I whould like to see some

and how does this overdrive work
are they comen
are they big $$$
what where they used for

I whould like to know all ther is to know

Brownies are big rig transmissions (at least the ones I'm familiar with). Can't think of any four wheelers that they would physically fit into. What in the world is "comen"?

Edit: Nevermind, you meant common. Spellcheck anyone?

from my understanding it is an overdrive unit that goes behind an tranny :confused:

I have on sitting in the shop. Unfortunately I don't have a digital camera. Anyway I don't know if Brownie was a brand name or what but lots of people made them. New Process was a big seller of these and they are in lots of medium duty trucks of the 40's through the 70's. Mine is about the size of an sm 420 but it is about 2 inches shorter and maybe a little smaller around. They are all divorce mounted. I have seen very few however that are overdrive. My grandpa's wrecker had an overdrive but they seem to be hard to find. The common use for them was to increase the load pulling ability of a truck therefore they were all underdrive units. Their use died off when diesels became popular. So to find one look in an old gas powered farm truck logging truck. Basically anything that pulled heavy loads with a gutless engine. Anyway IIRC mine has a low range on 3.5:1 (roughly) intermediate 2:1 and high was a direct 1:1. These ratios were juggled depending on what the truck needed and what the gearbox manufacturer offered but this is a fairly common setup. I wanted to mount mine to use for a crawler box with my NP 205 but I just don't have room for 2 more stubby driveshafts. In a super long wheelbase though this would be a killer way to get an unbreakable (mine is rated at 38,000 GCWR) and cheap low range. You can pick these up for like $50-$100 around here. Thats about all I know!

hmmm interisting..... not what I had in mined

Paul diden't you have some sort of overdrive behind your 400?


a question to all

say you had a 3/4 ton GMC van with a FI 350 and a TH 700. say that 700 blows so you throw in a 400 but you want an overdrive
what do you do. is ther somthing one can look for at the wreckers

Gear vendors makes a bolt on overdrive but it ain't cheap. Unless you find an od tranny in the yard I don't think you will have any luck finding anything. The only other overdrives that are common that I can think of are the ones that came on cars in the 50's that were added to the back of the 3 speeds they had then. I doubt they would adapt or hold up to a truck though. Later

Dont know about an overdrive behind an auto except Gear vendors. They should be able to help you out, but it aint cheap. the previous posts here made me think of a box built by Brabnoid Mountain Gear that I saw a write up about in one of the rags a few years back. It had 2 underdrives, a strait drive and an over drive, was built out of big truck parts, air shifted, about 11 inches long, and the write up put one in a ford ranger. I havent heard anythign about the company in a couple years, but am pretty sure they were making a low range box for jeeps as well, with a 2.72 low that was about the same dimensions as the Klune unit. Hmmm, would an Advanced Adapters range splitter work in front of an auto? I've never heard of one installed with an auto, but dont see why it wouldnt work.

brownies are big truck auxiliarry transmissions, they were used to give a gas truck more pulling power, or to provide close enough ratios in a diesel truck. My buddy has a 3 speed brownie in his '57 oshkosh 3 ton all wheel drive welding rig (behind his DT466 international, and his 5 speed fuller transmission. it is divorce mounted, about 16" long, 12" wide, and 16" high, and weighs right around 250-300lbs. It is also non synchronized (double clutch all shifts), and is a direct with two underdrives, I've never seen one with an overdrive.
Hope this helps,

Cheif, why you so sold on "Overdrive", use the underdrive capabilities of the Brownie to you advantage:

Gear the axles high (3.31 or even higher), then use the underdrive's to still give you some decent low end power.


Basicaly, you have made your normal final, 1:1 ratios equivlent to the over all ratio you would get with an over drive and lower gears.... essentualy they are the same thing...


just my $.02
-mark

I like them because when your in the mountans 3rd is the pulling gear and when you hit the flar open road it is nice to kick the enging rmps down about 700 and cruse. But it looks like my opctions are alot of $$$ for a "luxery"

I have a Spicer 5831B sitting in the back of my M37. It has ratios 2.35, 1.00, 0.85. I found it on Ebay for $199. It's about the size of a SM420 or NP435, not quite as heavy. I plan to mount it behind the NP540 5spd which is behind the Perkins 4.236T, in front of a NP205, in my '42 Dodge WC53 Carryall. With 4.89s with 37X12.5R16.5 Michelin XLMs, actually about 36.1". With 0.821 5th top gear will be 3.42, about 1950 rpm @ 60 mph.
Charlie

Originally posted by Charles Aarons
I have a Spicer 5831B sitting in the back of my M37. It has ratios 2.35, 1.00, 0.85. I found it on Ebay for $199. It's about the size of a SM420 or NP435, not quite as heavy. I plan to mount it behind the NP540 5spd which is behind the Perkins 4.236T, in front of a NP205, in my '42 Dodge WC53 Carryall. With 4.89s with 37X12.5R16.5 Michelin XLMs, actually about 36.1". With 0.821 5th top gear will be 3.42, about 1950 rpm @ 60 mph.
Charlie

Does your 5831B look something like this?

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/74tette/brownie/4_29_2002/pic612.JPG

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/74tette/brownie/4_29_2002/pic614.JPG

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/74tette/brownie/4_29_2002/pic615.JPG

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/74tette/brownie/4_29_2002/pic616.JPG

Just picked it up on Sunday. Supposed to be a 3spd aux with direct, low, and overdrive.

Roughly the size of a T18 w/o bell n' such.


I bought it to put in my tow-rig, a 1974 IH 200 Travelette. 166" WB, currently 2wd (4x4 down the road). An OD aux would help fix the hole between 3rd (1.7) and 4th gear (1) until I get a 5spd direct to put in. The OD in 4th will also help with the 4.30 gears and 235/85-16s while hauling an empty trailer..

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/74_100/4_29_2002/pic611.JPG

Just need to figure out how I want to mount it and get everything sorted out and the driveshafts cut down, etc... and leave room to mount the NP205 behind it, and probably a carrier bearing on the aux x-member for the front driveshaft..

My tow-rig is going to have 100:1 before my trail rig does...

some of us have no option on gearing and need overdrive, I'd love to get one in my dodge ram deisel. I have a 5 gear but still needs more gears at highway speed. the dana60 will only go to 3.5's, 3.08 would be better for what I do.

Originally posted by mytzlflick
some of us have no option on gearing and need overdrive, I'd love to get one in my dodge ram deisel. I have a 5 gear but still needs more gears at highway speed. the dana60 will only go to 3.5's, 3.08 would be better for what I do.

The tallest gear ratio offered for my IH RA-15 1Ton rear axle is 4.30:1.. which is what I have. :-)

GREAT for towing.. 3000rpm/65mph is great.. but not so great when cruising along empty..

The Gear Vendors unit is really nice. US Gear also makes one which is a bit more afforadable but it doesn't hold up as well. My dad had both these units in his F250 behind a C-6 at one time or another. He liked the Gear Vendors unit better.

Just an FYI on Gear Vendors vs. US Gear:

Gear vendors cannot be used below ~25 mph (or maybe 35?)
Gear vendors cannot be used in od with an exhaust brake (diesel).

From what I understand, the gear vendors does shift way smoother than US gear.

Pete