hello all and good morning! I have a 03 ram 2500 5.7 hemi long box. I love this truck and got a KILLER deal on it but it has some issues... my first order of business was replacing the front end components and putting a stiffler up front to replace the dreaded death wobble which was a success. the second issue I'm having is with the tranny. it's the nv4500 5 speed. it's a bit of a bear to get into first sometimes other times it goes right in. second is fine but my main concern is in third.. it grinds going in unless I let the rpms drop (sometimes this works sometimes not) and grinds Everytime when downshifting into third. fourth and fifth work flawlessly as well as reverse. another note I should add is that third and fourth gear have a considerable amount of slop in them compared to all the other gears( shifter has a lot of side to side play when in those two gears). it does not pop out of gear or anything though. I have checked the hydrolic system and it all checks out clutch is two months old . any help would be appreciated. and my final complaint is the rusty rockers and bed. does anyone know where I can locate a quality rocker panel and bed sides if not a whole bed? also I have recently been hearing about this panel bond glue vs welding any ideas on pros vs cons?. I'm pretty mechanically inclined so I'd like to do this work myself. can Is a regular cab to note. sorry for the rambling and any help is appreciated.

 

How many miles on it? Sounds like the trans is in need of a rebuild...... Worn synchros and such.

 

good morning and thank you for the reply. it just turned over 150000

 

I think check fluid level in the trans first, and if it's up to where it should be, start lookin' for another one.

 

thank you also I read somewhere to check where the shift lever plate bolts on to the top of the tranny and make sure it's not loose? have off due to weather today so I'm going to dismantle and check everything I can lol

 

* nice update* well not so nice..... but I tore the console out and boots off the shifter.... and where the shifter stick mounts to the transmission (four bolts) is extremely loose I would say at least a quarter in of play if not more... bolts threaded out by hand and took only two turns. also it must be low on fluid due to the whole top of the tranny being soaked... any advice is appreciated.

 

Clean it up real good, fill the trans to where it should be, (having that big hole in the top makes it easier. ) Seal it back up, and put some blue locktite on the bolts. Torque to whatever spec. (I don't know the spec.....)

 

that's the plan,I also pulled the pro covers to have a look and from what I can see everything looks good no teeth missing or synchros (from what I can see) the oil was not dirty at all(what little bit was left in the bottom) as I took some rags and wiped inside the tranny out. so with any luck that was the issue... I bolted it up real quick and it is SOOOO much tighter. now to take it back off fill it and loctite it . I appreciate all the help