No more trans failures: RoadRanger swap

[lurchseesu]

Has that same 3 to 4th as a 3053a Spicer in a duece.



Seems like a really unnatural motion to me. It's what I hated about 10 speeds. Going from a down gate back to another down gate.

[Mr. Mindless]

It took a week or two to get used to it. Surprisingly going back and forth between that and a standard 5 speed never confused me after that. I just got rid of that 5sp though, and my other DD is a slushbox now. I expect having the 13 as my only stick shift will screw me up after a while when I jump into another 5sp!

If you re-label that Spicer's 1 to L, it's an identical pattern...

[72rockcruiser]

@ 4:20, (huh? ) it starts to whine...sounds a lot like an SM420 I had in an old Fj40 once when in 4th, is that direct drive you shifted into?

[Mr. Mindless]

that's the wonderful whine of overdrive.

[[486]]

I could see that (the wierd shift pattern) being so they wouldn't have to dink around with the mainshaft config to get overdrive out of a trans designed without an overdrive top gear.

You have 1 and 2 which are underdrive gears, then 3 which is direct, then 4 which is over, whereas a direct or single-over trans would have 1-3 as underdrive and 4th as direct. Swap the 3rd gear tooth counts around to make it overdrive, and you don't have to mess with the direct dog clutch.

[chrisevans2645]

i also run about 1900-2000 rpms at 75mph. so far i have probably about 40,000 miles on mine though i don't know for sure as it took awhile for me to get a speedometer and i've had several issues with the rear driveline that has forced me to use front wheel drive. i have driven it to texas and back without issue though.
edit: i am running a ceramic clutch which is may be adding to the clutch control issue. my truck was an automatic plus i'm not sure how well the stock components would hold up to the excessive stiffness if i were to use a stock clutch pedal assembly

[mike_belben]

EDIT* I WAS WRONG!

i acquired an RTOO9513 from 1972 and its got the SAME SHIFT PATTERN as mr mindless. 8th is forward right corner, 7th is rearward right corner. sorry for the error.

[chrisevans2645]

no, i have the eaton fuller manual for the rt9513 series and it shows the rt and rto with the up and down the street shift pattern and the rtoo with the around the block shift pattern. not sure why yours is differnt

[bf]

you guys with the big trans been able to get any mpg averages figured out yet?

[MT4Runner]

Originally Posted by bf

you guys with the big trans been able to get any mpg averages figured out yet?

My UHaul/IDI went from 6.5 completely loaded to 7.7, going from a 5-speed with a straight-through 5th gear to a 7-speed with a 0.73 o/d.

[SwampFox89@aol.com]

Originally Posted by bf

you guys with the big trans been able to get any mpg averages figured out yet?

I have a RTO-6610 behind a 5.9 12v in my truck and so far I have gotten 16.24 and 18.95 mpg

[Mr. Mindless]

I think the extra weight and rotating mass mostly made up for my RPM gains. I picked up noticeable milage (15%ish) going to Ford outers with unlocked lockouts.

Looking at my numbers, the first 23k I had the truck with the 5 speeds, I got 11.5mpg
In the 28k since the swap, if I take out the broken injection line tanks, I've gotten 11.8mpg. Probably have done more towing miles since the swap than before.

I haven't put data in the sheet in a while so I don't know how much of a difference my cam swap made, nor the overall average the lockouts made.

I also really exchanged high RPM engine noise for the whine of straight cut gears and overdrive split howl, so I only really improved durability...

[lurchseesu]

That overdrive split howl is something I'm not used to. I've only driven normal .7X OD 13's and didn't remember any noise from them. Of course that was in a Kenworth W9 whose cab sat a couple feet above the trans and then had some pretty amazing sound deadening.

The noise kind of reminds me of a Mack I drove with a 7 speed (5 speed with double low). If you hit the range selector in anything but 1st or 2nd, it would make that same horrible high pitched whine.

[bf]

mr mindless, are these numbers towing?

[Mr. Mindless]

75% towing I'd say. And half of the rest is "city"

It's not one of the magic 25mpg Cummins trucks to say the least. It's never broken 20 since I've owned it. Best tank ever is 19.9. I've gotten 12.5+ towing a few tanks lately though since the lockouts.

[lurchseesu]

Whereabouts do you usually gross? I'd be interested in what your whole setup is. For that matter, I think I've only seen a couple of pictures of the truck before.

[bf]

ditto

[Mr. Mindless]

22-24 most of the time I'd guess. 36' low deck goose open center.

[mike_belben]

whats your impression of the 19.5s and what rubber you got on them?

were they a big change in road feel over the 16s? ive got the identical truck

[Mr. Mindless]

Good upgrade. The tall tread blocks wander a bit on brand new tires, that lasted about 2-3k.

Running traction recap drives on Khumo carcasses. 40k on them and at 3-40% now. I had Continental HDRs on the steers, one flat spotted and I had to swap it. The remaining one is about done. I'll probably put 2-4k more on it and swap it to the matching rib tire to what I put on the other side. Probably do a full set of 6 Treadright remold tires this fall. They're cheaper than I can get caps...

[SwampFox89@aol.com]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mindless

Whats the story with the flattie, I think I know that Jeep.

[Mr. Mindless]

It's possible... It was on its way from Rochester to the coast of CT for some work. It'll be coming back sometime this spring/summer.

[SwampFox89@aol.com]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mindless

It's possible... It was on its way from Rochester to the coast of CT for some work. It'll be coming back sometime this spring/summer.

Yeah, I'm about 30 miles south of Buffalo, don't forget one of those when ya see it around

[Mr. Mindless]

I'll keep an eye out for your J Truck, didn't know you were that close. I was wondering where in NY "the other side of the hill" was, I was figuring Adirondacks.

I hadn't followed your Amerigo thing, just started reading that thread. For a while I really wanted one of those to drop on the front of my gooseneck, but I keep using the hell out of all it's deck space as you can see, so that's a lot less appealing than it was for a while. What you found in there reminds me of the trailer I used to have - and the house I replaced it with... Major reconstruction needed from water damage in both of them, most or all of it hidden from view.

[mike_belben]

i just dragged an RTOO home this week and verified its salvageable last night. northeast roadranger owners group apparently. i think mines earmarked for an MDT tho. i cant justify adding clutch pedal and cutting the floor with only 2 door cab.