I have a 1995 maxima 5spd (which also runs the RS5F50A)...I am looking to swap in a LSD 5spd (RS5F50V)...my options are a 2000 maxima canadian SE tranny which there are very few of on carpart.com and a 2001 AE maxima tranny which are non-existant on that same site...

however, I noticed that altimas use the same tranny RS5F50A...and that the 2000-01's have closer and shorter gear ratios than the 2000-01 maxima RS5F50A's do...which I like...question is do you guys think this would bolt up considering it's the same tranny code and the 2000-01 maxima trannies bolt up just fine? and if any of you know, which 2000-01 altimas had LSD's (I also asked on a altima forum with no success? on carpart.com the junkyards list nothing about open-diff or locking for the altima trannies...and I have e-mailed them....none of them seem to know....

thnx in advance,
Michael

 

What are the gear ratios on the Altima's tranny?

 

Don't know about the LSD but u should buy one to see if bolts up . it would be very interesting to know if it does.

 

they are all about .1 shorter than ours....so better acceleration and closer gearing....5th gear however is longer which would make for better cruising gas mileage...4th is still 1:1 I believe though...

 

none of the altima tranny's had a LSD. that's why you can't find info. Look for a 3rd gen Maxima SE tranny. All the 92-94 SE's had LSD.

 

these are the ratios from a 98 altima non lsd with a 3.65 final gear(3.85 final with LSD)
top speed open diff lsd
1st 3.285 41.5mph 39.3mph
2nd 1.85 73.7mph 69.8mph
3rd 1.206 113mph 107mph
4th .954 142.8mph 135.5mph
5th .740 184mph 174.4

these are maximas gears with a final gear of 3.823 LSD and non-LSD
top speed
1st 3.285 39.6mph
2nd 1.85 70.3mph
3rd 1.272 102.2
4th .954 136.3mph
5th .795 163.6

Only 3rd and 5th are different. It would help for HW cruising alot. At 100mph in 5th with 25.5" tires I'd be at 4k rpm in the max and only 3560 in the alti. In the end if my calculations are correct, the max is still better off with the maxima gear ratios, in order to get better acceleration that is unless you can get your hands on the LSD model.

 

no...the 2000 and 01 altimas had revised gearing...shorter and closer

so none of them had LSD's? not even canadian SE alti's?

the altima in 2000-01 had these ratios in the RS5F50A
3.400 1.955 1.272 0.954 0.740
and the maxima never changed...
3.285 1.850 1.206 0.954 0.759

http://www.vibratesoftware.com/html_...ons.htm#Altima

shorter in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd also closer, with 4th being the same and 5th being longer...which would be nice!

I just wonder if this thing would bolt up to our VQ's rather than the KA24's they were mounted to on the alti's...

I should probably go to a local junkyard that has both (trannies off a maxima and altima) and compare the two side by side...

 

my bad, did all that crap for nothing, I'll do it again though.

 

it also appears that the RS5F50A off the altimas in 2000-01 are are going for a good deal cheaper than the maxima ones of those year...is that cause there are a lot more of them taken off an altima sitting out there as it appears on car-part.com?

 

top speed
1st 3.400 38.3mph
2nd 1.955 66.5mph
3rd 1.272 102.2mph
4th .954 136.3mph
5th .740 175.6mph

final gear in the 2000-2001 altima is 3.823 the same as the maxima.

0-60 would be better with the altima trans but 1/4 runs would be almost identical. Looks like the altima gears aren't as good at higher speeds as the max.

 

Hmm...if this is all true I may be picking up an Altima tranny to replace mine. Can we confirm that they made VLSD Altima trannys?

It's weird that the model numbers are the same, but have different internals.

 

Me too! This is awesome information. The shorter 1-3 and longer 5 would be wonderful!

Well, the 2nd gen Altima ran from 1998-2001, and we've confirmed that 1998 Alties had VLSD (also see this), so I would bet that they retained the VLSD option in 2000-2001. Even if not, I don't think it would be difficult to find a VLSD separately and mount it to the 2000-2001 Altima tranny, they would almost certainly be compatible. I'm excited...I almost want to beat on my tranny so I can have an excuse to replace it now....

BTW, that must be a typo that both 97-99 and 00-01 Alties have trannies with the exact same model number (RS5F50A) but different gears...

 

why would it....changing the gearing/internals shouldn't mean it needs a new tranny code designation...all they did was throw different cogs in there and left everything else the same which wouldn't merit a tranny code designation change...

the altima gears would be just as good as the maxima's 4th gear is identical...so no loss there, the only one that is longer is 5th which would make for better highway mileage and cruising/low noise/less wear...

hope this thing bolts right up! all the junkyards I contacted have no clue if the trannies they have are locking or open diff...so no use there...does anyone know if only a certain model had it in 00-01 like the SE model or a canadian model?

also...if they truly are the same trannies as ours, the alti's trannies appear to be a lot cheaper than the comparable maxima trannies cause there looks to be a lot more altima's in salvage yards...

I sure hope there is a VLSD model! now all I have to do is find one and sure it can bolt up...

when I put the alti gear ratios in cartest, our 1/4 is faster by .1 seconds...(ET is .1 seconds lower) which is like putting 10 more hp on your car so this maybe a good mod if your planning on getting an 00-01 maxima tranny anyway...

 

Question now is: is the 00-01 Altima tranny as strong as the 00-01 Maxima tranny? They strengthened 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in the 00 Maxima tranny, which is one improvement over the 4th gen Maxima tranny. Is the Altima tranny also stronger than the 4th gen Max tranny?

BTW, I just posted a thread about whether 00-01 Altimas came with an LSD option on Altimas.net. http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=182078

 

I posted there a few days with no reply...

 

Yeah, I just saw your thread... sorry.

But there are replies to yours now...

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/sho....php?p=2400697

 

OK, they say one bolt on the Altima tranny might not line up on the Maxima. Even if the trannies weren't compatible, it sounds like the internals are identical except for the gears...so we could take a Maxima tranny apart and put in the Altima gears. That would involve buying two trannies or putting the new gears (and synchros?) into your existing tranny.

 

Dug up this old thread from Altimas.net:

Question:
Does the 2000 and 2001 5-speed Altimas have the VLSD? or are they all open diffs. The revised gear ratios make this transmission tempting for me. I have a 97 Nissan Maxima SE 5-speed without the VLSD. Seems kinda stupid to me that Nissan only equiped the Canadian Maxima's with the VLSD and only 5% of the Maximas in the US were randomly issued. In case anyone's interested, I have a theory that the Maxima and the Altima share the same tranmssion. The model numbers match up and the gear ratios are exactly the same. I've even heard of an Altima owner swapping in a tranny from a Maxima and a Maxima owner swapping in an Alty tranny. Do you realize what this means?

Possible the Quaife ATB Differential offered by Cattman will work with the 5-speed Altima as well. I can't confirm this, but maybe one day soon we'll have an answer. In the mean time, I was wondering if the 2000 and 2001 5-speed Altimas have the VLSD or not.
thanks,
-Kevin

Also:

Torque steer in front wheel drive mainly caused by un-equal drive axle length left and right. And why is this? because the differential is located off-centre from the car's center axis. Happends to most front wheel drive gearboxes.

But the SW20 MR2 Turbo got this issue fixed. Toyota mounts the differential dead center in relation to the chassis center axis, making the gearbox a well sought after option for ppl turboing the ST165-ST205 front wheel drive Celicas.

On the issue of wether or not an LSD will fix torque steer, it does fix it, by a small margin, especially in the higher output engine.

The transmission input shaft is different between the VG/E/Q and KA engines. That's how it is last I heard.

For the last question, you have to use LSD axles in order to use the VLSD from nissan.
Other custom LSD might allow you to use your original axle with their LSD (phantom grip, quaife, kaaz, etc...)

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35242

 

the best way would be to compare them side by side at a junkyard that has both trannies...I am going to call a nissan master tech 2night to see if he knows...

I must have e-mail notifications turned off I guess...cause I never got any notice to a reply...

so I guess it won't directly bolt up for two reasons...one being the bellhousing bolt holes and the second being the input shaft is different...

 

Yeah, their forums default to "no subscription" rather than "no e-mail notification", which seems really dumb.

Somewhere it was mentioned that the doorjamb tells you the transmission code. I just checked mine and I think they may have just been referring to the VIN. The 5th place of the VIN is supposed to be the tranny code right? Mine is A, which could be short for the RS5F50A. V would mean LSD. Or is that wrong?

 

And then some conflicting info:

Per the local Nissan shop and Nissan Corporate you cannot tell if the car has LSD based on the transaxle codes found on the door jam or on the transaxle itself. I got so frustrated dealing with this whole mess when I had to replace my CV shafts, it wasn't even funny. And guess what from the best of my knowledge, I have LSD, but my tranny code ends in an "A". I will be checking it out soon.

and

I've heard that too, but the service manuals seem to support the V/A and Kettnerc, who bought ann "LSD" trans with an "A" code, is discovering that it probably isn't an LSD trans.

jack the front up and do the wheel spin test to find out if you have it or not. I don't currently, and my trans is an "A" per the door.

jessa - they can also pull the drivers' side axle. LSD transaxles use a different drivers's side axle.

 

First let me say that this is fantastic. People broadening the horizons that is. Now let me say:

1. First gear in the Max is short enough to pose tractions problems with even a stock car. Why anyone would desire a shorter first with a modded car is beyond me. Many people are begining to launch in second. If you are considering it for more rapid acceleration once rolling that might be a good reason but the VQ is torquey enough to deal with a WOT stab at 5MPH. That is why they made first so long.

2. Having a taller 5th is a terrible thing IMO. The theoretical top speed will be greatly increased as displayed by Dave. But the actual top speed will be decreased. A longer gear will make it that much more difficult to accelerate and overcome air resistance. Unless your running at insane power levels there is no way the car will ever see speeds that high. Yes, cruising fuel economy will be increased. But we all know our cars are dudes past 130. Why make that dudelyness even more pronounced?

 

Just a tidbit...the '93,94 and IIRC the '95(not sure) had VLSD....
And the '00/'01s had a 4.08 final drive...Altimas that is...

Jeremy

 

#1 is a good point Broaner, however, unless your putting down well over 200WHP I think the only real traction problems (assuming good tires) are between 0 and 5-10 MPH. Above that it's damn hard to break the tires loose. Am I talking out of my @$$ here? Could be, but if I'm right, 10-30 MPH would be significantly quicker with a shorter 1st gear.

#2 is a good point that I'm aware of but I and many people never want to go that fast. My max has seen about 95 I think and I don't have a great desire to go over 100. Also if you're boosted, you've got enough power to possibly make it to the theoretical top speed anyway, in which case you'd go faster with a taller 5th. So if you're N/A and you want to pull harder up to 140, stick with the stock 5th gear, sure. The good thing is, if anyone verifies that the 00-01 Altima gears are interchangeable with Maxima trannies, the mix-n-match gearing possibilities are many...lots of customization possible there.

 

No, the 2000-2001 have the same final gear as the maxima, 3.823. Also the 98 had lsd so I'm sure the 97 and 99 did as well.

 

Buy my LSD!!!!

 

1. I definitely agree that there is a slow spot for the engine from 0-5. It really doesn't do well below 2K just as any engine will. But the only time this is an issue is when barely rolling at a light or something. Never in any racing(1/4 mile or roadcorse) will power be called for that low in the rev band. In several threads people have been saying that I'll have problems with traction all the way through first with my current mods(Largely due to the engine being harnessed by filled mounts). I guess I'll have to see how it goes. Obviously I can't say definitely how the VQ acts with a 5Spd matted to it. People have testified that traction on the 1-2 is minimal w/ filled mounts.

2. Unless your running 500+HP there is no way the car is seeing anything past 160. I remember a while ago about a boosted guy saying he saw 155MPH. If I remember correctly it was the 3.3 pulley which means he was making 265+WHP. He said he still had some rev left cause he had a 7K rev limit. I wish I could remember what thread that was in.

 

Sorry for the confusion...I was referring to the autos...Manuals did indeed have 3.82s...But in case you still don't believe me...
http://www.nissannews.com/site_libra...ma/index.shtml

Jeremy

 

I'd like two tabs if it's good stuff. Paypal you $10 or so?

 

1. Interesting, could be. I just realized a sad fact...the only time I've really pushed my Max was at the track that one time. I've never really floored it for more than a second or two besides that day! Sad, but the main reason is I had lots of reasons for not pushing my car (first axle seals on tranny, then alternator problem for 2-3 months, then oil issues, then brake issues, etc.) Anyway, on those four runs, I knew not to just floor it off the line, but as soon as I got going I keep the pedal down and had no traction problems. Of course I only had ~172 TQ at the wheels.

2. Good point. I read recently about the power it takes to get a typical car up to high speeds. Wind and other friction becomes a huge factor, so of course the amount of power it takes to cruise at a constant speed goes up exponentially with increasing speeds. You're playing with your life up there anyway. My idea of fun at 150 MPH is sitting on an air-conditioned car on a high-speed European train. It's amazing to watch the countryside speed by faster than you've ever seen while sitting there in quiet comfort.