transmission transfercase thoughts.

[original balzer]

The other day I had to sit on a location for a while. Two hours of NOTHING!

So I was day dreaming and thinking.

What if a guy BUILT a transmission/transfercase the way he wanted using the internals from stock trans and x-case?
Using drill casing and plate for the housing.

Caseing comes in lots of sizes and its thick and strong. One unit, yes it would be heavy but near bullet proof and the bottom would be mostly round. welding on mounts building access ports would be easy.

The hard part in my head would be conecting things and making them shorter.

This way you could use say the guts from a NV4500 the low gear set from a 203 and all of a 205 WITHOUT external adapters. Thus making it the shortest possible. Conecting the shafts inside is the part I dont really know about. Im sure with a bit of machine work it could be done.

Unfourtunatly I am NOT capable of undergoing such a project. I dont have the tools or the knowlage. I do think it can be done and would be uber trick.

BUT HEAVY! It wouldnt be any heavier than normal stuff but as 1 unit it may be akward to handle.

 

[KirsL]

While its a very cool idea. I think it would be both very heavy if fully gear driven and would it be huge(like the size of a semi trans) . The concept is neat, but someone who is a very good mechanical engineer would have to design it I think to make it work properly.

Even though it would be nice to not have any adapters. The down side would be if one part breaks you have to remove the whole thing and hope it didnt destroy the whole unit.

That's my 2 cents at least.

 

[original balzer]

While its a very cool idea. I think it would be both very heavy if fully gear driven and would it be huge(like the size of a semi trans) . The concept is neat, but someone who is a very good mechanical engineer would have to design it I think to make it work properly.

Even though it would be nice to not have any adapters. The down side would be if one part breaks you have to remove the whole thing and hope it didnt destroy the whole unit.

That's my 2 cents at least.

In concet it would be the same size as whats under there only shorter. The weight wouldnt be much more than an original 4 speed and cast iron transfer case. But as one unit that would be heavy to R&R, not overall heavier than the originals.

All The idea is doing, is replacing the original housings with a single housing. The only real machine work would be for the bearings and you would have to machine some super short couplers.

This way the original adapter from the trans to the transfer case would be eliminated. OR the low range gears for a double low would replace them.

One more thought on the whole idea is the 5th gear failure in NV4500's. By building your own case you could build in a thrust bearing to fix the problem.

Im still pretty sure the idea in my head IS possible. Is it worth it? Well thats a whole differt story.

 

[Chaddy]

While its a very cool idea. I think it would be both very heavy if fully gear driven and would it be huge(like the size of a semi trans) . The concept is neat, but someone who is a very good mechanical engineer would have to design it I think to make it work properly.

Even though it would be nice to not have any adapters. The down side would be if one part breaks you have to remove the whole thing and hope it didnt destroy the whole unit.

That's my 2 cents at least.

Plus the heat issue with the steel casing....

 

[original balzer]

Plus the heat issue with the steel casing....

Hows mild steal going to be differnt than cast iron as far as heat? I know nothing about metalurgy(sp) so cast iron could cool better than mild steel for all I know.

 

[Chaddy]

For a trans? Arent they all pretty much aluminum for cooling?

 

[KirsL]

Well I never said it couldn't be done. Just would take some pretty good engineering to make it happen, would be cool if it did work though.

As far as what current transmissions are built out of they're usually either cast iron or aluminum. Most old(er) manual trans are cast iron while some newer ones are aluminum. Autos I think have been mostly aluminum for a number of years, but i could be wrong on that one.