I have a 97 K2500 6.5 w/ 5spd. (NV4500 can't remember transfercase -manual linkage one)

I am doing a clutch replacement. When I seperated the transfercase to transmission what looked like cooked grease was on the splined shafts.

Does the transmission lube the union? Or do you grease it? If so what grease is recommended.

Thanks

That is grease. The transfer case has an input seal, and the transmission has an output seal, so no fluid should be in that cavity (it would leak out anyway).

There is no output seal on the chevy version nvg 4500, the splines should be lubed with gear oil splashing on them. Clean the splines good and lube with tranny oil upon reasembly.;)

My apologies. I haven't actually seen a NV4500 apart, and have only seen a late model NV3500/NP241, and they were both sealed, with the black looking grease on the splines as described above. The 241 didn't seem to have a gasket or seal surface, either, so I thought all were like that.

And the transferr case should have TWO (2) input shaft seals, one installed forward and one backwards, Be sure to replace them while apart. Not doing that caused me to rebuild my 4500 one week after replacing the clutch caused they failed and all the tranny lube went to the transfer case.

Years ago, the SM420 & SM465 trans coupled to the Rockwell or the early NP T/cases in 3/4T and one ton 4X4 pickups had sleeve wear problems. We used to take the T/case out just to lube the splined drive coupler because of the wear problem. The dealership couldn't even get a new coupler. We were told they were no longer manufactured and I couldn't even find out who made the original part. Some energetic techs changed the whole thing over to the late style NP203/205 t/case. Parts were readily available and it seemed to cure the problem. Hope we're not going back to the '60s with our design and engineering!

When I first did my cummins conversion, I used the stock gm output shaft 1 3/8 32 spline and coupled it to a 32 spline female np 205 input gear. First shaft failed the splines after 5000 miles, second shaft failed after 9000 miles and that was with the transmission overfilled and the splines greased heavily. The moral of the story is 3rd time I went with dodge fully splined under fifth mainshaft and dodge transfercase input gear 1 1/2 29 spline. I feel the vibration is what caused the failure of the splines, it literally eroded them, and there didn't seem to be any splash oiling to the splines. 30,000 miles later and the dodge shafts are going strong. I have never seen a 6.5 eat the 32 spline shaft though.:eek: :exactly:

D.Camilleri,

So on the 6.5 you are saying the NV4500 splash lubricates the union with the tranny fluid. The 6.5 probably doesn't kill many shafts as it not a powerhouse like a cummins (and the clutch dies long before other parts)

I found standard transmission in Ft. Worth TX (http://www.standardtransmission.com ; $54/gal for syntorq thanks for the the other post) and also asked them. The person on the phone said grease it that its a sealed from either tranny or tansfercase. Uhhhggg! Then they were a short when I asked are you sure and doubted them.

The mating does require a gasket an arguement for tranny lubed area.

I think the last person that did the clutch last greased it up on assembly and it sealed it off from getting any spashed lube to the spines. Over time the grease deeper in the female dried out from heat radiating down the shafts and cooked it. Grease also was slung on the inside of the case and seemed kind of dry???? I am thinking it could have plugged the passage to the adapter? What should I see looking into the output end of the adapter on the back of the NV4500 housing. The transmission case was full of Syntorq when I checked it last (the week before teardown) and I had already drained it when I dropped the tranny so I am a little confussed. And I have gotten a 70% reply on grease it, 10%tranny lubes it which I think is correct, 20% don't know, and one person said put antisieze on it.

Your transfer case had tranny lube in it most likely due to the input shaft seals (2) on the transfer case leaking. The forward one installs backwards and against the 2nd one so that it keeps tranny fluid out of transfer case and the aft one keeps transfer case fluid out of tranny. This seal cost me a tranny/transfer case rebuild just one week after I had the clutch replaced. So check every thing over good while it's out.

I believe that area in question gets tranny fluid from the output shaft as oil runs out to it, not just a splash but running down in some groves for that purpose.