Just picked up a new-to-me '03 2500, 5.9L CTD with a NV5600 6 speed transmission. Since I don't have the exact details on the fluids throughout the truck, I'm changing everything just to be safe.

I took all the bolts out of the PTO cover and that sucker is rust-welded on there and it's not coming off. I hammered on it for about 20 minutes with no success. I don't think the PTO covers on either side have ever been off this truck (158k miles). I really want to pull the PTO cover so I can clean out the crap at the bottom of the transmission and get a peek inside to see how things are looking.

Right now it's soaking in PB blaster over night...we'll see what happens tomorrow. I guess I could whip out the propane torch, but I'll leave that as a last resort. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

New guy here, first diesel, and my first post here. I'm not new to wrenching on cars, but I am new to heavy duty trucks. I've been lurking here for awhile and a number of posts here have helped me get up to speed on my truck. I'm doing a 6qt fill with Pennzoil Synchromesh and I'm pulling off the shift assembly to fill it up.

 

Get a good scraper and hammer it in between the plate and tranny!

 

Just an update...

Soaking overnight in PB blaster did the trick. I then used a very thin, tiny screwdriver and hammered the hell out of the plate. This did the trick for both sides. After inspection, I'm fairly certain that neither of the PTO plates have ever been off the transmission. The magnet and sludge at the bottom of the pan was also insane. The magnet was completely covered in shavings, as was the entire bottom of the transmission. I spent 30 minutes using a magnet-pen jabbing around in there picking up additional shavings.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in there, so we'll see how she holds up now with some new fluid. The shifting was a bit difficult going from 2nd to 3rd, so hopefully the cleaning and new fluids will help a bit.

Also...just curious...I had a TON of brass shavings up in the shifter joint assembly (not sure of the technical term here...but the cup joint where the shifter handle end actuates the gears)...it had a ton of brass shavings in there. Is that normal?

 

Not Normal sounds like your syncro's are worn out new fluid won't help need to do a rebuild.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to give it another 500-1000 miles and see what happens. I'd imagine that a rebuild would cost me around $2k, does that sound about right?

Also - if anyone happens to know of a reputable shop in the Denver area that does quality transmission/clutch work, let me know. I've thought about taking it over to Performance Wise Diesel, but I can't find a ton of reviews on them. I know ATS is a fairly big shop in town, but I've heard horror stories from their work, and I've also heard some really good reviews.

Any input is appreciated. - Thanks

 

Not for a manual as long as hard parts are good it should be really easy. If ATS does manuals then go there or at least get a couple quotes from a few shops it's a basic job not much to screw up just pick a clutch that will work for you don't have to go crazy strong. remember a manual can only handle up to 500 hp before they start breaking parts!