Originally Posted by Twostick
Originally Posted by Ray S
Originally Posted by Twostick
GearVendors with a yoke input and output. Hang it in place of the carrier bearing and shorten one drive shaft. You can probably find a used one for $1K or less and have it freshened up and installed for half of the cost of a 518/618/46RH conversion and swap.

Kevin

I literally drive by the GV shop regularly, and have looked for used.
If I go GV, I still have a 50 year old trans with 70k miles, and no locking TC...
In an RV app, I want a trans to lower the RPM due to my smaller tires (225-19.5 vs 8R17), and lock for cooler, efficient Hwy driving.
It also has to survive the Grapevine at WOT for 15 minutes pushing 11,000 lbs, so cooler is good. The A727 will, and has, but I'd rather upgrade than rebuild when it's time.


Is that an 8R17 or 8R17.5? I can't find a listing for an 8R17 but an 8R17.5 is 30.9" tall.

A 225/70/19.5 is 32" tall.

I'd be willing to bet if the current transmission has no issues, a fluid and filter change with a band adjustment will take it another 50 years and 70K.

If I was building a 518/46RH for that application I would be using all the diesel stuff in it, drums, clutches, planets and overdrive section.

If you're thinking the Ultrabell option, make sure it can house a big converter. I seem to recall reading somewhere that 10" is the limit. Not ideal for that application IMHO.

Here's a link to Tranz Tech in Dubuque IA. They have a process to weld a big block bell to a small block case.

http://www.tranztech.net/overdrive.html

Kevin


Sorry I miss-typed; the 7.50R17 was OEM and 34.2 diameter, and about 2" taller than my new ones (pic)
I did the fluid and bands less than 1k ago, so shifting well. My thought has been that if the swap is a PITA or >$4k then I'll just leave it.
My van has all the 48RE hard parts etc they could put in it, and runs well.

I will call TranzTech for sure, thanks!

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Last edited by Ray S; 02/18/21 06:46 PM.