Which trans to use?

[KHaines]

I am starting a conversion project on a 93 Chevy K3500 Crew Cab 4x4. It had a 6. 5 with a broke crank. I used to be a fan of the 6. 5's but... ... .....



Anyways, I am building a truck to keep 10 years. Its use will be daily driver and towing larger loads. I am thinking of about a 400 HP range Gen 2 12 valve. The truck came with a NV4500(with granny gear). I want to stay with a manual trans, but which one? Will the NV4500 hold up or should I go with a NV5600? Who sells the best trans? Who should I talk to?



Thanks

Kevin

New TDR member

TDP member

 

[bmoeller]

Welcome to the TDR. Watch out for the BOMBing bug. It is killer on th wallet. :-laf LOTs of fun though.



Dodge used the NV4500 as well, on the '94 to maybe around '00 or '01 or so. You should be able to use your 4500, but IIRC, you'll need to change the bellhousing and input shaft, and use a clutch for a Dodge truck.



I've driven a '92 Chevy K3500 w/ 6. 5TD, that used the the same transmission as yours. Had both a granny low plus O/D. Really liked the ratios of it. Was hauling hay with it. Worked great.



The only trouble with some of the 4500s, is that some have had problems with the 5th gear nut, but not sure if your version would or not.



The 5600 is a nice heavy transmission too, but like anything mechanical, something will wear sometime down the down. I've have only had VERY limited experiance with 5600, but I thought was a nice transmission too.



Personally, I would stay with your current 4500.

 

[autoworld]

there is a kit to fix the 5th gear problem. . the input shaft kit and bellhousing will be necessary along with a resurfaced flywheel (we always put a better bearing in it @ that time) and of course a clutch kit. we use centerforce but there's other good ones out there. the 5600's are awesome but again alot more money and so is the flywheel and clutch. depending on your rear end gears and how fast you want to travel, the other gear may be attractive to you. we run a gear vendors overdrive unit behind ours (nv4500) and cruise easily @85-90 with 1800 rpm.

it would end up costing you about the same to add a GV unit and upgrade your NV4500

so kind of a personal choice. the last two suburbans we sent home went with the NV5600's and both guys really like that transmission!!

dawna