Thrust bearing failure

[RWherley]

So my dads 04 3500 with the NV5600 transmission has for the 2nd time in 525,000 miles ripped the rear thrust bearing off the main crank bearing and dropped it in the oil pan. Has any one else had this issue or know the cause of it, or a way to prevent it from doing it again?

 

[sag2]

There have been several discussions about it, so you might do a search. Don't recall the exact cause or correction.

 

[2004HPCR]

STOP holding the clutch pedal pressed in when idling at a stop light. Always put the gearbox in neutral and leave the clutch out. Also dont keep your foot on the clutch pedal when doing down the road. Those 2 things right there are what cause 95% of thrust bearing issues.

While everything is apart I would check the clutch components to make sure everything works good in there. Check the clutch hydraulics as well.

 

[RVTRKN]

So my dads 04 3500 with the NV5600 transmission has for the 2nd time in 525,000 miles ripped the rear thrust bearing off the main crank bearing and dropped it in the oil pan. Has any one else had this issue or know the cause of it, or a way to prevent it from doing it again?

To be a little clearer about what your describing, is this in the engine or the trans?

 

[2004HPCR]

To be a little clearer about what your describing, is this in the engine or the trans?

NV5600 doesn't have a crank, or thrust bearings. Certainly doesn't have an oil pan.

The 1st Gen 12v had a 3 piece main bearing/thrust bearing, sometimes the thrust bearing would become dislodged and fall into the pan. In the later engines they updated to a 1 piece bearing.

The only time I can see a 1 piece thrust bearing falling into the pan on a 3rd gen is by habitually holding down the clutch pedal for so long that the oil film gets completely squeezed out between the crank face and thrust bearing. Then heat will accumulate and galling can happen without lubrication and heat.

 

[RVTRKN]

Not that I work on them, or even work on mine with a few exceptions. I have never heard of the thrust washer wear within the engine caused by riding a clutch or keeping clutch depressed at idle. It makes sense, just have never read or heard of this.

 

[RWherley]

I know he dosent let his foot on the pedal while driving, and im pretty sure he tries to have as little clutch in time as possible. That being said would it help much to take the main cap and get it machined to take a thrust bearing too, so the crank would have a full 360 deg of bearing surface opposed to the factory 180 deg? since this only the 2nd time this has happened in over half a million miles its not like its a regular thing but its still a pain in the ass a days worth of work i could be doing somthing else

 

[2004HPCR]

Hmm, well if thats right then i would be looking into lubrication issues.

there should be no need for a 360 degree thrust bearing. Something else is wonky there.

Has the same nv5600 been installed the whole time? I wonder if the nv5600 has shimming issues and puts thrust force to the crank. Just a thought. This would be very unlikely.

What kind of oil and filter is the truck running?

 

[RWherley]

The trans was rebuilt once about 100-120,000 miles ago, oil is Shell Rotella T-4 with the Fleetguard stratapore filter

 

[2004HPCR]

How does your serpentine belt tensioner look? Is there anything on the accessory side that is pulling forward on the crank? Like a power steering pump or AC pump? How does the front crank balancer look?

I would check oil pump pressure and blockage- just to be sure.

Here is a 360 degree thrust bearing kit, machining required: https://www.enterpriseengine.com/pr...24v-5-9-dodge-cummins-mahle-clevite-ms-2329p/

I cant imagine needing that other than race applications.

Who knows, stranger things have happened.

 

[cerberusiam]

Replace it with a one piece bearing, the OE thrust washer is a known issue and falls out for no discernible reason. They will also come loose and sit in there and rattle making it near impossible to chase down.

 

[2004HPCR]

Wouldnt all 3rd gen engines already have the 1 piece bearing? Thats an old update.

 

[cerberusiam]

Nope, still a 3 piece all the way up to the 6.7's.

 

[2004HPCR]

Reaaaaally. Well, I learned something today then.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Reaaaaally. Well, I learned something today then.

Yes, same here and I'm very disappointed in Cummins.

Anyone know if you can just pull the bearing cap and push in a new bearing like any normal engine?

 

[2004HPCR]

That is disappointing for sure.

But even still, something isnt right here. This isnt magic. There is a reason why this keeps happening.

So the best thing to do would be to install a set of 6.7 main bearings then.

 

[cerberusiam]

6.7 still has the multiple piece bearing from the factory, at least the early ones do. IIRC, clevite makes the one piece better bearing.

Without tearing completely down and measuring hard to tell what could be wrong, if anything. With a manual trans, the iron powder rods, and the torsional harmonics these things generate it is likely due to lugging the engine down into the harmonics range too often and hammering the crap out of it. The one piece bearing will probbaly stop the issues with that, all else being good.

Not sure there is a full circle bearing available for it but that would help overall efficacy.

 

[KATOOM]

There's a lot of blame here for the clutch assembly causing this. But...I know of someone with the same year truck with an automatic that had the same TW problem.

 

[cerberusiam]

Not unusual to have the problem once. Having it multiple times in 500k miles is a bit more unusual.

 

[KATOOM]

Unusual...yes. But we're giving credit to whomever replaced the failed TB, and whether or not there was another reason why it failed the first time, or if that was the same reason it failed again.