All right, time to build the transmission. I've never built anything with a two-speed before so this might be interesting..
A couple of key points about the Gmade transmission and drivetrain layout first, and then we'll get on with the pictures..
Counter-rotating drive shafts. I love this feature, I don't know why more manufacturers aren't doing something similar. They drastically reduce (eliminate?) torque twist, the transmission/transfer case has less gears/bearings/moving parts and the CoG is lower. I see no downside to this layout..
The transmission and transfer case are all metal gears throughout, I don't think they're machined and hardened, but they seem to be of pretty decent quality. At least on par with any axial or traxxas transmission that I've ever built and not made from that world famous chinesium pot metal. All metal transmission gears should be standard on everything I think.
The motor mount is indexed by pinion size and I really like that setup. It makes life so much easier, especially with internal pinion/spur cases.
This spur gear is plastic, I think that should also be a standard offering on every rig built; I like having that as a fuse in the system and I don't care for the noise of metal spur gears. The slipper clutch (dual plate) uses conical spring washers instead of a traditional spring, I don't see that one or the other is functionally very different from the other and I expect it work just fine. That's more or less a moot point though since I always crank the slipper all the way down and only back it off 1/8 of a turn or less. I don't ever want it to slip, but I do want it to strip before the diff transfer case or transmission does..
The shifting fork is plastic, I expect that will keep the noise down as opposed to having a metal fork rubbing against a gear shaft all day long. There was a bit of flash to clean off before I put it in just to make sure that it would run smooth and it didn't have any little burrs that might come off and get jammed in a gear tooth somewhere.
I particularly like that this rig has got overdrive right out of the box, optional gears are available if you want to eliminate the overdrive or increase it. Stock setting is 12% od.
The instruction book came with an addendum but from what I can tell they're just reminding the builder not to miss the plastic spacers that go into the noted gears. Some people have noted that the spacers are the same size as some common bearings and used bearings instead, I didn't bother with that since those particular gears are rotating with the shaft so there's exactly zero reason to waste a bearing since all it needs is a spacer to help maintain alignment.
Now, on to the pictures.
Gears and bearings!
Not the actual addendum but these are spacers I was talking about, they appear in a few other places. Addendum had 3 steps noted.
Gears and bearings on shafts!
(I'm using Phil Wood waterproof grease throughout and I use a small syringe for tidy application)
If you want to lock it in low gear, just pop a c-lip into the machined groove.
High gear position
Built!
(I decide to revive/refresh this classic older motor from my parts bin, We'll see how she does...)
Built!
