I've got a '90 Suburban, 454, 3.73 gears and tow a 26 ft travel trailer (probably about 7,500 lbs). Even installed a GearVendor overdrive.
Pretty much use it only for towing now days, and get about 9 miles/gallon. Solo get about 13 mpg. Everything except the transmission overdrive and Aluminum radiator is stock. |
Originally Posted by SuburbanStevie
(Post 72838)
I've got a '90 Suburban, 454, 3.73 gears and tow a 26 ft travel trailer (probably about 7,500 lbs). Even installed a GearVendor overdrive.
Pretty much use it only for towing now days, and get about 9 miles/gallon. Solo get about 13 mpg. Everything except the transmission overdrive and Aluminum radiator is stock. |
Gregory,
Honestly, for me it’s been great. But there are several factors that you must consider before you buy: Cost, age of vehicle, cost, your type of driving, how many speeds the vehicle already has, cost, and what type of vehicle you have. Oh, and cost. I don’t know what the highway speed RPM is. But it definitely lowers it, and makes the vehicle a little quieter. Let me explain a few other things. This is not your everyday add-on, it is expensive. I would only suggest it for a vehicle that doesn’t have an existing over-drive. My Suburban only had the 3-speed automatic. I’ll repeat that, if you have an overdrive, don’t buy this product. Give your money to a worthy charity instead. Because having it installed can also create other problems (additional maintenance to worry about, and a possible drive-train issue I’ll discuss later). Does it get me up a hill faster? Maybe 1 out of 10 hills I may find a “split” gear to be better than the stock gears. Faster? No. But I do like the overdrive feature, as it lowers rpm and noise. And I am a mechanical engineer, and enjoy being able to control an automatic transmission a little more. Does it go into overdrive automatically? Yes. You can also do it manually with a foot switch…very cool. But is it worth $2700 for having a cool switch on the floor? Only if you have a 3 speed transmission. Cons.. and these are important. My Suburban came with a two-piece drive shaft, and when the GV was installed they replaced it with a one piece drive shaft that is pretty long. I now get a nasty vibration at speeds above 70mph, which is because the shaft is hitting a natural frequency (“critical speed”). It bugs me, but not much I can do about it, nor do I want to bother. As I only use the truck to tow a trailer, so rarely am I over 65mph anyway. I still have the original shafts, but the center bearing would need to be moved aft about a foot to balance everything out. Not worth it to me. Also, one more thing to maintain, although relatively easy. Downshifting takes a bit of practice as you need to press on the accelerator to rev-up the engine a bit (if you don’t you will feel a heck of a jolt). Final “con”… I think the cost is too much. Pros.. It is cool, and a little fun. And it does work flawlessly. I’ve had mine for about 10 years, maybe 70,000 miles, and it still works great. Any other questions? Steve |
Ya know Stevie, your post makes me really glad that I have a stock overdrive tranny ;)
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Gents... my dream truck is a Duramax with the 6 speed tranny. ...Someday.
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