have first wondered if the shifter just wasn’t going all the way into the tower/tabs but again without account for being unable to pull out it’s like you’re hitting a wall. Anyways this is an 01 Dodge vin 7 ho cummins with nv4500. If anyone’s wondering no I have absolutely no issue going into fifth gear and it works flawlessly. It’s just trying to take it out.

 

[eh-ef-kay]

Kind of feeling like nobody has an answer lolll

 

[moparguy]

Not a transmission guru at all, but I'll share my experience. I've had three NV4500 rebuilds, all by Standard Transmission in Fort Worth, TX. With two of the three 5th and reverse took a few thousand miles to operate easily and properly. Your transmission may be a fresh rebuild.

What I found helped;

Shift out of 5th, with a slight load on the drivetrain, let up on the fuel and immediately take out of 5th. It has to be a smooth, seamless technique that takes practice but it works.

On engaging reverse, from neutral shift to 4th, then reverse. Helps sometimes, you just have to play with different things to see what works until miles and time cause the sycrnos and hard parts to wear in.

It's aggravating but it's worked for me.

One other thing, make sure the transmission has Syntorque in it. I get mine here https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ado-10-4059

OK, just reread your post (paragraphs would make it much easier) and saw the part about "still using the 6 speed shifter". That's the first thing I'd change. Check online salvage yards if none available local to you and get the one for your transmission.

 

[eh-ef-kay]

Thanks for the response I’m starting to suspect fifth gear syncro. I’m also now having an issue getting into reverse. It’s like it’s not there you push and push but nothing is there. Sometimes if you go into fourth it’ll go into reverse as stated. After that it’s fine going and goes in all the gears n reverse again however once the vehicle moves it’s right back to the same issues with both gears. I’m really not sure what that leaves me. Having pretty much no know-how and being on a budget a friend of mine used to build transmissions and engines he believes that May be the issue. I always thought you bought a manual transmission because there are less problems but I’m starting to think maybe it’s time to convert to an automatic. Seeing as I don’t do any heavy towing. Auto thought though this thing tends to hang up a lot easier if you were to push it to the right a little bit harder and pull it out of gear if you pull straight down it seems a lot happier but occasionally it will still get caught. I’m just surprised that no one else had issues like this. I mean once you pull the tower off it comes right out of gear no problem it’s not like it’s finicky or anything it’s just something keeps hanging it up and reverse who knows

 

[SAndreasen]

Check the snchro and check the shift collar for burrs. And check the shift fork that mine was bent just. A little bit and it caused the same thing you describe

 

[SAndreasen]

Re reading the post again I don’t think your problem is the internals of the trans itself but rather the transmission top and the detent springs in it they will get weak and do exactly like what you are desctibling seen it happen a lot on old grain trucks the bad thing is you can’t get the shift tower off the transmission on these trucks without pulling the transmission out of the truck