just wondering if anyone has ran a gear vendor under/overdrive. if so how did it work and would you recomend it for towing? i'm new to the site and am glad i found it. thanx

 

NUTTN' BUT OVALS,

First, welcome to the group!

I looked into the GV unit, and it is a nice product, but was not for me due to my need to tow. I was not impressed with the "don't coast/decel in overdrive" rule (problem)?

I went with the US Gear Overdrive "Auxiliary Transmission" unit. You can get more info from usgear.com on this unit. A bit less high-tech (not automatic shifting, and will "clunk" when shifting) but very very tough (35,000# GCWR!) and a bit cheaper than the GV unit. I havn't installed it yet (waiting for the rain/snow/ice to stop) but I have been very impressed with what I got for my money. It's all there...nuts and bolts and everything. They even include a speedometer cable extension and a new speedo gear for the OD unit.

Anyways, I'm excited to get in installed into my beast. The 3 speed, 4.10 gears and big block are not condusive to wear-n-tear on parts. I'm not expecting a big drop in gas milage, but being able to keep the motor down to 2300rpm at 65 will be nice on the truck/ears/mind.

I suggest you do you own research and make your own decisions. I'm just giving you my input based on my needs and preferences. Yours may differ...

Hope that helps man! Good luck with your project....

 

dan martin, thanx for the info. i was looking into the gear vendor for my expedition(which didn't like the 6500 lbs of travel trailer) to lower the rpm's in 3rd gear. but i just traded it in on a v-10 excursion and am hoping not to have a problem.

 

Dan,

You will like the US Gear overdrive. I had 1 on my 76 Dually. Never had a problem with it. The only down fall is that I had 3.73, so it was a bit miss matched. I really needed the 4.10 or 4.56 to really take advantage of it. I purchased it used for 400 attached to a C-6 tranny that was rebuildable. I haulled a 10000# trailer around the country at the time.

Steve S.

 

79schaefer,

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty excited to get it installed as soon as the weather gets better here. I'm not really looking to improve on gas milage so much as to calm down the freeway driving. With the 4.10 gears, I think it'll make a big difference. I bet that I could tow an 8000lbs trailer on the freeway in OD easy.

Anything you didn't like about your set up?

 

The only thing I didn't like was the first couple of times I hit the button, the thing made an unsettling bang. You have to maintain your rpm when you shift. If you are on the gas or totally off, it make a heck of a racket going in and coming out of OD. It takes some time to learn. Other than that, I loved it.

Steve S.

 

Note: Gear Vendor is only an overdrive, not underdrive. Underdrive would give you a gear lower than 1st.

 

El, well technically thats right. But the GV folks like to think of their unit as under/over because running in 2nd with the overdrive on is 'under' 3rd gear in direct. Calling it a gear splitter might be more accurate, but if you haven't driven a big truck, you might not be familiar with gear splitting. DF, @ his Dad's house

 

I understand gear splitting quite well. However, the only transmissions that I know about that have both an under & over
drive, also have a direct position(3 sp aux). They also make/made an auxilary that had 2 under, direct, & OD) (4 sp aux). I know what Gearvendor means, but just because you call a dog's tail a leg, doesn't make it a leg. IMHO, Gearvendor does a word play, for people that don't understand.

 

I agree, calling it an under/over drive is a little misleading. Once you read the details though it's easy to see what it does. I would like one but dont have that much money to spend on one.