5-speed options

[BUDDY]

Nowadays there area couple of options to do 5-speed conversion. The toughest & probably most popular is the NV4500 from a 1992+ chevy or GMC pick-up. You can usually find these behind diesels or bigblocks & the 92-96 versions have a 6.34:1 low range most of the time. (the rest of the time they have a 5.6?:1 low range) These are some heavy duty transmissions but they are somewhat expensive - $1000-$2500 for the swap. They have a PTO output on both sides of the cast iron case and an O/D 5th gear.

A great transmission/transfercase combo is the NV4500 with a doubler adapter for a NP203 low-range box then mated to the NP205 for awesome low-range capabilities & a highway friendly O/D of .7:1.

Couple of issues regarding the swap that I know about. First of all, they only came with a hyd clutch. "So what, I wanna upgrade to a hyd clutch anyway." The problem is that the slave cylinder for the clutch is on the passenger side about exactly where the driveshaft would go. Not as much of a problem in 2WD, but my truck is 4WD, so it's a problem for me. The fix is to get the entire trans/case combo from one of these trucks & put it in. Which presents another problem, driver's side pumpkin, so now you need a driver's drop front axle. It's just a couple thou more c'mon!!

another option is to get an adapter kit from advance adapters, (this is the whole adapter kit for a 27 spline (mated to a th350 trans) np205) I think. Again a little pricey, but it's just money.

I've also heard that you can get a 2WD NV4500 & use all factory parts. See here

Beyond that, there was the Clark 5-speed that was used on our trucks from the factory, (at least the 1-tons). Or you could go with an Allison from behind a Duramax or BBC from a late model.

FWIW,