Gear splitters

[turtlebutt_k]

Does anyone have experience with a "gear splitter ", such as Gear Vendor?

[mhbell]

Originally Posted by turtlebutt_k

Does anyone have experience with a "gear splitter ", such as Gear Vendor?

I had a gear venders on a 1995 class a motor home. As far as I am concerned, it was a waste of money. It did give a higher gear like Overdrive and I was able to split shift going up hills, but it did not do a thing for mileage except maybe i/10th Mpg. I would have been better off spending the money on Headers which I later added and a Banks Ram air to gain a few more HP.
Mel

[turtlebutt_k]

Thanks Mel 😎

[Mr_D]

We put one in our '88 Type B Okanagan MH. It had the TT towing package, a 460 and only weighed 8,800#'s. Just got tired of the high RPM at 70 mph. Still never got 10 mpg though but the noise reduction was nice.
The driveshaft was an aluminum one and they fabricated a new steel one. It had different harmonics and also added some vibration.
Would I do it again? Well, maybe and maybe not.

[GBRG07]

I have seen a few on vehicles I have worked on. They are strong and work well but would not expect any fuel savings. Weight,wind and speed seem to determine fuel used.

[LadyFitz...]

Gear splitters are great with manual transmissions, even more so when also used with a diesel, since they allow you to keep the rpms closer to the range you get your best torque. However, the torque convertor of an automatic performs pretty much the same function so, unless you need a lower overall gear on occasion or you are overgeared, gear splitters aren't much use with automatics.

[turtlebutt_k]

Thanks for all the replies. We have a gas...454ci...with a Banks Power Pack, drive mostly in non-mountainous areas, but wondered if a gear splitter would be worth the money. It doesn't seem to.

[mhbell]

Originally Posted by turtlebutt_k

Thanks for all the replies. We have a gas...454ci...with a Banks Power Pack, drive mostly in non-mountainous areas, but wondered if a gear splitter would be worth the money. It doesn't seem to.

My rig at the time was a 1995 Dolphin with a 454 engine, gas, coach was 36 foot long. The Gear vendors that I had installed was not worth the money. I also had a banks power pack installed and for me and driving in the mountains The Banks was worth it. Just my 02 cents worth.
Mel

[Triker56]

I had installed a US Gear overdrive and a Banks header system both the same day.
Installed in a 1983 HR with 454 and 3 speed automatic.
Next day left on a long trip out west from IL. to SD, then to CO. and back to IN.
Before install average MPG was 6. On long trip average was 6 MPG.

[Smitty77]

I had a GV years ago on a Jeep Wagoneer, and it helped with the use of poser from the big 6, but not MPG.

On our previous 98 Bounder, with a 99 F53 Chassis and the first year of the V10 (A 2 valve that was according to the first owner a bit weak at 275HP. He add the full banks treatment, and said the power was then adequate. I could not compare from before, but felt the power was fine, when I bought it.) But, it had the 4 spd older auto trans. And I always felt that GV would have helped it when hill/mountain climbing. It seemed that third would sometimes bog down, and then the jump to second, would get the engine screaming - as the V10 6.8 does like RPM's. I felt that a 'split gear' between 2nd and 3rd, would have worked very well on hill climbing.

If we had kept the coach, I would have found a GV from a salvage yard, and then have GV check it out and fix anything that needed fixing. (They are about 20 miles from our San Diego home, so easy for me to take it into them.).

So, if you can get your name on a salvage companies 'wish list', and pick up a new one, you might find the investment is worth it.

Best,
Smitty

[Rich-n-Linda]

Originally Posted by LadyFitz...

?..However, the torque convertor of an automatic performs pretty much the same function so, unless you need a lower overall gear on occasion or you are overgeared, gear splitters aren't much use with automatics.

In the Allison 3000 and 4000 transmissions used behind most diesels, the lock-up clutch engages in 2nd gear and stays engaged from there through top gear. There is no torque converter action once that clutch engages.


2006 Mandalay 40E, Cummins ISL 400 HP

[chboone]

I read this on Gear Vendors Web site. Notice the last sentence what they recommend to get better MPG.

Motorhomes — because of the aerodynamic loads of the big box shape, motorhomes fall into two categories. Those with factory overdrive and those without. Without factory overdrive you absolutely need a GEAR VENDORS. 22-28% gains typical on all three speed automatics, plus all the other benefits of gear-splitting ratios etc. for climbing hills and towing. For Motorhomes with factory overdrive the big gains are in the ability to climb hills with better splits in the ratios. Running double overdrive is not practical for saving fuel except in those instances where you have a tail wind because it is really the aerodynamics the dictate the horsepower you need. This is why a motorhome gets big mpg gains by just slowing down to 60 instead of 70mph.

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Rich-n-Linda

In the Allison 3000 and 4000 transmissions used behind most diesels, the lock-up clutch engages in 2nd gear and stays engaged from there through top gear. There is no torque converter action once that clutch engages.


2006 Mandalay 40E, Cummins ISL 400 HP

Thanks! I stand...er...sit corrected.

[capnj]

Back somewhere around 1986-87 , I had a chevy suburban 3/4 ton, four wheel drive ,low geared rear end, extra wide tires and 454 motor. This was in deep so. Tex. flatlands. Ordered a GV from San Diego and had my local mech. install it. Worked fine .Seems like an increase of 1 to 1-1/2 mpg. In 88-89 we bought a used 30ft. Honey class A , 454 cu.in. Mpg seems like it was 4. About the same time I traded the sub. on a new powerstroke, so removed the GV. We took vacation to so. Calif . and brought the GV with us to San Diego where Gear Vendors installed it in the Honey. Went from there up to Frisco, Lake Tahoe, Denver and home, to south Tex. Unit worked great in the mountains and mpg improved by 1/2 mpg. 454s loved to eat! With about 50 miles before we got out of New Mexico on some lonely two lane hwy. a nice patrolman pulled us over and gave me a ticket for 80mph in ( I think ) a 55mph zone. I thought I had been making good time!! Lucky that was the only ticket. Seems that GV forgot to change worm gear on transmission. Probably not much help, but I had fun remembering.