5 speed manual trans in 04 sierra 2500HD

[AA Hayes]

i recently purchased on 04 2500HD, i am curious to know more about the transmission i have. its rpo code is MW3 which is the MAN 5 SPD, NVG, 109MM, 5.61 1ST, O/D. mainly i am wondering who build this tranny and how people have found it to drive and last. thanks

[Chris]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Venture_Gear_4500_transmission

[AA Hayes]

thanks, now, anyone have some good and bad experiences with these?

[gmtech4]

i was a tranny guy up in northern BC ,i never opened 1 up ,,,

 

not 1 thread here about them

[kstruckcountry]

I thought the manual was a 6 speed, I've never driven one with a 5.

[AA Hayes]

the 6.0L comes with a 5spd, the 8.1L and duramax come with 6spd

[Blue_Z71]

You've got yourself an NV4500, the 8.1L and Dmax came with the ZSF-650 6 speed. 4500's are stout, my '95 Sierra 3/4 ton came with one. The 3rd and 5th gear synchro's go out in high mileage situations, that is your only thing to worry about. My stock clutch went out at 135,000 miles and I went with a CenterForce from Advance Auto. Clutch pressure went from soft....to brake pedal hard - but it was a very good clutch kit, wouldn't do anything differently.

 

Hope you like your NV, I'm going to swap one in my next GMT for sure - no sissy 4L60/80 for me

[sdeeter19555]

Just make sure you run the correct fluid, they call for something like a75w90 synthetic, not a synchromesh. South Bend Clutch has several options for them.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G730A using Tapatalk

 

 

[SWDoodle]

i recently purchased on 04 2500HD, i am curious to know more about the transmission i have. its rpo code is MW3 which is the MAN 5 SPD, NVG, 109MM, 5.61 1ST, O/D. mainly i am wondering who build this tranny and how people have found it to drive and last. thanks

You have one rare 2500HD there. I've personally only seen a handful of 5-speed 6.0L 2500HD's and only one ultra rare 8.1L with the ZF-6 in my life. I can't imagine more than maybe 1-2% of the pickups that year came with a manual transmission. I would say the majority of them would have been in WT configurations. I have looked for several years to find a decent optioned CCSB in the 05-07 range and have never found much of anything. Most are ECLB or WT's. Working around the farm building fence, a standard transmission is awesome to have as you can just put it in granny low and let the pickup walk around the field if you're by yourself. Still have a 1992 GMC 1500 with a manual and I'll run it till it dies. Ram is the only company left that you can still get a manual transmission in an HD pickup. I believe they still use the G56. GM dropped it in 2007 and Ford did in 2011. One thing about you're manual transmission is that you can build them up and make them almost bulletproof for a lot less money than say a Allison. Good find!

[sdeeter19555]

The NV4500 will take a lot of abuse in stock form...I've seen them survive behind Cummins that are putting out a lot more TQ than a typical 6.0L would likely be capable. The main issue they have behind the Cummins is with the way a Cummins fires...being an inline six it causes a lot of hammering and that would beat the retaining nut off the shaft that held the 5th gear in place. About all they did to beef them up for most Cummins was to install a different retaining nut and a billet input shaft. Although it was an almost stock 99, my father's last truck was a Cummins with a NV4500...the only thing he did while he owned that truck was the 5th gear retainer at around 140k, a clutch at about 220k, and fluid changes; and it was still alive when he traded it at 300k.

 

So in short, I doubt you would need to do anything but change the fluid in NV4500 behind a gasser...and, unlike the NV5600, there is a TON of aftermarket support for the NV4500.

 

As for Dodge and their manual, they used the cast iron NV4500 5spd up to 2003 and the cast iron NV5600 6spd from about 2000 through 2004.5 (I had a NV5600 in my last truck). The last I knew they were using a DMF with the aluminum G56...a lot of guys had issues running anything above stock power through the DMF, and some guys were distorting the G56 case with moderate power increases. I would take a Dodge 6spd auto before a G56...I would bet they pull the plug on the G56 soon, I'm actually surprised it lasted this long.

[KMGZ400]

Weren't there some 8.1 that came with 4l80 or 85?

[Chris]

Weren't there some 8.1 that came with 4l80 or 85?

The burbs had it

[AA Hayes]

So my NV4500 rear casing has a pin hole in it and is leaking fluid.
i am curious about what my options could be at this point.

i have temporarily stopped the leak with some metal epoxy.

either i replace the case, with a new case, or replace my tranny.
i was wondering about putting in the allison 6 spd, but am not sure how it would mesh up with my truck. or putting a new nv4500 in it.
i noticed it makes a knock coming out of 2nd after i disengage the clutch and knocks again when i engage clutch into 3rd gear.
i was thinking this was due to running on low oil, so i got under the truck and saw a drip, found the suspect and temporarily fixed it. not sure how long it ran on low fluid so i am leaning toward a rebuild or new tranny because i dont want to have any serious issues on a long haul trip.
thoughts and comments please.

[Prokopchuk_9]

The NV4500 will take a lot of abuse in stock form...I've seen them survive behind Cummins that are putting out a lot more TQ than a typical 6.0L would likely be capable. The main issue they have behind the Cummins is with the way a Cummins fires...being an inline six it causes a lot of hammering and that would beat the retaining nut off the shaft that held the 5th gear in place. About all they did to beef them up for most Cummins was to install a different retaining nut and a billet input shaft. Although it was an almost stock 99, my father's last truck was a Cummins with a NV4500...the only thing he did while he owned that truck was the 5th gear retainer at around 140k, a clutch at about 220k, and fluid changes; and it was still alive when he traded it at 300k.

 

So in short, I doubt you would need to do anything but change the fluid in NV4500 behind a gasser...and, unlike the NV5600, there is a TON of aftermarket support for the NV4500.

 

As for Dodge and their manual, they used the cast iron NV4500 5spd up to 2003 and the cast iron NV5600 6spd from about 2000 through 2004.5 (I had a NV5600 in my last truck). The last I knew they were using a DMF with the aluminum G56...a lot of guys had issues running anything above stock power through the DMF, and some guys were distorting the G56 case with moderate power increases. I would take a Dodge 6spd auto before a G56...I would bet they pull the plug on the G56 soon, I'm actually surprised it lasted this long.

Ya couple diesel places sell the fancy castle nut thingy! I helped fix one before!

[Prokopchuk_9]

So my NV4500 rear casing has a pin hole in it and is leaking fluid.

i am curious about what my options could be at this point.

i have temporarily stopped the leak with some metal epoxy.

either i replace the case, with a new case, or replace my tranny.

i was wondering about putting in the allison 6 spd, but am not sure how it would mesh up with my truck. or putting a new nv4500 in it.

i noticed it makes a knock coming out of 2nd after i disengage the clutch and knocks again when i engage clutch into 3rd gear.

i was thinking this was due to running on low oil, so i got under the truck and saw a drip, found the suspect and temporarily fixed it. not sure how long it ran on low fluid so i am leaning toward a rebuild or new tranny because i dont want to have any serious issues on a long haul trip.

thoughts and comments please.

I commented on the other thread too but, it's got pump rub. You can buy a new half housing for $150, and pump rub kit from merchant I believe. Or find a new transfer case, I believe any np241 will work. Pretty sure any 32 spline case out of any 4wd chev will work. Th400 or 4l80e, shouldn't be too hard to find a new TC.

 

But ya, check your fluid. Don't burn up that tranny! You got a gem there bud!