7
Manual/Transfer Case
(The Other Gear Boxes)
On the eve of the release of
Transtars new Standard/Transfer
Case and Differential Catalog, it
would be fitting to address some of
the changes and improvements
that have occurred over the years
to sticks (manual shifts) and 4 x 4
transfer cases. Although the main
focus of our business has always
been biased toward automatics,
the standard line is a growing
segment, and will continue to be in
the future.
Unlike Europe, and to a lesser
extent Japan, the vehicle
population in the U.S. equipped
with sticks has for decades
hovered around 13% to 15%.
(Americans must be lazier than
Europeans since Europeans are
shifting gears manually most of the
time.) Transfer cases, on the other
hand, have grown substantially in
numbers and modifications in the
U.S. due to increases in SUVs and
Trucks over many years.
Manual transmissions were the
first gearboxes to be used in
production vehicles. Automatics
popped up just a bit later, and
initially met with some resistance.
People were somewhat reluctant
to change. The early manual
transmissions were, to say the
least, bangin, clangin, straight cut
gear whinin, heavy chunks of iron.
The only bearings were for the
main components (i.e. input,
output, cluster, etc.). Gears rode
directly on the main shaft and the
gear lube was the viscosity of
lard. The drag coefficient of the
transmission had to be comparable
to pulling a house trailer at 10
degrees below zero.
Early transfer cases did not fair much
better, although some improvements
in components and oils had started to
take place by then. The increased use
of caged and thrust bearings along
with using thinner fluids like ATF
certainly helped.
The first transfers for four wheelers
were pretty basic though, in that some
models merely had a simple planetary
gear set for hi/low range, a chain and
a couple of sprockets for two wheel/
four wheel drive; all of which were
engaged manually through shift rods.
Some transfers did not even have
chains, just gear-to-gear drive.
Failure rates on both sticks and
transfers were just a tad higher than
today.
But Along Came Progress!
Due to the energy crunch and quality
issues of the 70s, things started to
change. Even transmissions from
overseas started to have an influence
in the states, such as using caged
needle bearings between gears and
the main shaft.
Standard transmissions developed
over the last few decades barely
resemble the early dinosaurs. Gears
have changed for the most part from
straight cut to helical to suppress
noise. Cases and extension housings
are aluminum, not cast iron, to reduce
weight. Transmission oil used is ATF
or a special synthetic to reduce drag
and materials, heat treat methods and
machining processes have all
By Mike Riley
Technical Director
improved to provide overall
durability. One big improvement
that would impact shifting a manual
transmission from one gear to the
next is the synchronizer. There was
a time when grinding gears was the
norm during a shift. The cut of the
synchronizing teeth on a gear and
the synchro sleeve was not that
great, and if there was a synchro
ring involved, no one knew it.
As synchronizer technology
improved the amount of grinding
and pop out diminished. Even
durability was impacted due to
smoother shifting. For a long time
synchro rings were traditional
brass with normal tapered teeth
and friction grooves cut into the
I.D., which act as a brake to
momentarily stop the gear. With
changes, which occurred on units
like the Borg Warner T5 World
Class and New Venture 4500,
ease of shifting got even better.
The synchro ring actually went to a
three-piece design comprised of
an inner ring, outer ring, and center
cone (Fig 1). The center cone has
Fig 1
paper attached just like a friction
plate in an automatic. Another
design which Toyota uses is
basically two brass synchro rings
with a steel center cone. Other
designs have sprung up as well.
As with automatics, standards
received more speeds as time went
(continued on page 8)