Anybody have experience using-----

[james]

Anyone have any experience using the gear vender overdrive products either good or bad? And yes, they are expensive. Also, what about alternative products you might recommend? Thak You! https://www.gearvendors.com/hrford3s.html

[Drew Pojedinec]

I have one in my 63.5 galaxie behind a 447ci fe, roller c6, etc. very nice to have. Makes my 4.30 gears usable.

[Falcon67]

They are used by Drag Week racers a lot - love to have one on the tail of the C4 in the Falcon.  4.56 spool with 28" tires not much of a highway cruiser LOL.

Hell of a warranty: "The Gear Vendors comes with a 2 year unlimited mileage, unlimited horsepower, unlimited abuse warranty plus a 30 day money back guarantee so you know you will be happy about everything from how it installs, performs, and drives."

[falcongeorge]

They are used by Drag Week racers a lot - love to have one on the tail of the C4 in the Falcon.  4.56 spool with 28" tires not much of a highway cruiser LOL.

Hell of a warranty: "The Gear Vendors comes with a 2 year unlimited mileage, unlimited horsepower, unlimited abuse warranty plus a 30 day money back guarantee so you know you will be happy about everything from how it installs, performs, and drives."

How about an aod? One of my project cars is a '67 falcon with a Cleveland, that's what I am doing.
FWIW, I also have a brand x driver with a 700r4 and 4.56s, I HATE the 1/2 spread, but the 4.56s and od are PERFECT on the hwy, I run just a hair over 2800 @ 72 mph.

[FrozenMerc]

I have never used a GearVendors, the cost seemed prohibitive.  A new one will run you $3K to 3.5K depending on application, and you will likely be into it for over $4K after installation (new driveshaft, floor mods, etc.)

I put a Broader built AOD behind the 352 in my '62 Merc Monterey.  Adapted the Cruis-O bellhousing to the AOD case.  All in cost of about $2.5K, and it works wonderfully. 

https://www.broaderperformance.com/

If you have a 3 or 4 speed manual, take a look at an Advance Adaptors Road Ranger Gear Splitter.  I have one installed between the 6.9 IDI and T-19 4 Speed in my '85 F-350.  This is also a wonderful product (a bit noisy in high range), that works really well even with the 4.56:1 rear axle ratio.  They work with just about any Ford 3 or 4 speed manual.  All in Cost of about $2.8K, and I paid someone to do all the work, which included floor mods, new carpet, new clutch, and a shortened driveshaft.  Much cheaper if you do it yourself,

https://www.advanceadapters.com/categories/complete-units/91/

[FrozenMerc]

I have never used a GearVendors, the cost always seemed prohibitive.  A new one will run you $3K to 3.5K depending on application, and you will likely be into it for over $4K after installation (new driveshaft, floor mods, etc.)

I put a Broader built AOD behind the 352 in my '62 Merc Monterey.  Adapted the Cruis-O bellhousing to the AOD case.  All in cost of about $2.5K, and it works wonderfully. 3.6:1 Rear gear and it cruises very happily at 2200 RPMs and 70 mph.

https://www.broaderperformance.com/

If you have a 3 or 4 speed manual, take a look at an Advance Adaptors Road Ranger Gear Splitter.  I have one installed between the 6.9 IDI and T-19 4 Speed in my '85 F-350.  This is also a wonderful product (a bit noisy in high range), that works really well even with the 4.56:1 rear axle ratio.  They work with just about any Ford 3 or 4 speed manual.  All in Cost of about $2.8K, and I paid someone to do all the work, which included floor mods, new carpet, new clutch, and a shortened driveshaft.  Much cheaper if you do it yourself,

https://www.advanceadapters.com/categories/complete-units/91/

[cjshaker]

Like Chris mentioned, tons of abuse with near zero problems during Drag Week by LOTS of guys, and lots of years. We're talking 1000-2000+ horsepower cars! Several guys on here like them and use them. Jay uses them on his Drag Week cars. I bought one last year but haven't installed it yet. I'll be putting it in next year to make my 4:30 geared Mach more highway friendly. Driveshaft will have to be shortened, but several guys say they haven't had to modify the tunnel, or just slightly if it is required (mostly by a little hammer work). Quality is first rate, they come with everything needed, including speedo cable extension and new trans mount. At least mine did.

[TJ]

Can anyone explain to me how the shifting (especially down shifting) works.  I'd like to have one behind the 4 speed manual in my F250 but I'm wondering how I'd go from OD 4th gear to regular 4th gear.   When I come to a hill with my camper hitched, I don't want to just jam it into regular 4th and break something.  Do I clutch and then press the gear vendor shift button as if I was shifting the stick?  Maybe give it a little gas to balance rpm with ground speed?

[Heo]

It is a two speed planetary gear. shifting is
with a hydraulic activated brake band
like a kind of a two speed auto

[RustyCrankshaft]

GearVendors are very nice. Ran them on several hot rod cars and a TON of 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's trucks. REALLY like them in a truck with a manual because you can easily split gears (you can in an auto but splitting is sorta clunky I think and mostly not needed in a car) and it makes towing a lot nicer.

They're pretty tuff units. A planetary and cone clutch are pretty strong and also simple. I've run over 950hp thru basically stock Bravo One outdrives (not recommended) in boats and they use a cone clutch and take some serious abuse. Haven't seen a lot of GV failures, and the ones I have were mostly caused by the owner. Not checking oil, not changing oil, etc.

[BruceS]

Drew, does the C6 and GV combination on your '63 Galaxie require any tunnel mods?  Thinking about that or the Broader AOD to FE conversion. 

[Drew Pojedinec]

Bruce,
right were the flange for the the output shaft/gv meets, it fits, but could use a lil clearance.  It isn't much but to keep the best driveline angles it needs to move up 1/4-1/2 an inch.
I hit it with a hammer a few times and jacked up the sheet metal a lil there.
I believe it's under the back seat, so appearance isn't a huge deal.  I'd just put down carpet, but would have liked to have really made the area much higher.

I did the math on AOD capable of surviving 600hp and slicks vs a c6 +GV.
I did NOT buy my GV at retail, I took a salvage unit and rebuilt it.
Even at retail The C6/GV won out.....
Your math might look differently, but when you figure all the work to get an AOD to survive, plus that fact that I used nothing but stock parts in my c6, plus convertor cost, etc, the c6 makes more and more sense.
There is no part for my setup that I can't just order out of a catalog.
My math also counts me building everything, so there is that.

Either way, looking back, I wouldn't do anything differently.
If you do a 63.5 Galaxie with c6/gv the driveshaft will end up in the 45.25-45.5 inch range.  I used a 4inch aluminum, no complaints.

[BruceS]

Drew thanks for the insight and opinion.  Bruce

[Tommy-T]

Just a humorous side note...

I was at a car show with my blown 427 Mustang when the guy from Gear Vendors came out to sell me one of his overdrives.

I told him that I had been a Volvo technician for a very long time and his unit looks just like a Laycock overdrive that the Sweeds had been using since the '60's.

He got a good chuckle from that. "You nailed it" he said. He said his dad started the business using the Volvo units, and when Volvo went to 5 speed transmissions in the late '80's he bought as much remaining stock as he could. As service parts dried up Gear Vendors started making and upgrading parts as necessary.

I'll say this about the Laycock overdrive in the stock configuration. In 35+ years of working on Volvo's, I have never seen one fail. The solenoids sometimes fail (a rare occurrence) but the actual unit never. When the cars get over 200K miles on them and the OD's start acting "quirky", just drain the ATF out of them and put 30 weight oil in. Then you'll be good for another 100K.

Sooo...when you bolt up your new Gear Vendors overdrive to your 900 horsepower hot rod...it could have come from behind a 100 horsepower Volvo B20.

[Heo]

As i live in Sweden i have a good supply of Volvo overdrives so
Often you get them for free if you take the whole car.
I have a few of them so i was thinking i must try to fit one
to the Galaxie and See how long it will survive
There is the D type that's the 100 hp B 18/B20 type, i think
that one i will kill instantly
They went to Jtype in the 70s and P on the turbos in the 80s.
I believe the GV is a P  with a bigger output shaft, they are rated
what??2000 hp.  I think a regular P cant be that much weaker that
it will not survive 4-500 hp and lbs/ft

It was fun to bypass the wiring so you could use the overdrive
in all gears but that reduced their life big time probably due to
to low oilpressure with to low rpm on the inputshaft so the clutch slipped.
 But hey you bought or got another Amazon for next to nothing took the tranny sold some parts
and came out with more money