My hard-working transmission has developed a bit of an issue and I'd like to see if any of you all could lend me some knowledge? My bronco has a 302 with a mild build on it, Edelbrock Pro-Flo4 injection, NV4500 and the stock dana20 behind that. My wife an I drive it all over the west towing our 16' Airstream Basecamp. Yesterday, on a quick trip out to the coast while pulling the trailer, I down shifted into third going up a grade and halfway up the transmission starts screaming. To me it sounds like it's trying hard to eat a bearing. This noise is only in third gear and only while under load (coasting in 3rd or steady state driving on flat ground there is no noise).
So, to you NV4500 experts out there. How hard is it to rebuild a NV4500? Is it even worth it these days to do so with it being an obsolete transmission and with the finicky synchros in it? Would I be better off replacing it with something like a TR4050? I'm very mechanically adept and have done all the work to my Bronco so digging into this doesn't intimidate me, I just don't want to be throwing good money after bad. So, what say you?
So, to you NV4500 experts out there. How hard is it to rebuild a NV4500? Is it even worth it these days to do so with it being an obsolete transmission and with the finicky synchros in it? Would I be better off replacing it with something like a TR4050? I'm very mechanically adept and have done all the work to my Bronco so digging into this doesn't intimidate me, I just don't want to be throwing good money after bad. So, what say you?