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NV4500 questions???

KingDuramax

KingDuramax

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A friend is looking to buy a 5 speed overdrive for his panel truck. He found a used New Venture 4500 for a reasonable price but it's out of the vehicle. It's an early NV4500 because it does not have syncromesh on the reverse gear. It came out of a tow vehicle and comes with a PTO but who knows how many miles on it. He checked out the parts prices for a re-build and the parts are very expensive and should it need a re-build it's gonna be very expensive. $1200.00 exchange plus freight both ways.

My question is:

Does anyone here have any experience with an early NV4500?
 
No, but you can send it down to me for further inspection. Within a year I should be able to tell you everthing about it:wink1: .
 
The early 4500's had a lot of trouble with 5th gear.If it has a PTO on it there will probably be some damage inside since very few people know how to properly engage one.
 
The 92-95 GM cases have the desirable low gearsets. Yep, rebuilds are expensive. $1000 in labor and parts on mine when it went.
 
I thought it was the later NV4500s that had 5th gear problems?

Either way, they are very tough transmissions, but pull the PTO off and check out the gearset.

They are worth about 1200 in used, but workable condition.
 
SierraClassic said:
I thought it was the later NV4500s that had 5th gear problems?

Either way, they are very tough transmissions, but pull the PTO off and check out the gearset.

They are worth about 1200 in used, but workable condition.
Click to expand...

us 1200 or canada 1200?

remaned on ebay all the time for 1200 us. and local parts store about the same price as to ebay with shipping.
 
5th gear is pretty much a Dodge only problem...

Rene
 
rene is right dodge only and most modern pto's are constant mesh with the trans and the shifting is between pto gears
no synchro on rev isnt a problem 465's move a sliding gear not just a little collar and nobody complains about that !
if you can build a 465 you can build a nv4500 they are actually easier
 
tRustyK5 said:
5th gear is pretty much a Dodge only problem...

Rene
Click to expand...
Currently still MY problem........ back ordered updated nut from Peirs Diesel.... but the 13" dual disk ceramic will help a bunch, and the 1 3/8" input shaft upgrade ;) short shift kit will be nice too.......nv4500 is good but a couple things make them nicer.......


98.5 2500 QC NV4500 NP241HD 3.55's D60D80 35" BFG M/Ts H2 rims

BHAF, Smarty ECM, II HRVP44, Mech FP guage, relocate LP w/1/2" line, 2" coil spacers, Solid Steel DSS & 3rd Gen trackbar conversion, 4" MBRP turbo back

enroute from Peirs.............
13" SBC DD 3600 6CB W/ 1 3/8" input upgrade for 4500
short shift kit
update OD nut-- 5th is currently a problem in my truck
P7100 conversion-- 913 pump, cover and gear purchsed. working on rest of parts
twins-- someday later
 
darryl said:
rene is right dodge only and most modern pto's are constant mesh with the trans and the shifting is between pto gears
no synchro on rev isnt a problem 465's move a sliding gear not just a little collar and nobody complains about that !
if you can build a 465 you can build a nv4500 they are actually easier
Click to expand...

I haven't done a rebuild on a 465, but the NV4500 I did was mostly straightforward and didn't involve a ton of special tools. My biggest problem was I took it all apart 5 years previous to putting it back together...:doah:

The only prob I have with mine is I re-used the 2-3 synchro because it looked great still. Looked great, but wasn't. The shift into 3rd I have to baby it a little...:mad:

Other than that it's a very smooth shifting tranny and I can grab the gears at least twice as fast as with the old SM 465.

Rene
 
i have never seen the setscrew type of nut from dodge come off
3053a spicer's are old technology and the 4500 swap is pretty easy with a decent amount of used stuff out there
the added plus of the 4500 is full synchro in all forward gears and easy adapatability to t/cases
 
Pretty common problem Darryl! Fortunately, when the 5th gear nut comes off, you just loose 5th, there is no catastrophic failure. Just gotta replace the mainshaft with an updated peice that has a better locking system on the nut.

Where are you finding all these NV4500s around here? I've only come across two, and I'll be paying about 1500 for one of em...
 
i said decent amount not laying around everywhere ! actually today i found 5 early gm cores and 1 decent used 4500 i stand by what i said i have never seen a gm 4500 lose the nut and if the shaft is excellent and you use a dodge setscrew nut and new od gear you will not lose that nut either on dodges if the shaft and gear are worn nothing will keep the nut on
i have seen 1 of the split ring mainshafts break at the retention ring groove under massive power and huge loads
 
The GM version doesn't loose the nut because of the damper between 5th gear and the nut itself. The problem is created with lot's of input torque and a heavy load behind the truck. The transition between on the throttle and off the throttle causes the 5th gear to 'fret' on the mainshaft. The engagement of 5th gear to the mainshaft isn't fully splined...and eventually as it slowly wears it's able to actually rock back and forth. The gear itself is fully splined, but only half of the depth of that gear has matching splines on the shaft. This rocking motion against the nut causes the nut to loosen.

The Dodge version has no damper between the gear and nut, plus it's often behind a Cummins and most of those truck do see heavy loads behind em. The Dodge's do have a problem with nuts backing off and losing 5th gear.

It really is the only poorly designed part of the NV4500 IMO, but only a big issue if you have a ton of input torque and tow really heavy stuff. Anectdotally, the majority of guys that have had 5th gear failures admit to towing more than recomended and have modified the 6BT's for a lot more power. In stock form the NV4500 does perform within it's design parameters. Don't forget that the NV4500 was never designed to deal with more than 450 lb/ft of input torque...how many 6BT's put out under 450 lb/ft at the crank? Even the 6.5 TD puts out more than 450 lb/ft at the crank...

Rene
 
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