ellerman

If you want a dedicated tow vehicle I'd get a NV5600, if you want anything else I'd keep your build auto. My truck has the 5600 and after almost 6 years of ownership I hate driving it on a daily basis. I live in SoCal so I probably have more stop and go than most but it gets pretty annoying how slow my truck is if you drive it normally. If I drive around with a lead foot I get crappy mileage and it seems like I'm just driving normal traffic speed but working a lot harder because of all the shifting. I leave from a stop in 1st and am in 3rd by the time I get to the other side of an intersection. The thing I do like is that when my 18k 5ver is hooked up I'm not worried about my tranny being my weak link. Currently, I have around 180,000 miles on it and it works fine but it is a slow shifting notchy manual. When it gets real bad I just drain and refill it with Redline MTL and it's happy again.

Tate

Well there's your problem. Leave in second atleast, I hear some of the 6 spd guys even leave in 3rd.

ellerman

If I leave in 2nd the clutch is ******, it jitters a bunch. With the stock clutch I always left in second, it was smooth and no issue but when I went to the Southbend it's just to grabby to start in 2nd all the time.

nkennedy

ellerman has it right on the 6 speed. I leave in first to save on the clutch. Towing is this transmissions claim to fame. with it and an exhaust brake it's a towing beast. Sucks in traffic though if your in a hurry. I don't drive in much traffic, and it's not my everyday driver either.

dieselfuelonly

Mine is the exact same way, which clutch do you have? I have the 0090 one good for 700ft/lbs.

Even in first the truck will shudder a bit when I take off.

Other than that the clutch has been great though.

Anyway, I did the 47RE -> NV4500 conversion on my truck. I've been really happy with it. The truck that the NV4500 came out of had 293,000 miles on it and I've put about 10-15k on it and have had zero issues with the transmission. I don't know if any work was ever done on the transmission while in the original truck, but to be honest I doubt it. All I did was change the fluid and put the new clutch in.

If you want to go fast the 5spd is not good for that. From 35MPH up it sure is fun though - I don't like to romp on it in 5th gear though because I'm not sure (and highly doubt) the 5th gear fix has ever been done on the transmission.

Bersaglieri

See my thing is, if I don't swap to this NV5600 I need to get looser converter and matching valve body. Due to the 3.54's and 35" tires and 5000ft of altitude, the converter I have is too tight. It's more of a race converter than for towing. So towing heavy loads over 10k becomes a bit of a battle. I have a 40ft gooseneck and I've put it up for sale trying to get a smaller one that the truck can handle better. So doing the swap would actually save me $1500-1700 dollars. The guy who wants to swap wants a drag race setup, which mine would be perfect for him.

I don't tow all the time but I do have a quick camaro that I take to the track. It's more a of a DD truck that pulls work duty, etc. I've never taken it to the strip but I have beaten a few "fast cars" that guys have at work.

Is basically comes down to fast vs towing. Although reading about these rebuilds on truck with over 500hp makes me worry. I should be close to 500 now, hell I pull 70psi outta these twins.

-Dustin-