Had problems with 3rd gear in my 97 Dodge 2500 5 speed so I decided to get it rebuilt and got it back this last week.
They replaced the rear main , resurfaced the flywheel, new clutch,to brg,syncros,brgs,mainshaft and third gear.
The good news is that 3rd gear is fine now the bad news is from neutral I can't get it into gear most of the time without fighting it and usually putting it into 3rd or 4th first then putting it into 1st sometimes it takes me 20 or 30 seconds at a stoplight which dosen't make me a lot of friends and I really don't blame them too much either.
I have talked to the mech that did the work and he said it is just tight and that it will get better when I put some miles on it well-- I have about 300 mi on it now and it aint no better yet and it is getting really frustrating to drive.
So I guess if someone has some ideas I would really appreciate hearing them, Thanks
cloker12:confused:

 

this may sound like an odd question but what oil did they put in it??

 

if they didnt use the gm or chrysler stuff or castrol syntorque or amsoil MTG then it may be causing the problem

 

Check this out

Castrol Syntorq LT® 75w85w GL-4 rated, low temperature, synthetic gear lubricant is the only factory approved lubricant for NV4500 series transmissions. Some other lubricant manufacturers such as Amsoil may have products that are compatible. However, we have yet to see any other lubricant match the specifications of Syntorq LT®.

Castrol Syntorq LT® is available in quart bottles from Dodge dealers (p/n 4874459) and GM dealers (p/n 12346190). Castrol distributors offer factory sealed 16 gallon drums, plus some repackage the oil in 5 gallon pails.

 

Thanks for the replies, He did use the syntorq 75 90w. I really think that is what caused the trans failure to begin with so I was really clear on that before we started.

 

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I'm thinkin clutch. The clutch and flywheel kinda wear into eacother and if the flywheel got resurfaced and the old clutch put back in that could cause a problem don't know it can cause this but hey who really does know. Also please tell us you diidnt take it to aamco those guys will say they did the job but never do then when it fails again they say its because of you not them