CK5
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'86 K30 Crew Cab Build

I should have my trans back next week. I had a local shop take a look and they are telling me the 3rd gear shift collar is the bad apple.

In the mean time i’ve been fixing little nagging things over the past couple weeks.

Pulled the intake and resealed it.

Fixed a leaking heater hose fitting on the radiator and got a new overflow can.

Rewired my windstar fans with separate switches to trigger them, one at 180 one at 195. Also added a manual switch in the cab to turn them on.

Replaced a broken speedo cable.

Cleaned up some wiring in the engine bay.

Cut the passenger header and moved the collector flange forward 3” to get some clearance at the shackle. Also welded a patch over a hole on one of the tubes on that header. Due for some new ones. I’m going to redo the exhaust later this year to a single 3” down the drivers side. This just kicked that can down the road a few months.
FCF8CFA2-8911-4E3D-B1D3-3518158AAD93.jpeg

Swapped the huge towing mirrors to a smaller set i had kicking around. Used 1/4-20 Nutzerts to mount the new mirrors, still need to patch the doors where the old mirrors were, the holes are all cracked and wallowed out.
A6A43F60-0534-4648-88A0-B3D3B7204404.jpeg

Somehow my brand new pilot bushing lost its press fit and dropped right out of the crank? It pressed in really tight when i installed it, that’s a new one for me. I’m going to turn the new one down for a .001” press fit, it would be a .006” press as supplied. It is a National Brand I got from Oreilly’s. Gonna tackle that one tomorrow.
 
How does a pilot bushing fall out? Half the time can’t get em out to change them.
:haha:
 
How does a pilot bushing fall out? Half the time can’t get em out to change them.
:haha:
I’m a little baffled by this one too? I guess the trans having a 3rd gear issue may have been a silver lining. Weird one for sure.
 
The other thing that odd , is it seems these 4500s lose 5th.
I always thought it would be 3rd since it’s the most commonly used gear
:dunno:
 
The other thing that odd , is it seems these 4500s lose 5th.
I always thought it would be 3rd since it’s the most commonly used gear
:dunno:
The actual gears in my trans are all in good shape, this one just wouldn’t stay in 3rd, allegedly from a worn shift collar. I’ll find out for sure next week when i put it back in. Internet searches reveal all kinds of problems with 3rd gear too, but not much real info on what caused it or how it was fixed. I think most just swap in a new remanned unit (which i should have done) or have a full rebuild done, I just did bearings and synchro first time around. The 5th gear failure is a common issue just like you say. I think the NV4500 is not nearly as bulletproof as the SM465. I hope mine is good to go for years now and the OD will be nice enough to justify the fiasco of an install.
 
5th year is definitely worth the hassle. And as much as this pains me to say the NV4500 shifts much nicer, but still crappy compared to a ZF
 
5th year is definitely worth the hassle. And as much as this pains me to say the NV4500 shifts much nicer, but still crappy compared to a ZF
I’m excited to get it done, and no matter what it will shift better than the sm465. My 465 was/is a relatively good shifting one too. The little I did get to drive it the OD was great, 900ish RPM drop going into 5th. Makes my 5.13 gearing just right for my 37’s across the board.
 
man I'm about to set all of my drivetrain in my project truck frame and I tore the damn top off my NV4500 today and inspected CLOSELY. I will not be doing what you had to do. Get it all in, bolted up and then back out....screw that noise. HA! I'm a manual guy, the NV shifts out so well with good synthetic fluid it's really insane. For me 4 speeds are always 5 speeds waiting to happen. The only good about the 4 speed is shifting into reverse with your girlfriend in the middle on a bench seat. Oops! Oh baby, I'm sorry...my hand just slipped off this old slick shift knob right onto your inner thigh. My bad....LMAO
 
man I'm about to set all of my drivetrain in my project truck frame and I tore the damn top off my NV4500 today and inspected CLOSELY. I will not be doing what you had to do. Get it all in, bolted up and then back out....screw that noise. HA! I'm a manual guy, the NV shifts out so well with good synthetic fluid it's really insane. For me 4 speeds are always 5 speeds waiting to happen. The only good about the 4 speed is shifting into reverse with your girlfriend in the middle on a bench seat. Oops! Oh baby, I'm sorry...my hand just slipped off this old slick shift knob right onto your inner thigh. My bad....LMAO
Yeah this has been a problem child. I hope I have it sorted now. Swapping it in/out/in is not all that fun. Yours is looking good, Dropping it all in from above with the cab off sounds like a great way to go. Honestly pulling it the second time wasn’t all that painful but i’d rather have spent that time fixing something else. I had a sweet 1968 Camaro in High school and my girlfriend (now my wife) used to sit on the tunnel between the buckets just to cuddle up to me. The bench seat is way better for that.
 
Got my trans back from the shop and stabbed it back in tonight. I only went for a short drive, but it has all the gears now! It is a little noisy. That is new, it is making a ticking sound that moves with engine speed. It does it in Gear and in Neutral, Really hoping that isn’t a problem, I’m paranoid about everything to do with it now. I’m going to log a few miles on it and see what happens. It does shift nice.

I patched my tunnel with some sheet metal and and got the shift boots installed. The tunnel turned out OK, I only had .030 wire, but the tack tack tack method worked. The bedliner I’m going to put down on the floor will finish it out nicely.

The ORD twin stick most definitely did not fit through the original shifter cutout.

I am using a universal round Mr. Gasket shift boot fot the trans shifter.

708EB78B-FA1A-4524-91E2-520989B72677.jpeg
Here’s the almost finished product.
D2D4308C-43BD-48C5-A914-28493605CCBB.jpeg
 
New stuff is hard on the nerves. Is that a new noise? Is that normal? Is it working okay?
 
New stuff is hard on the nerves. Is that a new noise? Is that normal? Is it working okay?
Yeah new noise, It might be normal? but it is new. I took my trans to a local shop and had them go through it. they replaced a few parts and reshimmed it for backlash. I’ll go talk to them on Monday and see, I’m just really gun shy with this now.
 
That first start up thing isn’t my favorite. Hopefully the ticking noise isn’t serious, maybe throw out bearing or clutch gear bearing?

I had to open up the factory t case shifter hole by a little more than an inch on one side. Ended up modifying the shifter boot plate some.
 
Got my trans back from the shop and stabbed it back in tonight. I only went for a short drive, but it has all the gears now! It is a little noisy. That is new, it is making a ticking sound that moves with engine speed. It does it in Gear and in Neutral, Really hoping that isn’t a problem, I’m paranoid about everything to do with it now. I’m going to log a few miles on it and see what happens. It does shift nice.

I patched my tunnel with some sheet metal and and got the shift boots installed. The tunnel turned out OK, I only had .030 wire, but the tack tack tack method worked. The bedliner I’m going to put down on the floor will finish it out nicely.

The ORD twin stick most definitely did not fit through the original shifter cutout.

I am using a universal round Mr. Gasket shift boot fot the trans shifter.

View attachment 265272
Here’s the almost finished product.
View attachment 265273

Need to get you a chunk of brass to use for welding thin stuff like that. I try to keep a round chunk about 1/8 thick handy. Just clamp it on the back of your piece and those tacks won't push through. That is frustrating as hell for sure.
 
Need to get you a chunk of brass to use for welding thin stuff like that. I try to keep a round chunk about 1/8 thick handy. Just clamp it on the back of your piece and those tacks won't push through. That is frustrating as hell for sure.
I will try that, I still need to weld shut some old screw holes in that cover, but it is so thin I didn’t even try. It would have made a mess.
 
Your noise sounds very similar to mine I'm still tracking down. Is it a bit of a inconsistent ticking? Faint at idle and as the rpms go up it gets a little bit louder?

I'm still trying to track mine down...but I'm starting to wonder if mine is more of a lifter tick as it really seems to be coming from the driver side header. At first I thought it was the throw-out bearing, but still haven't found it. I've put a few miles on though and nothing seems to be affecting drivability. Let me know if you track your noise down
 
I will try that, I still need to weld shut some old screw holes in that cover, but it is so thin I didn’t even try. It would have made a mess.
Another thing I used to do for small little holes is put a steel rivet in the hole and tack that up. Then just grind off the back of the rivet. Leaves a nice little bubble of steel. Grind it back down smooth and you never knew it was there.
 

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