96 ram,318 5 speed "nv 3500" 2wd. the trans makes a knocking sound when the clutch is out,however you push the clutch in,it goes away. heard it could possibly be the throwout bearing,however im thinking its something in the trans. because when you let out the clutch in 1st gear,you can feel a surging coming through the trans.

 

Noise present in any other gears while driving? Could be input bearing or countershaft bearings. Curious, what fluid are you using?

 

i havent driven it far enough to tell,only moved it around in 1st gear,but im pretty sure its the same because i have put it in to other gears,and let out on the clutch,same noise.
the input can be changed without opening the trans up right? might just take it out,and replace that,and the throwout bearing and see what happens???

i used i think synchromesh the last time i replaced the fluid. however i had sold it to a friend of mine,and im not sure if he put something else in it.... i just bought it back because he didnt want to mess with the tranny replacement.

 

Grab the 96 service manual from the faq section here, read thru the section on your trans, and take it from there. You should be able to figger out from that if you can just replace those parts, or, if you have to tear the whole thing down.

Good time for an NV4500 upgrade? (Yes, I get paid extra to be a bad influence.)

 

It would appear the input bearing is replaceable without splitting the trans but I'm not 100% on that.

So you put into various gears and let out on the clutch, as in slipping it and not moving? If so, the input shaft isn't being spun, so that means it's throwout bearing related.

 

i double checked that today. put it in second, and let out on the clutch, i didnt get any noise until it started to move... so, im guessing its in the trans again.... it would be nice if it was simply an input bearing. but how would i know that aside from taking it out and checking the play in the input shaft???

 

also, forgot to mention. i checked with getting a rebuilt trans from a place in florida. they rebuild both the 3500 and the 4500 versions. if i was to replace this with the 4500 version, whats else would i need to change? are the clutch's/flywheel's the same? driveshaft length? shifter location? hydralic's for the slave cylinder? i tried to find some kind of a write up,but being a 2wd model, not really all that much on it. thanks alot.

 

Things that would need to be checked:

Input/output shaft diameters, and spline counts.

Overall length. (I think the 4500 is a bit longer?)

I also think the NV4500 trans is actually separate from the bellhousing, where the 3500 is all one piece? (so, if you went with the 4500, you would need the bellhousing and associated parts as well.)

Couple different versions of the 4500 as well. LD for the gassers, and HD for the diesels. (and v-10s?)

Call the company, ask 'em. They should be able to tell you everything you want to know.