NV4500 4X4 Need help, broke down on the side of the road.

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

GoToGuy

I'm Awesome
Joined
Sep 16, 2020
Messages
2,934
Reaction score
3,409
Location
CAL
You couldn't find your post under your acct', ... Something in the forum? Loose nut maybe? Place trans in first gear engage the clutch? Drive shaft turns, driveshaft vibrates does not turn? Clutch engage grinding noise, trans in nuetral? Shuddering in what context? I've only used it in as " when in drive the truck at idle, brake off, it would shudder forward in small accelerations"
 

dwragon

OBS Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
97
Reaction score
60
Location
hell michigan
You couldn't find your post under your acct', ... Something in the forum? Loose nut maybe? Place trans in first gear engage the clutch? Drive shaft turns, driveshaft vibrates does not turn? Clutch engage grinding noise, trans in nuetral? Shuddering in what context? I've only used it in as " when in drive the truck at idle, brake off, it would shudder forward in small accelerations"
A loose nut is at least doing something by being there, much easier than an airbag bag the wheel, that explodes without reason.... but some people have awsomely over inflated opinions of themselves.

No, the most recent posts don't pull automatically, and the format is different between laptop and cellphone. I use cell phone outside the house, laptop inside.

The problem is at the 4WD unit, from the sound. Shuddered when movement stopped, pulled in all gears in compound / granny gear +4WD low until small hill resistance.Hoping it's not the NV 4500 output shaft splines. Will find out in about 2 hours.
 
Last edited:

dwragon

OBS Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
97
Reaction score
60
Location
hell michigan
Ok, I pulled the original 4WD unit from the NV4500 which was still in the truck to replace it with another unit I had, then realized that the other unit had been leaking (Black single wire hole) so I decided not to use it. On visual and touch examination of the output shaft of the NV4500, I could see and feel that the splines were worn down in a sine wave pattern. The original 4WD unit input shaft hole had the same, but the pattern was waves.

As nothing was really broken, I decided to shim the splines with two pieces of steel from two "tin" cans. I cut the first about 3/4 of the depth of the 4WD input shaft hole, and the second I cut just a little shorter than the depth, then flared it so the input shaft would go into it. I then aligned the cuts to 180 degrees and got the 4WD unit into position, held with a floor jack and the torsion bar suspension alignment bracket.

I then used one floor jack to lower and raise the engine and transmission and a second jack to lower and raise the transfer case, while I used to comalongs to press the output shaft into the input shaft hole making adjustments to obtain proper alignment by comparing the square of the mating surfaces to each other. After the cases were close enough I aligned the bolt holes and threaded the bolts into the transfer case. After there was sufficient threading I removed the comealongs and used the six bolts in a star pattern to pull the cases together. I then checked to see if anything had locked up or felt different from when I first started this and everything felt the same, not even any stiffness to indicate that I had jammed something.

That was as far as I got today, as it became to dark and cold to work, I will put in the transmission mount and bracket and the driveshaft tomorrow for a test drive, but I think it will be ok.

I dont plan on using this truck to tow anything off of my farm, so if it breaks down doing that again I havn't lost anything, and will put in a spare 4WD transmission that I have, but for now I am confident that I can drive it like a regular vehicle.

While I realize that this "fix" may not last forever, it gives me time to work on other vehicles.
 

dwragon

OBS Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
97
Reaction score
60
Location
hell michigan
Schurkey, you were close, thanks for the pointers, I would probably never really looked close at the splines, I have never seen any go bad before, I would just have presumed worn gears in the trans or transfer. Hopefully my "Fix" will hepl someone else get by.
 

dwragon

OBS Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
97
Reaction score
60
Location
hell michigan
If the male and female splines are that worn...



...where did all the wear particles go?
Well, I am friends with the two previous owners, the guy who sold the truck because it quit pulling,(I didn't know him at the time I bought the truck.) and the guy I bought it from for $500.

I didn't know that the guy I bought it from had replaced the transfer case, cleaning out the transfer case input tube. He sold it to me because the fuel tank has rusted out from sitting and would leak out fuel overnight. I never planned on using the truck, I bought it for the transmission because of the double granny gear for pulling and later I decided to use it after it sat in my field for five years.

I also cleaned both output and input, what was there looked like minute silver dust in oil, as I had put extra Synchromesh in the transmission.

As to how long it will work, no one can tell, but it is pressed together, it was not a loose slip fit. We all see motor pulleys every day that have a 3 thousandths undersize press fit, and they hold under extreme torque.

I did what I did because it gave me more use out of something that would have been junk anyway. Maybe my sharing how I did it will help someone else in the same situation. Would you rather be broke down at home or be able to drive to get a replacement transmission?I personally don't like having to depend on other people in that situation.
 
Last edited:

dwragon

OBS Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
97
Reaction score
60
Location
hell michigan
If this was mine - 1st thing that I'd do would be to hook it up to the heaviest trailer I had, and yank it hard. See if it is a worthy fix.
I drove it over a hundred miles today, to get the flywheel turned for my other truck that I use for pulling, a 1994 GMC 3500 4X4. It is serving its purpose, to get me where I need to be to get other stuff fixed, so to me its a worthy fix. To intentionally try to break the fix would be stupid. And I would never just hook up to the heaviest trailer I have with this truck and try to pull it. The heaviest trailer I have is a 1968 40 ft. Fruehauf with 40,000# of classic Chevy engines, transmissions and other parts for restorations in it to the ceiling.
 
Top