...As I was on my quest to try to steal 6th gear from a 2002's transmission I examined its factory service manual. Although I have not driven one or (gasp) taken one apart, from the looks of things they have improved considerably over the 4th gen's transmissions. I know some people have had tranny trouble, but at least improvement from the design standpoint includes:

1) loss of the ridiculous rod shifter in favor of cable
2) finally a very short (.6) gear ratio for the 6th gear
3) the use of NEEDLE BEARINGS for the gears instead of them just riding on the input or output shafts. This should mean longer lasting and quieter gears.
4) REVERSE is now NOT straight cut and is double synchronised so there should be no more whining while backing up
and
5) the FSM is much more clear then the 4th gen's (and its on CD-ROM with hyperlinks instead of hard copy)

We will see if they still have bearing failure at a premature rate.

I still feel the 4th gens were the worst designed and worst produced, and it figures because it was the time nissan was in financial deep water.

 

But I love my 4th gen. Luckily for me, I havent had a single problem in 4 years and 120k miles of driving..But I'm mentally prepared for the day when my auto tranny shall die. When that happens, no rebuild for me. I'm gonna get another used low mileage transmission.

I remember hitting 30k on the way to Baltimore..That feels like eternity ago. haha

 

You may be right about the other points, but I don't agree with you on #1. How is the cable-operated shifter (indirect) better than the direct rod-actuated shifter?

 

new M3 is .83 in 6th, new M5 is .83 in 6th. New 745Li is .69 in 6th, but it's an auto. Final drives are 3.64, 3.15, and 3.38 respectively. Not sure why .6 on a Maxima is good. That number alone means almost nothing, kinda like citing a cd number. Kinda helps if one knows the frontal area so it actually has meaning. Otherwise there are how you say, implications which can be out of context.

 

Alright oops... .6 is good because on the 5 speeds it was .795 which is darn close to .8 As most 5 speed guys here know the engine revs too high on the freeway. So that extra gear would allow to keep the revs down- keeping wear down (long term) and keeping engine noise down and keeping fuel economy up. And- the other gear ratio's are closer together.

As for the shifter- cable shifters are better at isolating vibration and movement and the like from the tranny/motor. I've noticed Toyotas have always used cable shifters and they provide a much better feel (my opinion) then the solid blocks that most honda's and nissans use.

 

Yeah, and the rod shifter might even become a mod on the 2K2, like they had on Ford SHOs.

Also, the 5th gen 5 speed doesn't seem to have trouble, and it is very similar to the 4th gen's.

Lastly, as far as I can tell, what, besides the bearings, is so bad about the 4th gen 5 speed?? It's not like I hear of people blowing gears all the time.

DW

 

I think there's a camp out there who think numbers, numbers, numbers. So they've looked at what the 4th gen revs at on the highway and concluded it's too high. Their solution? Taller final gear ratio. Sure, a 4-cyl Camry or Elantra revs way lower than a 4th gen Max in 5th, but does that mean the 4th gen revs too high? Think about at what speed you have to drop your 4th gen into 4th from 5th, and under what type of grade. You really want a taller final gear? The Maxima is not an economy car, yet it can hammer 26-28 easy on the highway. Lugging the motor is not good for it and does not equate to higher efficiency. Until 6-spds BMW's were always 1:1 in the top gear. my .02

 

I would love to have a 0.6 6th gear when I drive 75mph+ on the freeway! I have no doubt the mileage will improve and the engine will be in normal operating range. Besides, lugging an engine is always a driver error, for example flooring the car in 5th gear at 40mph.

 

snap of cable= ut oh

 

Sorry for the ignorance, but is lugging the engine bad?

 

It's been my experience that most japanese cars rev higher in top gear, just like the Maxima. My friend's teg GSR did, my previous supra MKIII turbo did, too. I figured it was done that way because Japanese motors tend to have a smaller displacement and therefore need to rev a bit more to keep their torque at a decent level while cruising.

Your comment about the Camry and and Elantra may counter my point , but maybe this gearing is exclusive to performance oriented Japanese cars then, like the ones I mentioned

And, like you said, despite the gearing, they can still achieve great mpgs if needed. My firend with a Jeep grand cherokee gets happy if he gets 19 mpg, I get 22 on bad, hard driving days.

DW