i had the same trouble in my 98 it ended up being my synchros. it would hang in fith and id have to take the shifter off and use a pry bar to pop it out. until i got it to the shop for bout the 8th time that month!!!

 

something to remember with the synchros, is that they will work either way. but will cause problems if installed backwards by someone stupid enough to do so. if it's hanging up in 5th, i'd pull the transfer case and look at it go while it's stuck. you should make sure that the detents on the 5th gear synchro are correct and not binded like mentioned above. after observing everything and making sure everything looks ok, i'd remove 5th gear. and check to make sure the synchros are correctly installed and check 5th gear bearing. if you problem is only with 5th then you should be able to fix it without dropping the tranny. everything is excessable from the tail housing. hope that helps... just rebuilt mine and everythings workng so far

 

LOL I already pulled the trans out and had it in the floor before this happened... I thought it was the famous main shaft problem, and read on a few sites it happened to both Dodge and GM NV4500's, not realizing it doesn't apply to the 2wd GM NV4500. So I've got it on a trans stand in the garage, everything is quite accessible.

If I install the synchro ring backwards, with all three shift struts in place, it shifts fine. (backwards being with the tapered side facing the output, and the flat side facing forward). That's the only thing I can see you can install backwards.

The shift struts are a bit gnarled up, so I've ordered some new ones, hoping they will help. Josh, you running a GM version or a Dodge version? (I know i'm in the dodge forum, but this was the last place I seen a post about this)

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

Mine you couldn't pop with a prybar.

(I'm not being an *** here, just trying to determine exactly what you're talking about)
when you say "synchros" do you mean the little square spring loaded pieces, the synchro "slider" ring, or the brass synchronizer gear?

 

i have a dodge nv4500. the synchros are the gold colored pieces throughout the transmission. the square pieces on the "slider" are considered the detents. i would check and make sure their in good working condition and properly installed, the synchros locking up could very well be your problem. as you can tell, not much mechanically that could go wrong with 5th, so look it over good. it's gotta show signs somewhere of whats wrong. you could you tell at all once dismantled and opened up what the cause of the hang up was?

 

Sorry for the delay yes he stood behind his work. It was the detends he said one was broke in half. He said he'd never seen it before. I dont know what would have caused it i don't shift hard or nothin.. If i'm thinkin right to check the fith gear you don't have to pull the tranny you can just pull the tail housing off.. with mine however.. they had to tear it compleatly down to find the spring and pieces of the detends...

 

put new springs and new struts (square pieces) in it, shifts fine and much more firm. Makes me want to replace all the springs and struts in all of the gears. The springs old springs were much shorter than the new ones, and the struts were worn as well. Hopefully this will fix is. Coated it all in grease, rtv'ed it up and put it back in. Gotta get some oil for it, some new shift tower bolts, and new yoke bolts and I'm back on the road.