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GEAR VENDORS RACING APPLICATIONS

ENGINEERING AND RACING

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The GEAR VENDORS uses a common vertex (cone) Raybestos clutch system. This means there is no parasitic loss through dragging and unapplied clutch pack. For this reason the GEAR VENDORS is the most efficient transmission on the market using less than 1 horsepower per 400. Imagine – we race the Dakar, Quatar, Tunisian, 24hrs of France, and Master rallies (over 6,000 miles each race) with just 24 ounces of fluid in the unit and no cooler. And, we have won the Quatar, Tunisian and the Master. You cannot do that if you are converting hp to heat.

The GEAR VENDORS planetary carrier and power flow are ideal for motorsports. The planet carrier is all steel and carries a double row of narrow caged needles in each gear instead of a single wide set. It is the most sophisticated planetary we know of. The 18 element roller clutch and drop forged annulus can launch the current world record holder in Super Eliminator with 1850hp as well as the current record holder of HotRod Drag Week (these are 7 sec passes in a 3800lb car. Most racing products are no where near the level of engineering found in the Gear Vendors simply because of their low production volumes. Gear Vendors sells thousands of expensive overdrives to muscle cars, street rods, trucks, towing trailers, and Rv’s every year for (27 years). It is this production volume that drives the engineering and that would be hard to justify if your product was only sold in small quantities. For this reason the UNDER/OVERDRIVEâ„¢ is a real bargain for racers in performance, and engineering per dollar.

Read on below about the motorsport you are involved in and call us at the factory to ensure you are getting the proper products and that our benefits will be appropriate for your application. Again, since we sell thousands of units and all of them with a money-back guarantee, we can afford to offer you a product only if it is going to make you faster and more reliable. Use the Final Drive Ratios found in the 2-wheel drive section for ratio information.

DRAG RACING Powerglide

Super Eliminator

The GEAR VENDORS in combination with the Powerglide is an affordable, reliable, and very efficient package. This is a superior alternative for most cars thinking of going to a Th400. The GEAR VENDORS .78 to 1 ratio allows you to go to a numerically higher rear gear to improve your 60ft. times and get it all back with the overdrive. The reciprocal of our ratio is 1.28 so a car that currently runs a 4.56 rear could go to a 5.84 without loss of top end.You will have these improvements with reduced cost, greater reliability, and lower parasitic losses when compared to 3-speeds. Using a lower rear end ratio also lets you keep a close ratio spread on your glide for more power at the 1-2 shift. Many cars with 1200hp or less will also find benefit in using 1st-over which will net a really nice 4spd spread of 1.76, 1.33, 1.00, 0.78. or 1.82, 1.41, 1.00, .78

The overdrive is switched on with 12-volts and so is easily adapted to steering wheel buttons or automated through our AutoShift sequencer or rpm switches. The product is ideally suited in stock form for cars with 1200hp or less and in this case is virtually indestructible, literally running for seasons of use without maintenance other than fluid. Cars with more than 1200+ horsepower can be accommodated but you should call the factory so hydraulic issues dealing with clutch ramp timing can be properly adjusted for your application weight and hp.

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DRAG RACING 3-SPEED AUTOMATIC

DRAG WEEK

Splitting the ratios (especially 2nd-over) is always valuable to the 3-speed car. 1st-over can be very valuable for hooking up with our AutoLaunch circuit on cars up to about 800hp but is a big torque multiplier and so cars with higher hp may break traction depending on their chassis setup. 2nd-over keeps the converter tight and produces torque multiplication right when the aerodynamics are starting to load the car heavily. We’ve never heard of a car that didn’t run quicker going 1st, 2nd, 2nd-over then 3rd. A 1.28 deeper rear gear (the reciprocal of our ratio) can be used and the run 3rd-over for 5 to 6-speeds. With a 1.28 lower differential these cars can then also keep stock 1-2 ratio (instead of aftermarket deep gear) in the trans for less r.p.m. drop on shift.

Consistency and E.T. are improved by operating the engine and converter in a tighter rpm range as well as having more torque multipliers through the run. The GEAR VENDORS is one of the few products that can improve both. Study the Final Drive Ratio charts in the 2-wheel drive section appropriate for your tranny make and also read the powerglide section.

Horsepower = Torque X RPM/5252 The Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive is one of the few products you can use to boost both sides of this equation. Keeping both the torque multiplication higher (gears are multipliers of torque) and the rpm tighter with the close ratios provide by gear-splitting. Your torque converter is also a torque multiplier. One of the benefits of gear-splitting is that all converters work better with the shortest steps in gearing. With the close ratios provide by the Gear Vendors there is also less need for high stall so you can concentrate on the 60ft and the overdrive will handle all the big end of the track.

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DRAG RACING/ROAD RACING with 4-SPEED MANUALS

GEAR VENDORS makes kits to fit all the popular manual transmissions – from the muscle car era 4spds to the best Lenco, G-Force, Tex Racing, and Jerico race units. Two main features make us popular on manuals – overdrive, and clutchless shifts. If you put overdrive inside the case of a 4 or 5 speed you weaken the trans because of the changes required in shaft centerlines, shift fork arrangements and other engineering issues (just too much stuff). Keeping the underdrive gears and direct in the main case and then adding an indestructible planetary overdrive gear behind it keeps the entire package stronger. The whole concept of Gear Vendors manual kits.

Add to this that a Gear Vendors can be shifted at any moment without clutching and has the same 22% ratio spread as most gear changes in the manual and lots of performance can be gained.

Drag racer – Launch in 1st with the overdrive preselected. Gear Vendors AutoLaunch circuit lets the engine rev through 1st and then shifts to 1st -over at the exact speed every time. This is right where the automatic guys use to blow by you but now you are a lot less busy and are 28% farther down the track before you need to clutch the car. Flip the 3-4 shift lever upside down and you can then go straight to 3rd in what had been the 4th gear gate and do the entire run with just one clutch depression. 1st, 1st-over, 3rd, 3rd-over. Multiplier is .78 on top of the gear you select – which is the same spread as an m21 muncie. Better consistency, always faster.

Road Race and Off Road guys have the same benefit as drag racers on launch but also imagine: A clutchless full throttle shift when you are trying to get just another 3ft on a guy at the end of the straight or maybe twice that much as you get into acceleration off the corner. Today we are still involved in rebuilding old DeNormanville units for Volvo’s, Healey’s, MG, and Triumph’s that have been popular in SCCA road racing forever because of their little planetary overdrive (the predecessor to Gear Vendors).

There is no room on this page to discuss every benefit and every tranny combination so give us a call at the factory 800-999-9555.

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LAND SPEED RACING

Blowfish - 1969 Barracuda

Up to 2,000 hp – GEAR VENDORS (parasitic loss less than 1 hp per 400) lends itself to success in virtually all LSR classes that use a transmission. Wide ratio transmissions are able to use the gear-splitting feature to greatly improve engine reliability as it comes up through the gears in a tighter rpm range so less time is spent at rpm’s where the engine may not run well. We have been involved in Land Speed Racing for decades and our customers have set many records. Spal Diesel Bonneville 2007, Blowfish Bonneville 2006 Gear Vendors also set new records in 2007 for the standing mile at both the Nevada Classic High Noon Shootout and the Maxton Mile.

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OFF ROAD RACING

Because of the variety of terrain and traction it is hard to imagine a sport more suited for our product than off road racing. Overdrive is rarely used but the gear-splitting aspect of overdriving 1st and 2nd are huge performance gains. Bryant Hibbs got us involved in the late ’80s when he was with Nissan. Since then, Mike Leslie, Ivan Stewart, Craig Stewart, Steve Barlow, Rob MacCachren, and others have provided many opportunities. We are now on the verge of a downright explosion in wins. In 2007 Rob MacCachren in the RedBull Pro2 Ford was the most dominant truck in CORR with 5 wins in the series and two more in the Baldwin memorial races. For 2008 Supercross legend Ricky Johnson will pilot the RedBull Steve Barlow Motorsports entry in Pro2 with Barlow himself running the RedBull Pro4. Mark you calendars and watch these events on NBC sports on May 25,Jun 15, July 6, July 27, Sept 27, Oct 5, Oct 26, and Dec 6. Also set your Tivo for Championship off road racing on Speed TV as all the rebroadcasts will be there. The European ProTrucks also running 850 hp and competing in the longest events (Bruno Saby with ASM/Ford and Eric Vigiroux with ProSystem/Chevrolet have each won 7,000 mile events – Tunisian Rally, Master Rally, and ASM rented the truck then to Nasser Al-Attiyah who won the Baja Quatar). Eric won the 24hrs of France in 03 and was 2nd in 04. These successes have demonstrated not just the overdrives performance and reliability but the overdrives positive impact on the transmission reliability as a whole package. The Gear Vendors allows these trucks to keep the torque converter hooked up (which reduces heat) because of our narrow steps in gearing and also puts a lot more shifting duty on the overdrive instead of the main trans (In CORR we use a glide andin FIA Cross-country we use TH400 (though we think the glide/Gear Vendors combo is the future in Baja and FIA). In the years since asbestos was eliminated from clutch material the Gear Vendors has gained reputation as a tranny saver, and as the ultimate performance gearing device.

If you are running in a sandwash and 2nd has the engine screaming but 3rd is lugging the motor – you can appreciate that 2nd-over is an awesome gear.Long flat stretches and highway can benefit from overdrives 28.6% faster gear. If you are racing off-road there is just no logical reason not to run a Gear Vendors in both the prerunner and the racetruck.

Besides MacCachren’s outstanding ’07 campaign some other notable wins include a dominate 2006 season in CORR Sportsman with Ross Hoeks Duraliner Ford and Dan Vandenheuval has wins in CORR Pro2 and WSORR Pro2.

Red Bull

In 2008/9 we expect to see proliferation of glide/gearvendors and th400Gear Vendors combinations in CORR and Baja. Know this, we have never paid a team to run our product – not one sponsorship dollar. We do not believe we will ever have to, we have no competition – Gear Vendors is the only overdrive you will find used in off road racing. We are involved in this sport for 2 reasons – we love this form of racing, and it demonstrates our products durability like no other motorsport can. These 850-900hp trucks break the axles and rearends out of the truck and the Gear Vendors is still performing – what better statement could we have.

MacCachren’s RedBull Ford sat on pole more than any other CORR truck in 2007 and one of the great benefits to running the Gear Vendors is dealing with changing track conditions. Typically the start of the race is a little wet because the water trucks have just been out. Watch any start and notice how the RedBull Ford leaps off the line as MacCachren short shifts to help traction. This is real important in CORR as the organizers typically invert the top six so even though we win pole we now end up starting in the 3rd row, so starts are very important to results. Meanwhile the trucks running TH400s are hauling around the track a 1st gear that is too low to benefit and wide ratios that have them using the same gear no matter if the track is wet or blue grooved. Even in a rear engined trophy truck there is just no downside to the Glide/Gear Vendors combo. Lower parasitic loss, cooler temps, and you can put the Gear Vendors either directly on the glide or run it remote mounton the return shaft to shorten the driveline.

Here is a look at the ratios run by these teams carried through to final drives with 6.20 rear gear.

 1stover2ndoverChampionship Off Road Racing
PowerGlide with/1.76 1st gear x 6.20 =10.918.516.204.83
 1stover2ndover3rdover
Tf727 with 2.45 1st x 6.20 =15.1911.858.997.016.204.83
Th400 with 2.48 1st x 6.20 =15.3811.999.187.166.204.83
C4/C6 with 2.46 1st x 6.20 =15.2511.909.057.066.204.83

As you can see all three of the 6 speed setups have really the same ratios – not different enough to talk about. Since 1st is basically unusable on a 850 hp truck because it just fry’s the tires (you dump it into 1st-over immediately for the holeshot). On the other hand the powerglide 1st gear is pretty comparable to 1st-over in the 6 speed setup which is a pretty sweet set of ratios each just 22% apart on upshift and 28% reciprocal on downshift (same spread as a close ratio muncie has between the gears but no clutch). Plus Glides make more horsepower and run cooler because of low parasitic losses (160-180 degrees flat out racing). And nothing is as low in parasitic losses as the Gear Vendors. So the only real question to answer between running a glide or 3 speed with a Gear Vendors is whether a gear between your current 1st and 2nd would eliminate your need of 1st. We know you wish you had a gear between 2nd and 3rd and the Gear Vendors has it.

The best overdrive you can buy and a big advantage on the dirt or pavement. Call us about your truck.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES RACING

Electric Vehicle Racing

Some people are surprised to learn that we’ve been involved in Electric Vehicles since the mid’80s. GEAR VENDORS has designed and built several transmissions for Chryslers TEVan project (electric version of the Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager), Georgia Power and a number of universities entered in research and development of hybrids and alternative fuel cars and trucks.

Electric racing interested us because of the high sustained rpm and the absolute need for efficiency. BGSU’s (Bowling Green State University) Electric Falcon was the winner of the Phoenix Grand Prix at PRI. The Lincoln motor turns the GEAR VENDORS 12000 rpm for sustained runs. A fairly impossible task for most transmissions.

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Racing Applications
See “Application Guide
GM HydraMatic Powerglide, Th350, Th400 – all in shorty and long kits
Ford C4, C6, Top Loader 4sp all in – shorty and long kits
Dodge 727 shorty and long, 904 std length automatics and A833 4spd manual
Borg Warner T10 spd, Muncie M21/22, Jerico 4sp, G-Force 5spd, Lenco 3, 4, 5 spd