New Fangled Electric Overdrive

[Rob Glasgow]

I was watching Hot Rod Garage this week and they were going on about this new electric overdrive that can be bolted to the back of your transmission. It was very advanced in that it had a built in pump to provide the hydraulic pressure and can be switched on and off from inside the car. It even had a special switch to prevent you from shifting out of OD at too low RPM or shifting into reverse. It is made by Gear Vendors.
I thought to myself, what will they come up with next????

 

[GregW]

LOL, it's like magic.

 

[CraigC]

The Gear Vendors overdrive is a Laycock J-series unit. I spoke to the owner quite a few years ago at a Goodguys event. I don't recall whether they are built under license or whether he bought the rights to the design.

The Motor Trend car shows have installed the Gear Vendors units on a number of vehicles over the years

 

[bdcvg]

It will be like pockets, it will never catch on. 3 on the tree is the only way to go.

 

[steveg]

See: > Home - Gearvendors <

In the copy, they refer to it as the "DeNormanville" overdrive. Made in the US since 1979. Many applications from Bonneville to motor homes.

Somewhere in there IIRC I read they'd acquired the rights to it. Now made in El Cajon, CA.

 

[vette]

Gear Vendors have been around a long time. They have adapted the OD to almost any kind of vehicle from large trucks to drag racing cars. A fun show or video is to watch Hot Rod Drag Week because all these extremely fast drag racers run at about 5 different drag strips in 5 different cities during a week. They have these outrageously built up cars that then have to be street driven between the cities. They all use Gear Vendors OD to get down the highways. What’s really amazing to me is that the ODs withstand the abuse on the drag strip.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Do they still use gearbox oil, or do they have a separate reservoir?

 

[gonzo]

Don't know but drag strip pit and pit crews all smell like gearbox oil, the 90W stuff.

 

[steveg]

It'll be separate. Their pix show a short driveshaft then the OD unit, then a longer driveshaft.

 

[vette]

Yeh, pretty sure they’re separate. About 5 yrs ago I was going to put one in my older Vette but the new engine worked so well at higher cruising rpms that I decided not to do it.