Overdrive kit for A

[Torque 6.4 F-450 HD]

I want to change the rear gears in my 450 to 4.10's but some people I talk to say you can't change the rear gears in a 450. I'm not an expert on gearing but it does have a fully tig welded cover on the the back. But I really want an overdrive kit like the gear vendors unit, at cruising speed on the highway it can drop your cruising rpm's by 500-600 which can improve your mpg significantly and make it easier on the truck,and smoother. But the gear vendors kit will only operate properly on a stock truck. Can anyone please help me on what companies make good strong units. My mods are in my signature...whatever you guys can do to help would be greatly appreciated I really need an overdrive kit. My truck is an automatic btw...let me know whatever possible about the overdrive units. Thanks again guys.

-Jeff

[Ryan Rønning]

I have talked to a guy here in town that has a 450 with a gear vender and a DPF delete and tune. He admits he babies the truck and hardly ever runs it in the high settings but it is holding up just fine. Its been on the truck almost since new. As far as the re gearing, it is simple to regear these trucks. Randy's Ring and Pinion makes kits for our trucks and the rear axle is especially easy as it is a third member, meaning everything comes out of the diff as a unit instead of in pieces.

[LBSRACING]

I have seen many gear venders set ups on 1000+ cars. I mo it would hold up just fine. It never hurts to call and ask them.

[44magnum]

Ya the fact they put them on high-hp cars would tell me they should hold up fine, then again I heard the ones for our trucks aren't made to handle anything more than stock. I emailed them but never got a response, so if your really serious I would suggest calling them.

[Torque 6.4 F-450 HD]

Does anyone else have any info on the gear vendors system or any other overdrive kit.

[oceanstateperf]

Originally Posted by Torque 6.4 F-450 HD

Does anyone else have any info on the gear vendors system or any other overdrive kit.

Looked into a Gear Vendors for my F550 with 4.88 gears.................Gear Vendors told me not to buy one for my intended use. I do long distance boat hauling with the truck..........not uncommon for me to be towing 15k+ lbs for 800+ miles per day. The Gear Vendors unit is rated for 25k lbs combined weight but they said if I run even close to that weight for any extended periods of time it will fail. I was told that it would over heat on long hauls due to the limited fluid capacity of the unit.........even with their optional commercial cooler system. They also said that the cone clutch they use for reverse would fail if I tried to back up any type of incline with a good amount of weight behind the truck. So I was ready to spend the money and Gear Vendors told me not to for what ever it's worth. Might be OK for normal recreational towing but if you tow regularly up to the capacity of your 450 it probably wont last long according to them.

From what research I've done there isn't another option right now. US Gear used to make a gear to gear unit that was supposedly much stronger but they stopped making them a number of years ago. I've search online for a used one but had no luck.

[oceanstateperf]

BTW, you can change the ring and pinion on your Dana 110 rear.............the whole center section drops out the front of the housing like a big over grown 9" Ford rear. Randys R&P says they have the gears but they told me only 4.30's or 4.88's. I found many more ratio options when talking to some of the "big truck" parts suppliers in the area. There is a difference in the actual drop out housings between the Ford and big truck with the Ford housing having a provision for the ABS sensor. From what I was told the ring and pinions should interchange?

[MD05]

Originally Posted by oceanstateperf

Looked into a Gear Vendors for my F550 with 4.88 gears.................Gear Vendors told me not to buy one for my intended use. I do long distance boat hauling with the truck..........not uncommon for me to be towing 15k+ lbs for 800+ miles per day. The Gear Vendors unit is rated for 25k lbs combined weight but they said if I run even close to that weight for any extended periods of time it will fail. I was told that it would over heat on long hauls due to the limited fluid capacity of the unit.........even with their optional commercial cooler system. They also said that the cone clutch they use for reverse would fail if I tried to back up any type of incline with a good amount of weight behind the truck. So I was ready to spend the money and Gear Vendors told me not to for what ever it's worth. Might be OK for normal recreational towing but if you tow regularly up to the capacity of your 450 it probably wont last long according to them.

From what research I've done there isn't another option right now. US Gear used to make a gear to gear unit that was supposedly much stronger but they stopped making them a number of years ago. I've search online for a used one but had no luck.

Visited teh shop in San Diego a couple of years ago and they told me the same thing, tow heavy even a 5,500 camper they said they woudl nto recommend their product. Issue is nto the HP or the torque it is the harmonics that Diesels produce that kills the unit. That said there are a lot of guys out there running GV units. I opted to a set of 265/70R 19.5, 34.5 tall. Effective gearing is 3.98:1, with a H&S setup and 500HP on tap I do nto have much of a problem pulling anything.

Cheers

[MD05]

PS going to do a ring and pinion.... the pinion nut torque is 832lbft!

Gonna need a big wrench for that.

[LBSRACING]

Originally Posted by MD05

PS going to do a ring and pinion.... the pinion nut torque is 832lbft!

Gonna need a big wrench for that.

haha yeah when I rebuilt my first international rearend years ago that was about the torque spec. So I called up the tech department and asked just how in the world do they torque them he said "big air gun just crank it down" I was like you have to be sh*ting me but it worked just fine.