Lets Talk Aux Transmissions

[justinray]

The more I think about it, the more I want to keep the E4OD, I changed the fluid and it was CLEAN, the owner before me was the original owner, and changed it at every 3 oil changes (every 3K, I have reciepts), and used it just as a DD.. What are my options for AUX transmissions for this and pros and cons?
Im 4x4 and plan to stay that way..

 

[Exekiel69]

If You need more gears get a GV unit for highway, You can still use 4wd just not while using the GV. I prefer manual transmission but on daily traffic I would choose an automatic and a well cared for E4OD is a good tranny.

 

[justinray]

Is there a cheaper unit available, the GV costs more than my truck and what I've put into it thus far..

 

[RLDSL]

if you can find a good used brownine ( three or 4 speed auxilliary ) out of an old big truck like I did you can pop one of those in aft of the transfer case and use in 2x4 and get double over and be able to split upper gears and also get a fulll set of deep reduction gears without having to go into 4x4 or get a divorced transfer case and mount between tranny and transfer case and have more gears than you can count
I paid $500 for my brownie with the shifter and the crossmembers, the driveshafts cost me more to have made

 

[saltbranch]

I put a allison 545 auto & brown-lipe 3 spd in a 97 dodge 1 ton. Once setup it ran good and I had good gear options for the road. It was a hot shot truck pulling a 40' G/N trailer. You can shift the brownie when on the road too if needed. Leave auto in D (or OD in your case) and brownie in direct, let the auto shift through its gears to D or OD, then let off throttle and "float" brownie into OD and hit the throttle again. Auto tranny will downshift to correct gear and run through the gears as needed. You can also leave the brownie in OD and not worry about shifting if empty or pulling a light trailer.Only problem with the 4x4 is you would need a 2wd tranny & divorce Tcase to keep 4x4. My buddy has a 68' Dodge crewcab 4x4 with a 3208 cat,allison,brownie,t-case and he has wicked low range options with the brownie in it.
I had 900.00 in custom drive shafts alone. If you can do the fab work to install it might be worth it, especially in the cool dept. Its a long term investment to see the return in cost spent to install either the GV or a brownie.Might try to put the costs on paper and miles normally driven each year, cost of fuel, expected MPG increase with new OD installed and see how that looks.

 

[2stroke]

speedometer gear

What happens to the accuracy of the speedometer with this or any setup with an aux trans

 

[justinray]

Just as accurate as before, seeing as my speedometer is on the rearend and not on the transmission.

 

[hesutton]

Ranger aux trans are an option as well. They actually go infront of the transmission. US Gear (no longer in business) goes between the trans and the T-case. GV's go behind the T-case. And the Brownie box like posted above is another option.

Buddy of mine is going with a Ranger unit for his IH Scout 4BT repower. Going to be slick for sure.

Heath

 

[RLDSL]

Are you noticing a reoccouring theme here... the driveshafts. Mine ran over $1200 but you should see these babies The guy was concerned that we were erally stretching the limits for a single shaft between the main box and the brownie so he built the living snot out of those things and they are literally stout enough for a semi, I can't even lift the front one by myself, but he balanced them like a dream and all i have to worry about is the two weak link 1350 ujoints at the main tranny and the diff, the monsters at the brownie would move a Pete

Even with all that I do still carry my original driveshaft with me on all long trips and i made sure not to cut anything critical off when installing ( which mane thing more difficult ) but this way if by some fluke the brownie ever fails 2000 miles from home, i can have it towed into any gomers shop and point to what needs to come off and I can take the family to a motel and in a max of 2 hours labour for the biggest idiot in the world, they can yank the brownie and throw it in the bed and pop the old 2 piece shaft back on and it will be back on the road.
I have read many terror tales of retired folks with brand new GV units under warranty having to pay to be towed multiple states away to an authorized GV service center to get worked on when those POS things fold on them out on the road many times having to leave their spouse and 5er behind for a few weeks while waiting for the blamed things to get fixed . If you are going to be out away from home,never do a mod that you cant undo in a hurry if it's going to be critical

 

[The Warden]

Ranger aux trans are an option as well. They actually go infront of the transmission. US Gear (no longer in business) goes between the trans and the T-case. GV's go behind the T-case. And the Brownie box like posted above is another option.

Buddy of mine is going with a Ranger unit for his IH Scout 4BT repower. Going to be slick for sure.

Heath

Only problem with the Rangers is that they can only be used with a transmission that has a separate bellhousing, because it goes between the bellhousing and the tranny. So, it'll work on a T-19, but it won't work on a ZF or any automatic transmission. If it wasn't for that, I'd have gotten one of those instead of the Doug Nash for my truck Shame Ranger doesn't make one to go between the tranny and the transfer case...

As to what you want...with a 4x4, it depends on how much flexibility you want with the transfer case. A Ranger or a Doug Nash/U.S. Gear unit can be used with the transfer case in any setting; the GearVendors or a Brownie or such will only be usable in 2WD unless you got a 2WD transmission and a divorced transfer case and ran the second gearbox between them, which is going to take some custom work/$$. I went with a Doug Nash unit because I wanted to be able to split gears while in 4 wheel drive if necessary. With that said, as Heath pointed out, U.S. Gear no longer supports these units, so you'll have to find one used, and you're potentially in serious trouble if it ever lets go.

As to price...you're right that a new GV is hideously expensive. You'd do better to be patient and wait for a used unit IMHO.