3speed Brownie on CL

[GenLightening]

Saw this 3 speed Brownie box local here in Nevada. If anyone wants me to look at it just let me know.

http://goldcountry.craigslist.org/pts/2311784090.html

 

[towcat]

Saw this 3 speed Brownie box local here in Nevada. If anyone wants me to look at it just let me know.

http://goldcountry.craigslist.org/pts/2311784090.html

Trans came out of a concrete truck

think this "brownie" will be bigger than the ZF on our trucks.......

 

[G. Mann]

While on the subject of overdrives... many years ago I had a neighbor who mounted a second transmission behind his transmission, in reverse. He had some un-holy number of gear combinations, and overdrive out the wazzoo.

When you think of it, for example, second gear the normal way takes [for example only] 20 engine turns on the input side and gives 15 turns on the output end.... by driving it from the output side the ratio would be less turns in = more turns out.. ie. overdrive.

Anyone ever thought of playing around with an old tranny that way?

 

[gonecrazyi]

Ive thought about it, but never been ambitious enough to try it. Even running the second tranny facing the correct way would provide some splits.

 

[GenLightening]

I'm waiting to get an answer on what model it is.

 

[Brimmstone]

While on the subject of overdrives... many years ago I had a neighbor who mounted a second transmission behind his transmission, in reverse. He had some un-holy number of gear combinations, and overdrive out the wazzoo.

When you think of it, for example, second gear the normal way takes [for example only] 20 engine turns on the input side and gives 15 turns on the output end.... by driving it from the output side the ratio would be less turns in = more turns out.. ie. overdrive.

Anyone ever thought of playing around with an old tranny that way?

It can be done. It's an unholy amount of work to get it all set up right. Shift linkage will drive you to drinking. In fact it took my buddy getting blind drunk to finally get it together and make it work right. To this day he still can't figure out how he came up with the setup to shift it. Input shaft which became output was the biggest headache to get done. Had to have a sleeve made which fit on the splines of the shaft and brought them up to the correct size for the yoke to fit. New retainer was made up with a couple bearings in it to support the yoke. Finally larger and four more bolts were used to hold the new bearing retainer on. In the end in my mind it was way more trouble then what it was worth. Cruising on the freeway in 4-2 was insane as the engine was barely turning while it was doing 80mph. Hitting a hill with it in anything but direct in the second trans was a joke. Although if you could keep it flat cruising on the freeway fuel mileage was in the 30s. Sounds crazy high but you have to remember running down the highway it was maybe turning 900 rpm at most when he got it into 4-2.

 

[rhkcommander]

I've always wanted a brownie, I could run one even though I'm 4x4 after the transfer case right? Just no engaging 4x4 unless DD?

 

[RLDSL]

I've always wanted a brownie, I could run one even though I'm 4x4 after the transfer case right? Just no engaging 4x4 unless DD?

yup, or you could change out to a divorced TC setup and then pop the brownie in between the tranny and the TC and THEN you would have one *seriously insane* offroad setup
I took my 2x4 dually with it's brownie off on a bunch of 4x4 only roads up around Leadville CO this last Fall while we were up there on vacation. That low range makes for some wicked crawling. pop a tc low compounded behind that and you could climb trees

 

[wmoguy]

It can be done. It's an unholy amount of work to get it all set up right. Shift linkage will drive you to drinking. In fact it took my buddy getting blind drunk to finally get it together and make it work right. To this day he still can't figure out how he came up with the setup to shift it. Input shaft which became output was the biggest headache to get done. Had to have a sleeve made which fit on the splines of the shaft and brought them up to the correct size for the yoke to fit. New retainer was made up with a couple bearings in it to support the yoke. Finally larger and four more bolts were used to hold the new bearing retainer on. In the end in my mind it was way more trouble then what it was worth. Cruising on the freeway in 4-2 was insane as the engine was barely turning while it was doing 80mph. Hitting a hill with it in anything but direct in the second trans was a joke. Although if you could keep it flat cruising on the freeway fuel mileage was in the 30s. Sounds crazy high but you have to remember running down the highway it was maybe turning 900 rpm at most when he got it into 4-2.

Man someone design me something like that and I'll buy it! Too much work for me, but end result I'd be ALL about

 

[GenLightening]

OK, here's his response on the model, "Trans model as best I can tell is either 553 or 5531. Serial # is 27482."

So is it something we can use and is anyone interested?

 

[RLDSL]

OK, here's his response on the model, "Trans model as best I can tell is either 553 or 5531. Serial # is 27482."

So is it something we can use and is anyone interested?

Most likely it's a 5831 the tags get pretty hammered on those things and hard to read . If there were no letters after it that would mean the under drive is a 2.0 and the overdrive is 0.73 it's 155 pounds and roughly 18.5" long ( same case as the one I have )
If I saw a picture I would know.

 

[Diesel JD]

But it could also be a 5531 couldn't it? Very similar transmission if I'm not mistaken. Either way it's one we can use. I don't know if it's worth $600 or not. RL knows these things a lot better than I do. I only paid $350 for mine, crossmember, bolts, linkages and shifter but no driveshafts, yokes or companion flanges. Spicer has told me the bolt on yokes are still available but pricey at $106 bucks apiece and the driveshaft work will cost. The main drawbacks are that the linkages are hard to get exactly right which you must and the driveshaft becomes a custom shaft or uses conversion u-joints because the stock diff and main trannies only go up to 1330 or 1350 (cant remember) u-joints and the smallest the brownies use is 1410. It's heavy no doubt and shifting it will probably be a challenge unless you've driven non syncro manuals before (I haven't)

 

[RLDSL]

But it could also be a 5531 couldn't it? Very similar transmission if I'm not mistaken. Either way it's one we can use. I don't know if it's worth $600 or not. RL knows these things a lot better than I do. I only paid $350 for mine, crossmember, bolts, linkages and shifter but no driveshafts, yokes or companion flanges. Spicer has told me the bolt on yokes are still available but pricey at $106 bucks apiece and the driveshaft work will cost. The main drawbacks are that the linkages are hard to get exactly right which you must and the driveshaft becomes a custom shaft or uses conversion u-joints because the stock diff and main trannies only go up to 1330 or 1350 (cant remember) u-joints and the smallest the brownies use is 1410. It's heavy no doubt and shifting it will probably be a challenge unless you've driven non syncro manuals before (I haven't)

If it truely is a 5531 that would have to have come off a REAL dinosaur. Those things are so old that I don't even have a manual on them and I've got ones to cover everything back into the 60's and mid 50's ( Most of my manuals are dated 1962-67 ) I wouldn't have any specs on it but considering the lower HP engines for that vintage and that most were still gas burners that far back, I would be sure that the OD would be a lower one and the UD would be a real crawler. I'd want to see the teeth on those gears before spending any money on it. Any straight cut box that's been shifted behind a gasser for any length of time will have taken a beating. Some edge chewing and age pitting is normal on any of these things over time, you'll never find one that is not ground up a bit, but some can be mangled to the point of cracking teeth and imbalance.

 

[Dieselcrawler]

yup, or you could change out to a divorced TC setup and then pop the brownie in between the tranny and the TC and THEN you would have one *seriously insane* offroad setup
I took my 2x4 dually with it's brownie off on a bunch of 4x4 only roads up around Leadville CO this last Fall while we were up there on vacation. That low range makes for some wicked crawling. pop a tc low compounded behind that and you could climb trees

no need to low low to climb trees.....

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[RLDSL]

Well for a REALLY wicked setup, checkout this puppy 1989 Kenworth C-550 T/A Twin Steer Oilfield Rig-Up Bed Truck. CAT 3406 475 HP Diesel Eng, FULLER RTO-14715P, 15-spd Man, SPICER 8031-C 3-spd Aux Trans
Talk about a truck that would pull ANYTHING! a 475 cat into a 15overmain box into a 3 speed brownie... That makes for 45 forward gears and 4 reverse and if I'm not horribly mistaken , that sucker is all wheel drive to boot for crawling in and out of those nice muddy oilfields