Disclaimer: If you attempt any of what you see from my post, you do so at your own risk. The following is a summary of my experience.
The Car: 2002 Maxima SE
Transmission: 6 speed, HLSD, RS6F51A
Mileage: 174,000 mi. (approx.)
Situation: November 1st, 2014. I jumped in the Maxima, running late to a funeral in Tennessee. Pushed clutch to floor and started it. I could not get gear shifter out of third gear no matter how hard I tried. Something was obviously broken in the transmission.
After a lot of online research, I purchased a 29,066 mile 6 speed, HLSD transmission from a 2006 Nissan Sentra Spec-V (p/n RS6F51H) from http://car-part.com/. Kindly gentlemen cargo shipped it from a junkyard in Arkansas to my door step in North Alabama for $XXX (will update when I remember it). The following were the only differences in the two transmissions: (1) bellhousings were different, (2) final drive ratio were different (3.812 vs 4.133), (3) Maxima – 1st & 2nd gear dual synchro, SpecV - 1st gear dual synchro, 2nd gear triple synchro.
To Do List:
(1) DOCUMENT EVERYTHING WITH PICTURES!!!
(2) On RS6F51H transmission, swap to Maxima bell-housing
(3) On RS6F51 transmission, swap out SpecV final drive for Maxima final drive
(4) While I’m at it, install Fidanza Lightweight Flywheel and RalcoZ Lightweight Underdrive Pulley

Resources: MT.pdf
http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Sentra/2006_Sentra/
http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/2002/
Sentra SpecV Transmission As Received:

 

Work Setup:
- Set each transmission on cardboard covered work bench side by side (cardboard to protect mating surfaces on transmission and soak up any grease/oil/fluids)
- For fasteners, blow up and print out FSM pages and glue to cardboard. Poke fasteners through on board where you take them out of transmission
- Take off parts from each transmission at same time, label in Ziploc bag
- For large parts, label and place in its own cardboard box
- Clean as you go (scrape off gasket material, use acetone/cloth) to clean
- Follow both factory service manuals for breakdown/buildup

Maxima





SpecV

 

Maxima Speedo Sensor Block-off Plate

SpecV Speedo Sensor

Maxima Transaxel Case Stamp

SpecV Transaxel Case Stamp

Maxima

SpecV

Maxima Control Assembly, Sensors, and Case Bolts Removed

SpecV Control Assembly, Sensors, and Case Bolts Removed

Maxima Transaxel Case Removed (at this point forward, they both look the same)

Maxima Spread Spring Debris and Detail
Based on the pictures below, it appears the spread spring in the 3rd-4th synchronizer broke and lodged itself in to prevent the sliding action between gears.

 

Maxima – Reverse Tilt Mechanism Removed



Maxima – Re-test fitting reverse tilt mechanism (to make sure I understood its reassembly)


Maxima – Reverse shift fork and rod

Maxima – Reverse Gear Stack

Maxima – Re-test fit reverse shift fork

Maxima – Shifter bracket Detail

 

Maxima – Gear Stacks and Differential


SpecV – Gear Stacks and Differential


Maxima – Input, Main, & Reverse Shafts and Axels


Maxima – Final Drive & HLSD


SpecV - Final Drive and HLSD




SpecV – Reverse Gear Set

 

Assembly tomorrow. That's all for today.

 

Excellent post and great you provided such step by step analysis. Only thing is and maybe it's because the pictures are uploading but on my iPhone I cannot see them. Hopefully it's because they're uploading because this is a fantastic post.

 

Well crap. None of the pictures worked. I'll have to figure that out tomorrow.

 

U might have to go thru Dropbox or something similar.

 

Nice! I would like to have spec v final drive and use that custom longer 6th gear that someone had made. Maxima final drive is too long, but spec v 6th is too short with its final drive.

 

Picture links are all fixed. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

 

New Upgraded Transmission Assembly (SpecV Guts in Maxima Bellhousing)
Cleaned Maxima Bellhousing (Used acetone and cloth)




Cleaned Differential Side of Bellhousing


Maxima Final Drive and HLSD from SpecV



SpecV Reverse Gear Set



SpecV Gear Stacks and Maxima Final Drive in Bellhousing





Maxima Final Drive Meshed with SpecV Mainshaft


SpecV Mainshaft Meshed with SpecV Input Shaft


SpecV Input Shaft Meshed with SpecV Reverse Gear Set


Detail SpecV Main and Input Shaft


SpecV 5th/6th Shifter Fork with Maxima 5th/6th Shifter Fork Rod Detail
The SpecV 5th/6th Shifter Fork Rod had a pretty significant burr on it, and wouldn’t actuate properly. So I used the Maxima version.

 

SpecV Check Ball and Spacer for 5th/6th Rod


SpecV 1st through 4th Shifter Fork with SpecV Rod Detail




SpecV 1st/2nd Shifter Fork Detail




SpecV Reverse Bracket Detail




SpecV Reverse Shifter Fork Detail



SpecV Reverse Tilt Mechanism Assembly




SpecV Check Ball and Spacer for Reverse Rod Mechanism

 

Fully Assembled SpecV Guts and Transaxel Case on Maxima Bellhousing






SpecV Shifting Mechanism


Fully Assembled Transmission on Hoist

 

excellent thread

 

Great thread. Thanks for all the pics. I'm obviously a little late to the party just finding this now......curious on this:

Is there any reason why you went with a sentra gearbox instead of a 6th gen gearbox? It's my understanding they have the same gear ratios, both have hlsd, and the same final drive ratio (4.133)...... but the 6th gen can be dropped straight into a 5.5 gen without modification. Perhaps I'm mistaken on that?

 

From what I've seen the Sentra trans-axles are orders of magnitude cheaper.

 

^This.

Sentra trans runs around $300 and are plentiful, A +04 6spd maxima trans...... Internally they are the same transmission the only difference is the bellhousing is different because VQ vs QR.

 

Just a little thread bump, any chance you can fix the photo links 6spd_hayes?

I'm swapping around a spec v and max trans and liked the photos you had.

 

dropbox killed all the public links March 15th. I'll try to find a different source eventually.

 

Bump for pics, trying to get a Maxima FD in my SpecV transmission as well.

 

https://maxima.org/g/album/7330788

I uploaded all of my pictures that were above in that link. Maybe someday I can resort the thread so the pictures are in the right place.

 

https://maxima.org/g/album/7330788

Try there.

 

Thx this works.

 

Ok, getting dropbox sorted out. I'll slowly get this updated.

 

thinking about doing this in my '03...

 

Anyone know of a cheap bearing puller for these trans? Im trying to get all the special tools I need for the job.
Looking for a consumer version of this I suppose: J39856-Kent-Moore-Gear-and-Bearing-Removal-Kit-

 

Did you re-shim it before assembly? What sort of special tools are needed for the job? Did you have prior experience with rebuilding transmissions or did you just follow the FSM?

 

I did all of the measuring but did not have to reshim it. The existing shims were good. I needed no special tools whatsoever I also had no prior experience rebuilding transmissions. I simply followed the fsm.

 

Wow, that's very impressive! I'm considering doing something similar with a 6 speed, but am unsure if I can tackle the job myself. I got a quote from a local trans shop and they estimated it would cost $600-$1000 in labor, and for that amount I'm wondering if I can do it myself. So the FSM is really that detailed? How has the transmission help up since you installed it?

 

It was flawless till the day I sold it. Got several more years out of it. The guy I sold it to, and the guy he sold it to never had any trouble out of it. Yes, the fsm really has everything you need.

 

I'm very green in this area as well and thank you much 6spd_Hayes for the thread this helped me greatly! I'm running into issue though how are you removing the shift forks to remove the gear set? I'm doing a similar swap 5spd for 6spd using the spec v 6spd. Also where can I locate the fsm?