[Texas TC]

When I first got my coach, it was and early model, it had 6.17 gears and 75 mph was at the engine red-line of 3200 rpm's. International/Gulf Stream paid to change the gears to the current standard of 5.29. The drop was about 500 rpm's at cruising speed so now 75 is 2700.

Now that I have put almost 38000 miles on the coach with the 5.29, I don't think I would want to go to a higher gear in the rear. I don't particularly like to cruise at 2700 but agree with International that the power would be suspect on severe grades if the engine rpm's were down. When I have tried to lower the rpm's by slowing down, I have noticed that the transmission is constantly going into a lower gear.

I have been cruising at 2700 for most of the miles on the coach. Even though it is high, I feel it should not hurt the engine in the short term. If we were going to try to put 200-300000 miles on these engines, I might be more concerned. But the way we use these things, we would probably be really pushing it to put a 100000 miles on them in 10-15 years and this engine, IMHO, should last that long without any major issues.

If you are worried about engine noise, I will assure you that after 30000+ miles, it gets quieter and the power actually increases.

I wish someone would try a 4.88 (?) gear and give us their assessment but I am concerned about the loss of power by raising the gear. If I remember correctly, when I saw the invoice to change from 6.17 to 5.29 in 2007, it was around $2500.00 from International.