Installing Gear Vendor Units - Four Plus One Equals A Highway Cruiser

It's a good thing we didn't mount our shifter bracket to the front mounting location, because it had to go. The front-shifter mount location hit the upper crossmember, and we had to remove some of it.

We only had to remove one mounting hole and a small portion of webbing between the holes.

We also needed to lower the tranny mount location 51/48 inch. We cut the tranny crossmember and welded a strip of 1-inch steel on both sides. When doing this, remember to ensure all driveline angles are within spec.

With the crossmember and the shifter bracket made, everything fit in place.

The GV unit comes with a new yoke for the driveshaft. The yoke uses a 1350 universal joint, and our new driveshaft measures 31 inches from universal, center-to-center.

GV suggests Mopar synthetic gear oil, PN P04874459. So we traveled to Lakeland Dodge and picked up a quart. It lists for $21 a quart, but the guys sold it to us for $16. For the tranny, we used Royal Purple Max-Gear lube. Ya know, the Mopar synthetic gear lube is 75W85, and Royal Purple's is 75W90. Is there really much difference other than price? According to Gear Vendors, extensive testing has been done on the Mopar lube-their recommended oil.

We mounted the GV control box behind the passenger-side kick panel.

GV gives you a choice of two buttons. The one with the red knob is the same as the one used in big trucks for the two-speed rear selector. The other is a Hurst T-handle with the button in it. Let's just say I ain't driving no Peterbuilt.

We mounted the main on/off switch with Velcro to the heater box, out of sight. Now run all the wires to the appropriate locations per the instructions. All connections are color-coded and are simple to plug in.

The GV tailshaft housing eliminates the speedometer gear and relocates it to the GV unit. GVs include a 24-inch section of speedometer cable to make up the difference and an electronic adaptor to connect to the control box.