Any guys towing with a 1500 5 speed anymore?

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Moparmat2000

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Hey Blue Turd,

Have you run into your trans making a bit of noise in 5th gear with the core shifter installed? I just installed one on my 94 with a NV3500. It shifts thru the gears great, but in 5th it makes a fair bit of noise unless i hold the stick over to the right to quiet it down. Its like the detent spring is trying to pull it hard towards 3rd gear when its in fifth. Never had that issue with the awful shifting stock shifter.
 

Blue Turd

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Hey Blue Turd,

Have you run into your trans making a bit of noise in 5th gear with the core shifter installed? I just installed one on my 94 with a NV3500. It shifts thru the gears great, but in 5th it makes a fair bit of noise unless i hold the stick over to the right to quiet it down. Its like the detent spring is trying to pull it hard towards 3rd gear when its in fifth. Never had that issue with the awful shifting stock shifter.

I have like 20k on the Core shifter assembly, and no new noises compared to the stock assembly. Holds gears fine. I do occasionally put it in 5th when I meant to go to 3rd, as they are pretty close. That’s my mistake not the shifters [emoji3526].
 

Moparmat2000

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Maybe i need to open it up again and take a peek. I dunno. The plastic cup set right in the hole for the shifter rail inside. Everything went right in place. If something wasnt lined up then i imagine it wouldent go together, or even work for that matter.
 

Blue Turd

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Maybe i need to open it up again and take a peek. I dunno. The plastic cup set right in the hole for the shifter rail inside. Everything went right in place. If something wasnt lined up then i imagine it wouldent go together, or even work for that matter.

It’s been a while since I installed it, but I do remember putting some kind of lubricant on all of the joints inside of the shifter. Maybe something is sticking on you?
 

alpinecrick

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I think the 5 speed was rated to tow less than the automatic which makes no sense to me as the 4L60 is a POS.

Problem is, the NV3500 is a bigger POS...unfortunately. I've owned/own both.

I bought a 91 K2500LD with the NV3500 and 11K on the odometer. Replaced the transmission twice. First time under warranty. The problem with those trans is the top rail is not lubricated enough, and generally it is the 3-5 gears that frag. One of the "tricks" to keeping the top rail lubricated is to OVERFILL the case. I would pull the shifter from inside the cab and pour in an extra pint or as much as it could hold. The problem with that alleged solution is at highway speeds it would apparently puke out the extra pint though the breather tube and it would be back to under lubricating the top rail.

The rest of the truck was dang near flawless. Sold it with 285K on it and 5th gear was beginning to make noise......again.

Also, the NV3500 came with "road gears" that did not have a compound low, or the other version that did have the compound low. I have been told the NV3500's that had the compound low seemed to last longer, but nobody can tell me why. My 91 had the "road gears".
 
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Moparmat2000

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I want it with road gears. Most of my driving is freeway. Truck is 2wd. Has 155k on it. Trans has never been apart, never gave me one lick of trouble, never made this constant metallic rattle in 5th until i installed the shifter today. If i hold the shifter over to the right when in fifth gear the noise stops. The factory shifter other than the long assed sloppy throws, it never made this noise.
 

Kyle89

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I do with my 92 k1500 factory 5.7 nv4500 3.73 just had the rear end and trans rebuilt
 

alpinecrick

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I want it with road gears. Most of my driving is freeway. Truck is 2wd. Has 155k on it. Trans has never been apart, never gave me one lick of trouble, never made this constant metallic rattle in 5th until i installed the shifter today. If i hold the shifter over to the right when in fifth gear the noise stops. The factory shifter other than the long assed sloppy throws, it never made this noise.

It's good to hear that yours was reliable. The NV3500's have a reputation for a short lifespan. When I had mine replaced under warranty the mechanic drove it and we didn't get 200 yds down the road before he said "yep, we know all about it". Turned around and made an appointment to replace the trans. I replaced the second transmission myself at about 165k 'cause it was out of warranty by then. Both times they told me the trans had been "improved" to account for the lack of lubrication. Maybe the 3.08 gears keeps the RPM's low enough to help the lifespan of the trans. Like most GM pickups of that era sold in Colorado, mine had 3.73 gears.

I do recall, when the trans would start making noise (always it was 3 and 5 gear), and if I held the shift lever to one side or the other it would be a bit quieter. Not completely go away though. Obviously, your noise is unlikely to be from fragging a gear. Maybe a synchronizer going bad?

I grew up learning to drive 50's and 60's GM pickups and 1960's era International 2 1/2 ton and 3 ton ag trucks. Talk about long shifter throws....The shifter on my K2500LD shifted like a dream to me......:)
 

Moparmat2000

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Figured out the problem. The core shifter has waaay too much spring tension. I went to pull out the springs thinking i could maybe get lighter duty ones. Well there is a spring inside a spring on either side on this setup. I pulled out the heavier duty outer springs, leaving the lighter duty inner springs. With shifter in soft jaws in my vise, i bolted the lever and knob back on. Side to side spring tension was slightly lighter than stock, which i chucked up in the vise as well. This is not an issue for me. I temp installed the shifter with no sealant or a boot just to check. I like it even more with the short throws and light spring tension, the bonus no noise in 5th gear.

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Moparmat2000

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Chris from core said not to run just the inner springs. I told him the light springs keeps shifter tension about what stock is and the constant what sounds like a shifter fork riding on a synchro hub has gone completely away by eliminating the heavier springs.

Gonna see if i can work something out with him. He seems to think somethings wrong with the trans or maybe the parts i was sent are wrong for the trans. All the measurements i was given are correct. The shifter is correctly installed. And the trans never made the racket it made in 5th gear until i installed this shifter.

Got an issue with something, always go back to the last thing you did. Last thing i did was install a shifter. Too much tension in 5th making noise having to hold handle to the right to get it to stop. Sounds like the tension on the shifters springs is too high. Remove the high tension springs leaving the low tension springs, shifter feels way better, and noise in 5th gear goes away. As far as i am concerned there is nothing wrong with my transmission. However had i not taken the heavier springs out of the shifter then i feel eventually there would be something wrong with the trans.
 
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