Air shift brownie on ebay

[RLDSL]

For anyone whose been thinking about popping a brownie in, take a gander at this baby !
It's an air shift 8341D ( or a P-8341D would be the correct way to put that but the owner isnt quite sure
I searched for a couple of years when getting ready to do a brownie in mine , before I finally gave up and had to settle for a 3 speed manual shift. I'd give my left nut for this thing.
The way it's set up you get a deep reduction range, 1st in teh brownie, shift 1-5 in the main box, go to 2nd in the brownie and 2nd in the main ( UD from now), then 3( direct) and 4th ( OD ) then 3 in the main box and UD , dir, OD, 4th and UD, dir, OD. All Brownie shifts are very smooth and simple, dome by a preselect with the air shift switch and a flick of the throttle ( and of course, you dont HAVE to split each gear, you can drive your ZF like a normal 5 speed, or of behind a 4 speed, likewise when empty and you can skip gears, just use what you need, its just REALLY great to have exactly what you need, I know, having 15 gears is wonderful, but having that air shift would be simply heaven.

If I wasn't so friggen broke, I'd be on that thing like a buzzard on roadkill

 

[justinray]

What would the install look like?

 

[93cc7.3]

man 1000 clams is outta my ball park

 

[icanfixall]

I have seen Roberts installation and it not hard to do. He was concerned about the rear driveshaft angle and short length... But with all the miles towing he has put on that its no problems. This is a great deal. I only with I had the time and money to buy this.. But then selling off my gear vendors and BTS E4OD would have to be worked into this buy.

 

[GOOSE]

The 8000 series is one heavy beast. Funny, I have a scrap piece of paper on the desk with the gear options that a 5831C would give me. Yeah, a Brownie is always on my mind. Too bad my wallet is suffering the same disease as many others.....its empty.

 

[justinray]

The 8000 series is one heavy beast. Funny, I have a scrap piece of paper on the desk with the gear options that a 5831C would give me. Yeah, a Brownie is always on my mind. Too bad my wallet is suffering the same disease as many others.....its empty.

Heavy in weight or heavy in duty?

 

[justinray]

And what are the splits of this box?

 

[RLDSL]

And what are the splits of this box?

1st ( deep reduction ) 2.40, ud 1.22 , dir 1.00, od .813

Its very similar to what I have in my brownie, except I dont have the extra UD gear.
With a 4.10 rear I tow heavy on the interstate on the flats in 4 over most of the time for optimal fuel mileage and power ( and rarely have to shift at that point ) and when stuffing a trailer in tight steep places that deep reduction range is pure joy, just let the clutch out and let it walk, no more destroying the clutch and shaking the poor truck to death.

 

[justinray]

1st ( deep reduction ) 2.40, ud 1.22 , dir 1.00, od .813

Its very similar to what I have in my brownie, except I dont have the extra UD gear.
With a 4.10 rear I tow heavy on the interstate on the flats in 4 over most of the time for optimal fuel mileage and power ( and rarely have to shift at that point ) and when stuffing a trailer in tight steep places that deep reduction range is pure joy, just let the clutch out and let it walk, no more destroying the clutch and shaking the poor truck to death.

Sounds promising, what would I need to buy other than this box? Whats the install look like?

 

[GOOSE]

This would effectively give you 12 forward speeds.

Deep reduction 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
3 under, 3, 4 under, 4, 4 over, 5, 5 over.

5 under gives you a .939 ratio which could be very useful around town. You also get overdrives of .813 in 4 over, .55 in 5th and .626 in 5 over.

You can go through 1u, 1, 1o, 2u,2,2o in lieu of the deep reduction and and have 13 forward speeds.

Rob, what is the size/ weight difference of the 8000 series air shift compared to your 5000 series box? Is the 8000 series air shift a single countershaft box still where as the drag coefficient is on the decent side for efficiency? I thought the 8000 boxes were more at home in like a L8000 Ford and the 5000 series were more suited to the old F500/600's. Are the 6000 and 8000 boxes better suited to a one ton than I originally presumed?

 

[RLDSL]

Sounds promising, what would I need to buy other than this box? Whats the install look like?

You would have to get driveshafts made up. You *could * have yours modified, personally, I'm captain overkill and I like to have backup plans. Even though I have an auxilliary that was built to pull 73,280 + pounds and teh chances of it failing are somewhere between slim and none, I still dont like to take chances on ling trips , so I saved teh factory shaft and kept the mount for the center support in place ( it would have been easier to cut it out ) but that way if for some crazy reason , the thing ever fails on a long trip 1500 miles from home, I mounted it in a way to where it could be towed into ANY Gomer's shop while I take the family to a diner or motel and in a maximum of 2 hours labour, including coffee breaks, the brownie and driveshafts could be removed and tossed in the bed and the factory driveshaft could be reconected and we could be back on the road ( try THAT with a Gear Vendors or any other add on OD system )

I had to weld up the mounts, fairly simple, basically hung across the top of the frame rails and mounted on some rubber mounts I found at a peterbilt dealer. I had to bend up shift rods and mount a shifter, but thats where the two boxes differ.
With this unit you would need to ask if it comes with the 4 way air shift knob, if not, you would have to call a big truck wrencking yard and get a air shift knob from a 4 way air shift brownie ( one from a newer 1241p or SST would work, and those are plentiful and it would replace your shift knob with an adapter ) you would need to buy an electric constant duty air compressor and a storage tank to run the thing and a whole bunch of plastic spaghetti air line to plumb it in, but it shifts entirely off the 4 way switch in the shift knob, which actually makes mounting easier ( on mine I needed top clearance for the shift setup, theair shift box doesnt require that and can be tucked up in there tighter. ) Driveshaft angles are critical when mounting and you have to mock up your assembly to figure your angles before committing to a driveshaft setup ( you can find spicers driveshaft manual online, just because you see 4x4s doing things with driveshafts, doesnt mean its a good idea ) I found a great builder who normally does big trucks and log skidders etc. I'm not concerned about my driveshafts ever twisting up on me.

Word to the wise, wear LOTS of leather for all that overhead welding

 

[GOOSE]

If that Brownie will hold up in this.

http://www.cranenetwork.com/printPreviewListing?id=135480

 

[RLDSL]

If that Brownie will hold up in this.

http://www.cranenetwork.com/printPreviewListing?id=135480

BINGO!
THis is what folks dont realize. These were for the heavy haulers of their day. Just because they came out with the 1241p twin countershaft model and everyone went to that on all the newer ones, folks think that the older single countershaft boxes are wimpy for some reason, nothing could be further from the truth. THese things were built for full size semi trucks and heavy haulers. The larger boxes werent really for the heavier loads as much as they were for the BIGGER ENGINES to prevent twisting the things apart internally. It was not uncommon at all to see a smaller engine used as a heavy hauler with multiple single countershaft brownies. I remember being towed one time by an old mid 60s pete wrecker with either a 262 or 290 cummins and 3 sticks out in west Texas , he was pulling a combined load of about 125k Wasnt setting any speed records, but that old boy had taken beautiful care of that thing and he was running payment free

Now if you were to bolt one of these things up behind some modern monster, you might have problems, but they still used to bolt them behind 425 hp cats, so they are by no means wimpy.

 

[GOOSE]

One other question that creeps in my mind is whether or not you could use a 2wd transmission, install the brownie, then unstall a divorced NP205 or similar transfer case so the gears would be useable in 4wd. The Front D shaft may need a carrier bearing at that point. With 4:10's, NP205 and the diesel ZF5, you would have a crawl ratio of 78:1. If you could divorce mount a 1356 with its 2.72:1 low range, you would get 110:1 final reduction ratio.

I would plan on mounting the Brownie where the rear carrier bearing goes like Robert did and keeping the brownie in 1:1 for 4wd duties. The divorced T-case behind the Brownie would be the ultimate though.

 

[Jake_IN]

Word to the wise, wear LOTS of leather for all that overhead welding

Actually you were just doing it wrong. These guys have the right idea and dont have as high of a risk of burning them self.

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