No offense bearkiller, but my dad's 95' ctd with a NV4500 shifts easier, as he says, without the clutch. My NV5600 is getting smoother and my getrag i try to use the clutch more because it is not as smooth as the New Venture transmissions. A 9 speed would be cool but having to clutchless or double clutch it would get old on the street for a daily driven truck.
Here is my thinking, A 3 speed brownie with Lo, direct, and overdrive would be cool because u would have the option of splitting each gear in the main tranny 3 times, or you could leave the brownie in direct and have your original gears and then could split 5th to have a double over. Maybe I'm in a dream world! haha Later
ez

 

Or you can buy a 'thick' ring gear. or you can buy a 4.10 and numericaly higher carrier.