Getting to know my fummins with the zf-6. 5 forward gears---- is really nice for around town situations. I can ooze
around town and most of the time never get 200 RPM above idle. (seeking MPG- not Big HP or smoke-)
I got to test it out a couple weeks ago on the expressway. In 5-th it seems to hit a nice RPM sweet spot somewhere
between 50 and 55 mph. But by 55- I am wanting to shift again. (this is ALL empty with no load)
I have seen lots of trucks use really tall tires- maybe to help this . But really tall tires are hard on the front end and brakes.
On the street--- in 2 wheel -high range-- 1-st gear is a granny gear just to get the truck rolling a little (it appears maybe for
when hauling a big load) But when empty it is all most wasted. Im only in 1-st for about 1.5 seconds.
Im thinking about devices which might be grafted into the drive line somewhere to raise the road speed about 1 more gear.
Looked at the gear vendor units--- like the overall way it mounts in and its compactness--- don't like the price and the fact
that it has a friction clutch for shifting on the fly. I don't believe I will want to shift on the fly (like a splitting situation)
I would just as well have something I could shift while sitting still. Probably want to leave it in OD except when in mountains
or in off road conditions. If it could raise my granny 1-st up about 2/3 of the way to regular 2-nd - that would effectively
make my current 5-th act like a 6-th I don't have. just shift every gear up about 3/4 of a gear.
So if that's not a gear vendors unit - then what brand ? New or old unit ?
Found one brand that bolts directly to the front of the pumpkin---- but it appears they don't make it for the 9+1/2 sterling
diff.
There are ones made by browning and spicer- appear to be made for medium and heavy trucks. anyone tried these ?
These seem to be 3 or 4 speed boxes......
Any opinions on what might work ?
Thanks-
Tim
PS--- embarrassingly--- I just noticed that the gear I thought was the lowest gear (called "first" on the knob-)
is not the lowest gear. The REAL lowest gear is called "low". I have been starting out from stop lights in "1" ---
letting the clutch out without having to add pedal.... it just goes ! Now I realize there is a lower gear yet -
just when you thought it couldn't possibly go any slower--- and that's in HIGH RANGE !
Its slower than my tractor in low/high range.......