yosemitesm

I finally got the NV4500 installed, and I thought I'd post up some things I learned.

First off, I'd like to thank the guys who answered questions I had. As for what I learned......

The lower half of the trans mount, the 3/8" thick plate that bolts to the rubber mounts on the crossmember, had to be modified to keep the rear section of the trans from resting on it. I cut a section about 1" deep by 6" wide. The two long slots in the mount were then open at one end, so I used the piece I had cut out to fill them. The bolt holes in the mount supplied by Drivetrain Specialists didn't match the factory location, I relocated the ones in the lower mount.

The t-case shifter mounting bracket is a LOT easier to bolt on before the trans is installed... FYI . It mounts on the t-case studs....that might be obvious to people experienced with first gens, but for a newbie like me, I had to think about it a bit. Also, the slot in the floorpan for the t-case shifter needs to be lengthened towards the rear of the cab. I estimate about 2", just got the truck running yesterday and haven't done that yet. T-case can't be shifted into 4 high 'til this is done. And of course the floorpan has to be opened up about 8" to the rear to clear the trans shifter, but that's pretty common knowledge.

On the good side, the clutch fork from the Getrag dropped right in, the fork boot and the slave cylinder mounted up with no problems.


Lube.....seen lots of discussion about that on here. Being as GM used this trans, and I'm about 5 minutes from Westfall GMC in KC, I went there and asked a service advisor (NOT the parts counter guy) what they put in when they serviced them. I believe the GM product name is Syncromesh. I see that a lot of guys use Castrol, but that stuff is a pain to get by the quart. I bought the GM stuff for $8 and change per quart.... they have to warranty their work, so I figure their lube has to be acceptable quality. Trans as delivered is apparently set up for GM application with a seal in the tailshaft housing, thanks again for the info to remove it so the coupler to the t-case would fit.

Got good customer service from DTS. They had issue with their wholesaler shipping the trans to the wrong place, but corrected it quickly. I have yet to hear if they gave me core credit, but they did say 4 to 6 weeks.


The price seemed fair, but some mods are required, and DTS doesn't mention any of them except the trans shifter hole location.


P.S. Anybody have any use for a Getrag bellhousing????

mikmaze

sounds like ya got it figured out, good job, now for the bellhousing, I bet it would make a decent shop sink, plumb the hole for the drain! other than that dunno what to do with it, let us know how she drives when ya get a chance too, any mileage gains & what not.

RBergman

so did you a kit from some one or did you
convert it using the 94-up engine to rans adapter?

i will be doing this over the next weeks

that seems like a huge hole you need to make
for the transfter case shifter ?

Trebor

I also did a "kit" replacement of my Getrag 360 a little over a year ago but mine came from another company. I had the same issues with the transmission touching the mount. I took a short cut and used two steel flat washers as shims on each side to solve the clearance problem. My particular kit actually came from two different sources. The adapter/replacement bellhousing, transfer shifter mount, pilot bushing, and the 2 inch piece of square tubing were drop shipped from Advance Adapters. The NV4500 manual that came with the kit states the correct transmission oil is Dodge/Chrysler part number 4874459 (quart) or General Motors part number 12346190 (quart) which can be used in place of Castrol Syntech.
I also fabricated a removable rectangular plate to match the new hole in the floor that is required when moving the shifter rearward. It was a fair amount of work but not really that difficult to do.

yosemitesm

RBergman.....I went from the edges of the orginal hole in the floorpan and cut straight back about 8" on either side. I don't know what the original procedure was to remove the Getrag, it looked like there wasn't enough room up top to pull the shifter out of the trans. And the shifter would have had to come out.....the original hole was big enough for the shifter, but not big enough to let the trans slide back. This made removal of the Getrag MUCH easier, and you'll have to do it anyway for the 4500.

I'm going to shape some fairly thin sheet metal stock to fit the enlarged hole. IMO that's how it should have been done originally, but since the engineers weren't concerned about ease of mainentance, they just punched a hole in the floor panel. Since they were dropping the body onto a complete frame w/drivetrain, it didn't pose any problem for them.


The kit I got was from Drivetrain Specialists.

http://www.drivetrain.com/

The kit included the NV4500 with bellhousing, rear mount, t-case shifter mount, and the input shaft bushing. As for the hole in the floor for the t-case shifter, I have yet to do that. It looks like it need 2, maybe 3 inches more rearward travel due the relocation of the shifter mount, but the hole only needs to be lengthened, not widened.

Good luck...