What's so Bad about the G-56?

[DPKetchum]

AMINK I was told autos with POOR image and a history of problems are the ones with the HIGH warrantys. You JUST NAMED two manufactures that had a real history of problems.

 

[AMink]

You're right, DP. Definitely not the cream of the crop. I guess what I was trying to say is that if Dodge knows their product isn't going to break, they could warrant it for a long time and not worry about having to pay out a lot to fix things. If they're concerned, and shorten the warranty, the fix falls on the buyer. I suppose in the long run, it won't matter to me 'cause I can't afford a new truck! :{ By the time I can, we'll know how good the G56 and DMF are :-laf .

 

[DPKetchum]

I inquired about that issue several times over the years in the auto business. I always got(maybe too dense to understand)that vehicles with a poor quality perception and problems the mamufactures put the 7/100sand 10/100s etc. on them. Others with a perception of being better quality and more trouble free they stayed at 3/36 etc. datsun/Nissan NEVER had any more then 3/36 and Chrysler products only had 3/36 for a number of years. The 7/70 was what the last 4 or 5? 98/99s were still 3/36. The TWO you mention as well as Suziki(spelling)were the pits dependabilty wise for a LONG time. I was told it the reason for the differance of 12/12 or 3/36/7/70 was NOT to save warranty money but a precieved quality issue. Didn't make sense to me but I asked over the years a NUMBER of times reps from many manufactures told me the same reasons.

 

[klenger]

DC introduced the 7/70 waranty just after I bouth my 01. 5 in Sept of 2001. It was right after 911, and they we trying to encourage sales.

 

[LDobie]

Just got back from talking to the boys at the local dealer, my best friend doesn't have any experience with a DMFW, but another well experienced guy dealt with them on Mercedes before. He says that their main function is for smoothness of engagement etc, that they are very expensive and heavy and the only problem he came across with them, was very hard to detect. The cam sensor kept flickering the check engine light, and was extremely hard to make it repeat the problem. He had to really hammer on the car with the rep with him and they kept chasing the problem till the rep finally told him to replace the flywheel. The FW was sent back to the engineers and the springs had lost their tension/torsional strength.



Who knows, hopefully with the time and lessons learned by others, maybe they have a winner this time. The is obviously a reason why they are spending more $$$ to put that flywheel on the new ones, and are not charging the $600 for the G56 option, so time will tell I guess.



Another interesting point this guy told me, was that the 545 RFE transmission that is behind the 4. 7 and Hemi was originally concepted for the CTD, but the production version was "beefed down" for the gassers.

 

[Coyote556]

Ok, so I was thinking about a new truck and here is my question. What is the last manufacture date where you can get the nv5600 in a new truck? Does anyone think there are any new ones left? I went to my dealer today and all he had were g56's. thanks guys

 

[Lane]

Manufacturer of G56

Does anyone out there know who makes the G56?

 

[DPKetchum]

In House Damiler! Been used for a number of years. Thats why they changed. Its a in house unit. Not buying from a outside source anymore.

 

[Regcabguy]

Warranty Length

I always thought that if a company (ANY company) was sure they were building the best, the warranty would be top notch. If everything is done by the book, why not warrenty for 10/200? That right there would get folks in the door! After all, if Hyundai or Kia (can't remember which) can have a 10/100, why not Dodge? I think lowering the limit will hurt sales. JMO

Honda and Toyota build extremely reliable vehicles and have never exceeded to my knowledge the 3yr/36 month coverage. Their vehicles sell themselves w/minimal incentives. Hyundai or Kia wouldn't be around up until recently without lengthy and extensive coverage. Their reliability and quality stunk! Lately however, Hyundai has made major improvements and makes a pretty darn good car for the money.

 

[Tim]

Does anyone out there know who makes the G56?

Mercades Benz.



This thread, and the other G56 threads, are insanely stupid. I'm so sick of all the whining. People need to just get over it already, especially those that don't own one.



There's absolutely nothing wrong with the G56, so just stop the complaining already. The dual mass flywheels of Ford and Chevy have been beat to death, too. In 2001 when the Duramax came out, everyone said a Diesel with aluminum heads would be a complete joke. I've got news for you--it's not, it has proven itself durable, and every moron that forgot to load their brain before they shot their mouth looked stupid then, too.



All the G-56 haters, especially the ones that don't own one, are crybabies, and insanely stupid. If it was going to be a recipie for disaster, this is where you'd hear it--first hand, from owners of manual transmission trucks. I'd venture to say about half of us here row our own. Out in the public where these trucks are quite common, better than 90% of them are automatics. Nobody here has recorded a failure of either transmission, nor clutch of one of these trucks.



IMO, longevity and durability is yet to be seen with this new product, but something on the trucks changes every year, and in Dodge's case, sometimes mid-year.



Whine about something else... like the lack of a 5 speed auto to compete with Ford and Chevy. Or the pilot injection. Or the catalytic converter that was somehow required for 04. 5. Or the , 16-17 mpg fuel economy I'm getting. Or the $2. 439 that I paid for Diesel this week..... not the transmission you don't own. There are so many better things to worry about, yet you morons continue to shoot off that the mouth.



Honestly, I'd rather have an NV 5600... and for one reason only... the 6th gear ratio. Other than that, IMO, the G-56 is superior in every possible way. I've driven both, and I prefer the G-56 myself. I think they both have reverse in the wrong spot though, it needs to be down and to the right. Either way I'd never own an automatic and I'm so tired of this arguement. Get over it, the NV 5600 is not coming back no matter how much you , and nobody cares if you approve of DC's choice of what transmission to use in their trucks. Don't like it? Buy something else, it's the American way.



There is so much stupidity on this board about this issue I just can't take it anymore.

 

[PatrickCampbell]

While there's probably nothing wrong with the G56, there are a few things here.

Nobody likes change! We know the NV5600 is rated to 550 lb ft @ 26,000 lbs which means for lots of hot rodders we can get away with 1000 lb ft @ 7500 lbs. The G56 also has an aluminum housing vs cast iron (does it matter?).

 

[JCBerry]

Love my G56. Oo.

Way better than the POS 48RE in my 04. 5 they couldn't fix.

Towed my 38' travel trailer to Maine last week 12K #, shifts smooth, no funny noises, perfet gear ratio.

My only thought would be the DMF

Looking to upgrade power more so need to get a performance clutch.

I'll probably take out the DMF although I have no complaints with it and it does have more surface area than the last 6 spd NV5600.

I'd say

BUY IT YOU'LL LOVE IT

 

[JHardwick]

No need to worry about hitting reverse when smacking a quick shift from 4th to 5th.

I hit 5th looking for reverse more than reverse looking for 5th

 

[JHardwick]

[BMaybe the extra lube is needed for better cooling of those plastic gears? :-laf

Better grind'em while you can, those plastic gears won't last :-laf

 

[JHardwick]

I doubt there is gonna be any real problems from the G56. I still have reservations on the dual mass flywheel though. Do I own one? No. Will I be upgrading soon? Maybe, depending on how this pans out! Am I allowed to express concern as a potential buyer? You bet!



I think ... ... ..... I think, this dual mass flywheel jazz comes mostly from the guys buying a diesel cause they think it's cool. Wanna cruise around town in a cool truck, in a diesel truck, with the ride of a comparably priced luxury sedan or sports car. So ... ... ... . the designers and engineers are against a wall from the sales/marketing staff to take all the harshness out of a real truck! The dual mass flywheel is all about absorbing the harmonics and vibes. You guys who complain about spending $40,000 only to get vibrations, drone, noise, rough ride, driveline slack etc etc deserve to spend $2,000/$3,000 for a flywheel change!!!!



Yanno, I don't wash my truck every week, the tires are only dressed up twice a year after a full detail (spring/fall), the bed usually has scraps of firewood, hay or beer bottles in it, an your likely to see me with a trailer of some sort hooked to it. The guys "cruising" in an ultra clean, custom graphiced, goofy tail lighted street rod wanting the ride of an Ultima deserve this flywheel!!



IMO, clutches were meant to wear out from day one ... ... ... ... flywheels weren't.

Honestly, I'd rather have an NV 5600... and for one reason only... the 6th gear ratio. Other than that, IMO, the G-56 is superior in every possible way. I've driven both, and I prefer the G-56 myself.

Contradiction?? :-laf

 

[Tim]

IMO, clutches were meant to wear out from day one ... ... ... ... flywheels weren't.

Really? Have you ever changed a clutch? When I worked at a machine shop, I ground an awful lot of flywheels that the customers would tend to disagree with you and they'd say their flywheel was quite worn.



Worn to the point of replacement? Not always, but not uncommon. Worn? Absolutely... . the flywheel is a friction surface.

 

[67guzzler]

I've learned a lot from these TDR forums. I don't know much regarding the inner workings of the DC engineering and product planning departments but it's interesting to hear people saying things like "The G56 with the DMF is better regarding Noise Vibration Harshness (NVH) properties" and "It's lighter and more robust than the NV5600" and "How can they say the G56 is any good when they're dropping the drive train warranty from 7/70 to 3/36?", etc... .



I usually think the simplest answers are usually the most likely. I think that New Venture and DC had a parting of the ways and DC decided to leverage their current technology and use the Mercedes Benz Manual Transmission Plant in Brazil which was already making a slew of transmissions for the european market. This allowed them to utilize existing supply & technology for the new supply need for manual transmissions the Dodge light trucks. It makes sense from a pure business standpoint. In regards to the 7/70 drive train warranty -- this was the result of the need to encourage buyers and make them feel good after the trauma of 9/11. DC claims that in recent surveys and research, they found that the 7/70 drive train warranty didn't provide the incentive to buy that justified the expense to DC. I think that DMF issue is not factor to any of the above -- I just think it's part of the G56 package. It may or may not be a problem down the road. The notion that the G56 is better regarding NVH due to the DMF is not proven in my case. The clutch engagement is awesome but everything else about the drivline is troublesome. I worry (I'm just saying WORRY) that DC hasn't properly tested the mating of the G56 to the huge amount of torque that the series 600 CTD brings just off idle. I've been having driveline slack problems. This combined with the final gear ratio change that's inherent in the G56 makes me come to the reasonable conclusion that I'd rather have the NV5600. I'm not saying that the G56 is the source of my problems or that it's inferior to the NV5600. I'm just saying that the mid-year switch by DC to the G56 was done for reasons that I believe are other than making the product better or reducing NVH. It was a matter of convenience and business for DC and it's caused a potential hassle for me.



As for these statements and forum etiquette, I think as repeat buyer of 4 CTD Ram's (3 with sticks) and a current troubled owner of a G56, I'm entitled to this opinion.

 

[Tim]

If New Venture and DC had a parting of ways, we wouldn't have an NV transfer case in our rigs.



Next arguement?

 

[67guzzler]

If New Venture and DC had a parting of ways, we wouldn't have an NV transfer case in our rigs.



Next arguement?

I wasn't making an argument for anything. I was proposing a theory. Why the attitude towards me, dude? That was really obnoxious. See the post below for a little history lesson.



BTW -- Does Mercedes Benz make a transfer case that would work with the Dodge Light Trucks?

 

[nps]

If New Venture and DC had a parting of ways, we wouldn't have an NV transfer case in our rigs.



Next arguement?

Parting of ways? I guess its one of several reasonably accurate ways to describe the sale of a subsidiary.



So why DO YOU think they quit using the NV5600?

September 29, 2004, Aurora, Ontario, Canada……Magna International Inc. (TSX: MG. A,MG. B; NYSE: MGA) has completed the acquisition of the worldwide operations of DaimlerChrysler Corporation’s wholly-owned subsidiary, New Venture Gear, Inc. (“NVG”). As announced on May 17, 2004, the transaction involves the creation of a new joint venture, named New Process Gear, Inc. , which is initially owned 80% by Magna and 20% by DaimlerChrysler Corporation, that operates a manufacturing facility in Syracuse, New York. Magna will acquire DaimlerChrysler Corporation’s interest in New Process Gear, Inc. in September 2007.