The 5-speeds are junk, buy a 6-speed NV5600 to save yourself major downtime. 2000-2002 are the only years you want. I didn't like the G56 Mercedes 6-speed in the common rail trucks either, went through a few of them too...
But I am with Griz too, just turned 206K on my 2015 5.7 4x4 2500 and tow constantly with it, I will never go back to a diesel unless it is a steal. I know where a 2wd regular cab 3500 is that has the NV5600 and 300K miles and it is $5K, that may be cheap enough for me to take another chance...