NV5600 Vs ZF-6 speed

[Joe Turbo Diesel]

I want to thank everyone for answering my questions regarding the Dodge Ram. My next question deals with the transmission. Is the NV5600 manual transmission more durable than the ZF-6 speed and why. I notice that the new Duramax offers the ZF like Ford does. Any help would be great.

 

[Texas Diesel]

http://www.autoworld.com/news/gmc/zf_s6_650.htm http://www.zfdoc.com/techinfo.htm http://207.37.252.232/chevy/99news/c991215b.htm



"While stronger and more durable than the GM NVG 4500 5-speed, the ZF S6-650 has a lighter weight and more compact design, which allows it to be more efficiently packaged. This is primarily due to its all-aluminum main case and higher helix angle gearset. The gearset allows the gears to operate more quietly by angling them for better, multiple gear contact. An integral front bell housing makes the transmission assembly a much stiffer unit, further contributing to noise suppression"



I'll stay with the cast iron NV-4500 & 5600 series. Dual cone syncros in 1,2&3 will probably mean it will shift goofy into these gears when mildly loaded like the 5600 does. The only time I feel gear engagement in 1,2or 3rd gear is when there is no load on mine. The part about "higher helix angle gearset" means more "sliding" between gears = quieter. The strongest gear sets are non-helical types but they produce a lof of whining. Whether it is better than the 5600 remains to be seen, but GM's historical performance with new designs has been extremely poor. There are those who will argue with me about gear engagement angles but ALL of the pumping equipment used non-helical gears and they made lots of noise.