Good morning everyone,
I have a 90 F-250 with a ZF 5 and a remote mount gear vender OD. I intend to install the gear vender in my 87 Dually w/C-6. Instead of buying almost $1000
in parts [C-6 overdrive tail shaft, new yokes, etc. ] Couldn't I simply measure the drive shaft between the C-6 and the gear vender unit, and have that shaft cut and spun welded to fit ?

Peter A.

 

You will need to have the driveshaft cut regardless. So you could use the 1990 driveshaft if you want.

But your problem is the tailshaft housing. That's always the missing element when someone tries a GV swap. You can't use the ZF5 tailshaft housing on the C6.

 

Wouldn't cutting the driveshaft eliminate the need for a tailshaft housing ? The gear vender is a totally self enclosed separate unit. The ZF 5 does not have a tailshaft, just a yoke.

 

No. The gearvender is mounted with the tailshaft housing. Also, when you install the tailshaft housing, you need to install some shims (they sell them at the headquarters). The shims all for the transfer of transmission to the GV, which then transfers to the driveshaft. If you don't have the GV tailshaft housing, then you won't be able to mount the GV to the tranny.





In the picture above, the GV tailshaft housing is the blue component. It has several mounting bolts that secure the GV to the tranny. If you don't have the housing, I'm not sure how you would properly secure the unit. The device really "kicks" when it turns on. If you didn't have it mounted properly, I would suspect it would buckle off after a few uses.


I wrote a big deal about mounting an aftermarket deep sump on my GV here: Gearvender Deep Sump Installation Tutorial (Maximum Overdrive) ? IDI Online If you don't have the deep sump, i highly recommend it. I once had a tailshaft seal burn up because the lack of fluid heated up the GV too much. Also, Make sure you have the P-type GV and not the L-Type. The L-type is lighter duty, and for our vans and trucks, it's prudent to have the heavier duty version.

 

Maybe I'm not understanding this correctly. I have Gear Vender model # 3D0172C direct mount. If you go into the Gear Vender website you will see that this unit and the one below it does not use a tailshaft assembly. It is a double driveshaft unit. It looks to me like you could install this into anything, depending on matching up the yokes, and cutting driveshafts to correct length. Am I wrong?

 

Oh. Well then i guess you could run a double driveshaft. I've never seen that type of Gearvendor unit, at least on a standard truck.

Good luck with the jokes though. The yoke for the GV is a chevy (I think 27 point) so I had to buy a converter spicer yoke to make it work from the chevy connection to the ford driveshaft.

 

I hate to ask this... but why not just use the ZF5 as well?
All it would take is adding the clutch pedal, and then you have a stronger, more efficient transmission as well!

You could basically just drop the entire setup in as-is, unless the 87 is a different type of cab. Even so, it would only take shortening or lengthening one driveshaft.

BTW, I have a C6 adapter for a gearvendors I'm not using. PM me if you are at all interested and I'll take pictures.

 

older GV units were divorced from the trans and used a stub shaft between trans and GV unit.

 

I would love to install the ZF along with the gear vender, but the quick answer is : the wife can't drive a stick shift. I'm not going to last forever and eventually she will be using this truck to haul feed for our horses. I'm probably going to sell off the trans and overdrive unit. I hate to see it go to the dismantlers with the rest of the truck. Thanks for the info and advise everyone.

 

Can you post a picture of your current zf-5 with the remote mount Gear Vendor unit?

 

I can, but it's still in the truck. I bought this truck as a donor vehicle for the engine. I'll be doing the engine swap towards the end of the month. Do you still want a picture?

 

Yes. I would like to see how it is set up in the current truck.

 

Give me a few hours. It's still dark here. Pretty simple setup trans, short driveshaft, O/D unit, and another driveshaft.