Newbie 3500HD questions

[leon]

Hey Guys, this is a great site!  Lot's of great info here.  Ten plus years ago, I was working with a friend of mine putting up metal buildings all over Florida.  We would have to pull his 20klb forklift to each of the jobs, and we used his '98 Chevy 3500HD.  I really took a liking to the truck, and periodically ask him about it.  The other day we were traveling to meet our families for vacation, and I asked him again if he still had that truck.  He informed me the truck was at his shop with the tranny out of it.  Seems his guys tore it up.  Said he was gonna rebuild the tranny and sell it.
Long story short, I just added roofing services to my contracting business.  I'm hesitant to pull a dump trailer full of shingles with my '95 12v 2500 Dodge 4x4 consistently.  She's got 260k on the clock, and while I'm confident she's gonna run a long time I think pulling that kind of weight will drastically shorten the life span.  And the fact that it's SRW 3/4 ton doesn't sit well with me for that kind of weight.
Back to the 3500HD.  She's got a 454, and 129k on the clock.  I feel there should be plenty of life left there even though it's a gas burner...would you agree?  Especially since she will stay mainly attached to the dump trailer and be used primarily for pulling purposes.  I know it depends on routine maintenance, and I maintain my stuff, but not sure about him. 
My other question is this.  The tranny is a NV4500.  I've seen rebuilt's with warranties for just under $1k, and new one's straight from New Venture for $1800.  The new one would be a tough pill to swallow, but are they worth the money, or would you have piece of mind with a rebuild.
Thanks Guys!

[ED-NY]

Leon

Welcome to the site! The 454 has a reputation for using fuel but being dependable. Personally I would consider a rebuilt NV4500 especially if the seller has a good reputation and specializes in the NV4500....hopefully someone else will jump in.

Ed

[someotherguy]

Ask the rebuilder if they have access to the original carbon-fiber blocking rings ("synchros") for the NV4500 - or if they're going to use aftermarket bronze parts.  The carbon-fiber ones absolutely require that you run the pricey Castrol Syntorq fluid - about $18/quart at the GM dealer - but they give an awesome shift feel, not at all what you'd expect out of a heavy duty transmission like this.

My '94 has a '96 Vortec 454 in it and I love it; yep it's a little fuel thirsty but scoots my truck along just fine with a load.

Richard

[leon]

Hey someotherguy, how many miles do you have on you 454??

[someotherguy]

237K showing on the odometer but I didn't buy the donor truck new; what it came out of was a '96 C3500 that had been beat to death.  The engine needs valve stem seals and the valvetrain is clattering - the rockers on these are nonadjustable, they just torque down.  Comp Cams has a $100 kit that replaces the bolts with studs and locknuts, along with spacers to go inside the rocker ball, so you can convert to adjustable to compensate for wear.  I bought the kit and either I got a defective set of hardware or something, but my locknuts galled at least 3 of the studs when I tried to back off after initial install, so for now I'm back to the bolts and will re-approach the situation later when I have more time.

Even so - with my leaky fuel injectors causing hard warm starts, clattering valvetrain, and smoke-on-start valve stem seals - the engine pulls strong, doesn't really use oil, and the truck is tough as nails.

This was the engine/trans guts/PCM/harness donor truck...my HD originally came with the 6.5TD which had already been pulled.





Richard

[merlin5577]

Welcome aboard!

Congratulations on the new truck. As was stated before, the 454 is a beast and a true workhorse, thirsty as she is. As a benefit, GM did make a lot of them so parts are relatively cheap and easy to come by. As for your transmission, as long as its a reputable shop, I would go with the rebuilt NV4500. There are not very many parts on those transmissions to break to begin with, so no need to buy a new one.

[leon]

Thanks guys, I hope to have her on Monday.  Local trans shop that was referred to me by my mechanic bro iln law wants $1075 for the rebuilt tranny.  Smart Parts on the net wants $795...I prefer face to fae on a big ticket item like that, but like the Smart Parts price better!
Whoops...I was wrong.  Smart Parts wants $995, so I guess local price aint so bad.

[leon]

Picked her up Friday, and she's outside on the trailer.  Taking her for a new tranny tomorrow.  Repainted the faltbed today...now I just want to get her running.