Brownie FINISHED!

I FINALLY was able to squeeze in enough time to get this thing finished up.
Right now , I'm waiting on the batteries to recharge before I can take it out, It's been sittting a few months, but here's the final pictures all installed. I still need to take the shifter back off and bend it back just a tad more so I can fit a taller shift knob on it, but I'm tired of waiting, I want to drive this thing

awesome... get some mileage numbers soon!

Sweet!

That gives me an idea for an older truck I have. It has like a 4.56 axle ratio... old 1952 GMC 3/4 ton pickup. That brownie you put in your truck looks small enough.

As you pointed out in the other thread, a solenoid could be used to shift...

How is the sticks actually set up? I know how a normal tranny works, but how about a brownie? Like you said, there is an under, direct and over.

Someone tried to explain how shifting a brownie and main trans once, but I forgot.....

Couple of questions for you Rob,

I see you went with the rods for shifting as opposed to a cable. Was that a pita to get lined up?

Did you follow that spicer manual for aligning everything? How did you measure your angles?

How did you end up mounting your shifter?

How far does the shifter throw left to right? Front to back?

Is the aux hard mounted? I can't see any rubber bushings?

Glad you got in finished man
Neat looking setup!

Now watch it. Like mentioned before, everyone that installs one of these things on a forum drops off the planet. Avoid ladders and black cats for a while.

Paul

After further inspection I see you mounted the shifter with angle iron brackets.

Paul

I can't speak for a three-speed Brownie, but my four-speed Dana-Spicer (two unders-direct-over) shifts in a plain H-pattern.

SWEET! I know everyone's gonna ask a load of questions. I guess there's now 3 of us here that have driven a truck w/ a brownie. How does the aux. shifter "feel" when you shift it? Dad's truck always felt a little stiff & "clunky"... if that makes any sense.

Don't forget to impress everyone by going thru all 3 gears in REVERSE!!

very sweet i like it let us know how it drives

VanBoy said:

Sweet!

That gives me an idea for an older truck I have. It has like a 4.56 axle ratio... old 1952 GMC 3/4 ton pickup. That brownie you put in your truck looks small enough.

As you pointed out in the other thread, a solenoid could be used to shift...

How is the sticks actually set up? I know how a normal tranny works, but how about a brownie? Like you said, there is an under, direct and over.

Someone tried to explain how shifting a brownie and main trans once, but I forgot.....

Click to expand...

On this one, it's in a H pattern with nothing inthe 1st position, UD in the 2nd position, direct in the 4th position and OD in the 3rd position.

The way this one is geared, UD is seriously deep and not good for splitting, but in a tight spot, would start in 1st and UD and run uo through 5th , then go to Dir and 2nd and split from there, as DIR 2, OD2, then drop to dir again and up to 3rd, the OD3, etc.

Some boxes are geared un the UD where you can split all three through each gear.

RedTruck said:

Couple of questions for you Rob,

I see you went with the rods for shifting as opposed to a cable. Was that a pita to get lined up?

Did you follow that spicer manual for aligning everything? How did you measure your angles?

How did you end up mounting your shifter?

How far does the shifter throw left to right? Front to back?

Is the aux hard mounted? I can't see any rubber bushings?

Glad you got in finished man
Neat looking setup!

Now watch it. Like mentioned before, everyone that installs one of these things on a forum drops off the planet. Avoid ladders and black cats for a while.

Paul

Click to expand...

Yes making the rids fit was a chore, I got one of those fancy air powered HF 16 ton benders which made the job a bit easier I had the factory shifter and rods, so cut the rods and fit to each end and then welded a sleeve to connect, trickiest part was getting over the driveshaft and crossmembers to hook it up., but it shifts OK sitting there.
still havent got out the driveway yet, When I replaced the slave cyl on the clutch my son helped me bleed it and I think he stomped it to the flooor just a tad too hard as the pedal stuck, and after prying it back up and finishing the bleeding, the pedal is horribly soft and can't get it in gear, pretty sure the master got damaged, so I picked up a new one and am waiting for the rain to stop , yet again.

The shifter throws about 6 " or so front to back, very little side to side.

I do have the outer ears of the tranny mount rubber mounted. although on this application, I probably could have got away with solid mounting since my aftermarket bed is ridgid mounted, the frame does not flex back there where I mounted it under the bed .

discbrks said:

SWEET! I know everyone's gonna ask a load of questions. I guess there's now 3 of us here that have driven a truck w/ a brownie. How does the aux. shifter "feel" when you shift it? Dad's truck always felt a little stiff & "clunky"... if that makes any sense.

Don't forget to impress everyone by going thru all 3 gears in REVERSE!!

Click to expand...

I have to thank you and your dad for those pictures of his setup. It was an inspiration for tackling that shift rod setup

Well done, you are an inspiration to get back on my project brownie---Thanks

How expensive/difficult to find is a unit similar to what you have?

If U.S. Gear doesn't ever go back into OD unit production, I might be interested in something like this in the distant future...

Ah... I get it.

Like shifting a two speed axle, but instead of just 2 choices (hi/low) you have 3 (ud/dir/od).

So, if I had a brownie on my 10 speed and there wasn't enough "power", I could shift to a gear like 9 over or 10 under to keep speed up. The drop between 9th and 10th seems big to me on my 10 speed.

So, if one used a 5 speed and put a brownie to get going..... (using your brownie as an example)...

1 ud
2 ud
3 ud
4 ud
5 ud
2 dir
2 od
3 dir
3 od
4 dir
4 od
5 dir
5 od


My little 9 speed Transtar II semi would benefit for the UD for starting w/ 105.5K off road. The standard low isn't "low" enough for me. Or is it an 8 speed w/ a low...... Same shift pattern as a 10 speed, but you just don't go to the "low" spot after shifting to high. And my KW K100 would benefit from an OD so I squeeze a little more speed out of it w/out red-lining the engine. Unfortunately, there isn't enough drive line to mount one.... especially the little truck (shorter then a pick up wheelbase and is cab over).


Now I see why the old Doug Nash OD (aka US Gear) worked for people w/a stick.... turn the 4 speed to a 8 speed tranny. I suppose that would work for my old '52 GMC pickup... but I doubt they made a OD unit that had a drive line input and output....

The Warden said:

How expensive/difficult to find is a unit similar to what you have?

If U.S. Gear doesn't ever go back into OD unit production, I might be interested in something like this in the distant future...

Click to expand...

Complete units with the shifter and rods show up on ebay on occasion.
There's a big truck wrecking yard in or, Anderson Bros that has quite a selection of used and rebuilt spicer Auxiliary boxes, and I'd be willing to bet they have shifters and rods as well. These things were really popular in that area with the log trucks ( and anyone else who spent a lot of time in the mountains )