1987 F350 6.9 4X4 Dually Centurion

Today I picked up a 1987 F350 CC Centurion Conversion 4x4 dually with a Banks turbo and Gear Vendors overdrive. The 6.9 has a blown head gasket. I have a beat up '90 4x4 with a solid low mile 7.3 E4OD that is going to be a motor donor for the 1987. I'm interested in hearing opinions regarding using the C6/Gear Vendors setup vs. using the E4OD.

Can't beat a C6+od with a stick from what I've gathered.

My E4s have been good to me (knock on wood) so dunno, I'd keep the current setup for simplicty's sake. E4ODs have more electronics than I'm comfortable with.

Good point on the simplicity. Plus, the C6/Gear Vendors combo is a new experience to me, so may as well get a feel for something different.

C-6 has no od, no electrical gremlins either.
C-6 and vender for me.
You Ride a shovelhead??

C6 doesn't have a lock up TQ does it? E4ODs have been good to me as long as you keep a good cooler on them and a temp guage to monitor . lots of the strong parts in the C6 were used in the E4OD..............................

Cool centurion regardless, I have a 1990 C350 4x4 diesle I plan on restoring in the next 3-5yrs depending on the offspring's interest.

True
Research the history, the c-6 is and can be totally bullet proof/d, so can the e40d( price goes way up).
I towed the 5er with the c-6 in the Sierra's ONCE, then bought a zf truck.... The lack of decompression braking brought the suck!

The full tilt e4od would rock but for that price you could build both the tranny and od you have now.
Just my .02
I would like a 5 gear with a 3sp brownie myself.

I thought decompression braking would be better with the ZF. Are you saying the C6/Gear Vendors is a better option than the ZF in your experience??
My main bike is an '81 Electraglide. I've got a '79 Superglide chop, and an '81 Wide basket. Plus, I have an '03 Heritage. I sold my '79 Electraglide 15 years ago. One of the dumbest things I've ever done. Even my mom was pissed.

79GLIDE said:

I thought decompression braking would be better with the ZF. Are you saying the C6/Gear Vendors is a better option than the ZF in your experience??

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I could be mistaken, but I think he was saying that he disliked the lack of compression braking with the C6 so much that he got a ZF5 so he could compression-brake. Certainly, I compression-brake with my ZF5 truck all the time and it works quite well...I can get from freeway speeds to 15 MPH before touching the brake pedal

Personally, I'm a BIG fan of manual transmissions for simplicity and for compression braking. However, if forced to go with a slushbox, I'd shell out the money and build up an E4DOA. The C6 is a strong transmission and can be built to be bulletproof at considerably less cost than an E4DOA, but IMHO the torque converter lockup in the E4DOA is worth the price of admission if you do a lot of highway driving.

Since both trucks are 4x4, the GV unit should either be mounted to the back of the transfer case or replace the carrier bearing, so you should be able to swap it over and run it with the E4DOA and get double-overdrive

I say do the e4od/gv swap. The gv goes on the vack of the tcase anyway. Not likely you would use double OD very often, but you could possibly regear to 4.56/4.88 and make that thing a rocket ! Rebuilding an e4od isnt that difficult. Ive rebuilt 7? So far. The update parts make these things literally bomb proof(there was an e4od/4r100 swap for the 5.9 crowd at one point), but the torque converter is the one piece you can't save money on. I made that mistake.

Gosh durned double post

I sold the bricknosed c-6 towpig when the tranny would not hold back the 5k fiver on monitor pass headed down to 395....
The c-6 won't hold ya back..
The e4od (I think can be modded to lock the converter)...
Me I would put the gv on a 5 gear.
But for flat ground anything is ok

Hope this clears it up????

kuskoal said:

I say do the e4od/gv swap. The gv goes on the vack of the tcase anyway. Not likely you would use double OD very often, but you could possibly regear to 4.56/4.88 and make that thing a rocket

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If you have 3.55 gearing, you won't use the GV. If you go with 4.10 gearing, the GV will let you cruise along going 70MPH at the low end of the power band(2K-ish), and go much faster if you want. Double overdrive and 4.10 gearing is great; 3.55 gearing basically would give you that double overdrive with the OD in the E4OD by itself.

For heavy towing, 4.10 gears, a GVOD and ZF or E4OD is great; you can use single-OD for highway towing and double-OD for empty towing. With the banks turbo, you'll have a lot more power than stock, at least as long as you tune the engine up and install a pyrometer etc.

I would prefer the ZF, but lost most of my Lt leg in an accident last August. I rigged up a solid and safe hand clutch on my '90 2 wheeler with a ZF, and could do the same on this rig. I could dig around for the numbers, but does anyone here know what the factory final ratio is for the C6, E4OD and the ZF?

Well that does change things...I am a bit of a gimp also...
I would look into the e4od mods, but the c-6 and gv is in already.
Whats the end use gunna be?

Towing a 5th wheel, and/or gooseneck.