I am looking for a 5 speed for my old work truck and found one in a 98 Dakota V6, I am guessing that it would be the nv3500? would it bolt up to my 360?

Bolting up and holding up are two different things.

There's a reason that Ma Mopar never put them behind a 360.

If you drive it easy it may last.

my 95 Dakota has a factory 318 and 5 speed. I have 177,000 miles on it now with no problems. I but I don't use it very often to pull my car trailer either.
just looking for a way to get overdrive in my 68 dodge pickup, and I don't want an automatic.
I guess the full size trucks with the nv4500 would be better but I have not found one of those yet.

From a 1998, that V6 transmission is likely an AX-15.

Does it have an integral bell housing, or can you separate the gearbox from the bell?

If it's integral, it's an NV3500. If it's a seperate bolt on bell housing, then it's the AX-15.


no way that the AX will ever hold up to a 5.9. Even the 5.2 trucks were too much for the AX15.

if you have an NV3500 though, it will live for awhile behind that 5.9, how much you modify the 5.9 and how you drive it will play a big role though. they were rated for 350 ft lbs from the factory, and the 5.9 made 345.

I had one behind my modified 5.9 for awhile and it did just fine. 285 rwhp and 325 rwtq. so I'm clearly somewhere north of 300 crank hp and 350 crank torque.

I sold the NV3500 to another Dakota guy so I could upgrade to a viper spec T56.

I know another guy who was running deep into the 13s with a supercharged 5.2 on slicks in his 4000 lb Dakota, on his stock NV3500--and he powershifted it routinely at the track. However, I think he finally blew it up here a few weeks ago.

But, to answer your question, Yes, the 3.9 V6 and the 5.9 V8 have the same small block Mopar bell housing as all other small block Mopars. The V6 trans WILL bolt up to the 5.9

question is whether or not its the AX-15 or NV3500, and how long it will live behind the 5.9

you have a choise of the a535 5 speed hydro clutch from a v-6 dak or d-100

ax-15 5 speed with it's own 9 bolt/hydro v-6 bell housing.

or the v-6 v-8 3500 5 speed trans different gear ratios and performance levels when JY scoring them.

then you have the NV4500 5 speed V-8 hydro bell kinda a garanny 1st geat with OD 5th gear.

with a v-6 hydro clutch bell you can even run the 833/833OD 4 speeds

you can use the 130 tooth V-6 flywheel/clutch on a 318-5.2 or a 130 tooth 360 external balance flywheel.

the a535 being the lightest duty of the 5 speeds, ax-15-3500-4500 as the HD unit

i am swaping in a hydro clutch system with a 92-v8 bell, NV4500 5 speed in my 85 stepside using the v-6 flywheel and clutch on a 318.

so far i have found the NV4500 5 speed 2x unit i have needs the xmember moved back 2" to bolt up in the 85 frame.

I am also swaping cabs to a 91 shell for the hydro clutch system/pedels. the 87-93 cabs have per-drill holes for the for the hydro system.

going in a 68 truck might need some fabbing for a trans mount but they used a hydro clutch so that part is a plus for a newer bell and/trans swap.

here are some pics to ID the bells & 5 speeds when junkyarding

the v-6 d-100 bell has the hydro slave on pass side.

the d-150/DAK v-8 bell has the hydro slave on driver side.

the v-6 and v-8 hydro bells have 2 trans bot patters to cover 4 75 speed trans.

the ax-15 v-6 bell is a beats of its own with 9 bolts and slave on driver side.

#2 pic

#3

#4

based on a 904 for size and replaced the 833OD 4 speed units

used a 904 spline yoke and a 23 spine input shaft

#5 NV4500 5 speed 92 v-8 bell

#6

#7

#8

#9 this is a ax-15 5 speed

it is a 4x4 unit and a 2x tail housing looks like..well a 2x tail housing.

if you look you can see the bulges on the outside of the trans case around the input shaft end. this is the 9 bolt hydro bell that is specific to the ax-15

when I looked at this 5 speed i dont see how you could hook up an older mech style speedo gear/cable but other than that it would be an ez swap to a SB v-8 using the 9 bolt v-6 bell from a DAK

hope that helps you out some when looking for a 5 speed unit.

you will want to use the newer pilot bearing that fits the TC hug hole and is a roller bearing.

fits all of the SB engines pre-mag and magnum v-6/v-8

i dont seem to have a pic of the nv3500 5 speed

it has the non-removable bell housing

i think i would use an ax15 for a car or non towing truck.if i was going to tow i would use a 4500