|
Here's another question fielded by
Jesse Ybarra that come up from time to time regarding higher top speeds in your
FC truck. The main emphasis of the piece is that it takes more than
gearing to get you FC moving at today's highway speeds!
About the overdrive, by Warn, they are out there, but be careful, a warn
O.D. or Husky (IHC Scout), O.D. is almost 50 years old. Most of them are
wore out internally and they are selling for $750 - $1000. But you can buy
a brand new guaranteed unit, an improved Warn reproduction, for around $1100, it
is sold by Advance Adapters, it has the new brand name of Saturn Overdrive, they
are improved in the fact that all of the weakness of the previous Warn product
have been improved. Old Willys puritans, think the warn was better and stronger,
but it had cast steel case holes where the Saturn uses bronze bushings and
better heat hardened gears. I do have a Warn O.D. with 23,000 miles on it, but
it is not For Sale, it came with Cerlist / trans / transfer case, from my black
truck, it worked fine in it, and they work fine in the FC-170, they have the
226" higher torque engine.
Unfortunately I also have some experience with the Warn unit
in the FC-150. It was OK in 153" CJ, that is lighter, and has a hood on it and
in theory it should be good in an FC-150 of the same size, but in an FC the
faster you go the more wind resistance, like dragging a parachute. So you really
never get the expected 25% faster speed, at best on flat level concrete slab, 60
mph is possible, but because of the low amount of torque, it takes a while, to
get to 60 or more mph, but you are also needing to shift between in OD and out
of OD, while in traffic, because there is no torque while in OD, any wind or
incline will slow the FC-150 down while in OD. It works well on flat
ground non stop for extended stretches of road like in Kansas. I do recommend
the Saturn OD, a whole lot, to bring the RPM down whenever possible, but I don't
recommend the OD for you if you are buying it to be able to keep up with Las
Vegas traffic, because almost everything there is like here, it is stop and go
or 0-75 mph. The only real benefit is, that you can be shifting in 3 gears
+ low range = 6 gears + OD=12 forward gears and 3 reverse choices, to keep the
rpm down whenever possible.
They sell small tachometers and I recommend the use of the tach.
Jesse Ybarra
|