Gear Vendor/Gear splitter

[Blanco1]

Have any of you run a gear Vendor?

Is it worth it?

[Cummins12V98]

Big rigs have engine brakes.

Like mentioned gearing is not going to help much on a pickup diesel truck. But hey give it a try!

[Blanco1]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Blanco1 wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
More gears would not necessarily help with slowing the rig down in place of an exhaust brake. It would in a gas rig but not in a diesel.
Going up it would probably help but not coming back down.
Barney

Really?!?!?!

& on what do you base that comment from?
How many years have you been driving Diesels?

Big Rigs?

You ever notice on mountains grades going down hills there are always signs reminding the Big Rigs to use lower gears.

I wonder why that is?

They both have their place I'm sure..

But my main experience is from big rigs with everything from 9 speeds to 13 speeds & with both Engine Brakes & exhaust brakes as well as big rigs with no aux brakes at all.

& in those cases, you basically slow it down & let the trans do most of the work.

That being said, I've never driven a pick up truck with a EB.

Everyone of those trucks have an EB!

Dude no offense!
But you obviously have no idea what your talking about when when it comes to driving big rigs!
You say "EVERYONE OF THOSE TRUCKS HAVE AN EB" WRONG!!!!

I've been driving big for about 1/2 my life & MANY don't have any sort of EB at all!
The ones that do, normally have an Engine Brake ( Jake Brake ) & only one I have driven had an Exhaust Brake & MANY have nothing but that foot pedal to slow you down.

I drove a rig about 9 years that had no EB of any sort!
Trust me not fun on steep mountain roads.

But you just drive much slower using the transmission gears to keep you slowed down & in control.

[BarneyS]

Blanco,
I drove truck (big rigs)for quite a few years, and drove my 2002 Ford 7.3 PSD
for about 250,000 miles, and my 2016 CTD for 20,000 miles before trading it a few weeks ago.

My experience has been that a diesel does not produce much engine braking because it does not have a way to close off the air intake as a gas engine does. There is a small bit of engine retardation but not enough to hold back a trailer on a long downhill run.
It was also my experience that all the otr trucks I drove had a jake brake or other means of holding the rig back. I added an exhaust brake to my Ford and my Ram had one from the factory.

If you have never driven a diesel pickup then you would be very suprised the first time you tried a downhill run towing a heavy trailer without an exhaust brake. A pickup is not a big rig!

Hope that helps explain my statement.
Barney

[Cummins12V98]

Blanco1 wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
More gears would not necessarily help with slowing the rig down in place of an exhaust brake. It would in a gas rig but not in a diesel.
Going up it would probably help but not coming back down.
Barney

Really?!?!?!

& on what do you base that comment from?
How many years have you been driving Diesels?

Big Rigs?

You ever notice on mountains grades going down hills there are always signs reminding the Big Rigs to use lower gears.

I wonder why that is?

They both have their place I'm sure..

But my main experience is from big rigs with everything from 9 speeds to 13 speeds & with both Engine Brakes & exhaust brakes as well as big rigs with no aux brakes at all.

& in those cases, you basically slow it down & let the trans do most of the work.

That being said, I've never driven a pick up truck with a EB.

Everyone of those trucks have an EB!

[Cummins12V98]

Blanco1 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
You will NEVER make up the cost in fuel savings.

For me it would be more about control than MPG's.
Going up & down grades would allow you to stay better in your power band.

Put an exhaust brake on your truck. That's the control you need with a diesel.

[1320Fastback]

I got my aux trans because I wanted it, nothing to do with MPG. For my truck the 2-3 and 3-4 shift are pretty steep and it would be nice to split them as well as 18% over in Direct to save on towing in OD.

[Blanco1]

BarneyS wrote:
More gears would not necessarily help with slowing the rig down in place of an exhaust brake. It would in a gas rig but not in a diesel.
Going up it would probably help but not coming back down.
Barney

Really?!?!?!

& on what do you base that comment from?
How many years have you been driving Diesels?

Big Rigs?

You ever notice on mountains grades going down hills there are always signs reminding the Big Rigs to use lower gears.

I wonder why that is?

They both have their place I'm sure..

But my main experience is from big rigs with everything from 9 speeds to 13 speeds & with both Engine Brakes & exhaust brakes as well as big rigs with no aux brakes at all.

& in those cases, you basically slow it down & let the trans do most of the work.

That being said, I've never driven a pick up truck with a EB.

[BarneyS]

More gears would not necessarily help with slowing the rig down in place of an exhaust brake. It would in a gas rig but not in a diesel.
Going up it would probably help but not coming back down.
Barney

[Blanco1]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
You will NEVER make up the cost in fuel savings.

For me it would be more about control than MPG's.
Going up & down grades would allow you to stay better in your power band.

[Blanco1]

ScottG wrote:
Problem with them is they don't like lots of torque run through them backwards. So it you have an exhaust brake you shouldn't use them.

Interesting thought?

But I'm thinking with 10 gears an exhaust brake may not be as needed being you have more gears to play with vs that gap in between where the EB comes in so helpful.

But I'm assuming the EB would be less expensive?

[Blanco1]

Grit dog wrote:
I could think of better ways to spend 3 grand on the truck, but they're kinda cool if you like driving a semi!

Well I am a class A truck driver, yet I don't drive big rigs very often.
Yet my truck totally reminds me of a big rig.

[Bedlam]

ScottG wrote:
Problem with them is they don't like lots of torque run through them backwards. So it you have an exhaust brake you shouldn't use them.

2x

[Cummins12V98]

You will NEVER make up the cost in fuel savings.

[Grit_dog]

I could think of better ways to spend 3 grand on the truck, but they're kinda cool if you like driving a semi!

[1320Fastback]

I have a Mitchell gear splitter but have yet to put it in my old Dodge. It is a modern Brownie Box basically being fully synchronized and made of aluminum. This particular one is 6% under and 18% Over.

Can't wait to have 10spds forward and 2 in reverse!

Having a old Cummins I was seriously considering a Fuller RTOO6610 but they are super hard to find and pretty expensive even when used with hundreds of thousands of miles on them.

With the Mitchell I will use the stock transmission which is easy to rebuild at home if needed some day.