I bought a parts truck yesterday, and when chaining it down I noticed the transmission had something on the tail end. I did some searching and did some research and it is a U.S. gear dual range ratio overdrive system. It shows that it is $2400 new! It's on a c6 2wd trans out of an 85 diesel. Anybody know why one of these are worth?!

This is the web sight I found...
DualRange Overdrive

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!!

 

Did you read down far enough to see this on that website?

"They are completely out of production, no factory parts available at all. I am out of it. It's all junkyard and scrounging from individuals or shops who may still have stuff. Like as in old brownie boxes. Sorry. good hunting!"

How much does it weigh? That would be one way to determine value.

Or, maybe it has parts you could sell.

Does it work? Did you get a controller?

 

most people who want a unit like this go for a gear-vendors, as they're still in production and have replacement parts and adapters readily available.

but if it works, may as well use it.

 

They will not shift without the control module. If you have everything then it is worth something.

Index of /temp/usgear

The US Gears unit is "obsolete" but that doesn't mean you can't use it. You can still find parts if you try, mostly cross reference stuff. You don't find hard parts like cases, or gears unless you find a unit for parts.

 

The truck was a good running truck up until the lady from work pulled the engine... I don't think they tried it, how would you know if it works or not?

And yes, it has the controller mounted on the shifter.

 

I think you have to be moving 15 or 25 mph just to shift it. As long as the electric motor on it turns it should work as far as I know.

These were offered in underdrive and overdrive, hopefully it's not an underdrive.

 

I will check. How do I tell weather it is under or over? If you were to put a price on it how much would you ask? Is it something worth keeping?

 

The fact that it's obsolete and doesn't have strong aftermarket support could severely hinder the value. Most people won't buy something they can't fix.

On the other hand, those who really want one will be willing to pay a higher price for it. There's something about the US Gear not having as many issues on hills as the GearVendors unit, so that may be a strong point.

That being said, I have seen them go from $300-$1200, depending on condition, complete or incomplete system, and whether or not they're rebuilt. Before you ever gain those prices, you'll have to deal with all of the "It's just a baby transmission, blah blah blah. It's only worth $50". It may sit on your shelf forever, or it may go within a week for a decent price.

If it is an underdrive unit, it's not the end of the world. Guys with higher gear ratios will love it for it's ability to increase torque. But you will probably see more interest if it's an overdrive unit, for obvious gas-saving and lower RPM reasons.

If you want to keep it for yourself, and you use it on the 80, you'd have to move the transfer case back, and have your rear driveshaft shortened, and front driveshaft extended. The US Gear unit mounts between the transmission and the transfer case.

 

Well, you can turn the input shaft and see if the output shaft turns faster or slower. However that would only work if someone left it in under/over drive. I don't think you can find out by the serial number, I doubt anyone still has the records.

I know they sold for over $2k new however there is a Doug Nash (similar to a US Gears model) on ebay, the DNE2 in very nice condition for $950 buy it now. I bought one before for $250 but that was cheap. You could probably only get $500-750 for it. However I don't even know if you have the US Gears model, Doug Nash model, or something else. US Gears bought out Doug Nash but now they are both out of business as far as I know.

 

The serial number I got off of it is 028748.. I tried looking through the link given to find if it is under or over., can anyone tell me?! All the info is much appreciated!!