Lesson 11 Manual Transmission Cars need transmissions because of the physics of the gasoline engine. First, any engine has a redline - a maximum rpm value above which the engine cannot go without exploding. Second, engines have narrow rpm ranges where horsepower and torque are at their maximum. For example, an engine might produce its maximum horsepower at 5,500 rpm. The transmission allows the gear ratio between the engine and the drive wheels to change as the car speeds up and slows down. You shift gears so the engine can stay below the redline and near the rpm band of its best performance. Ideally, the transmission would be so flexible in its ratios that the engine could always run at its single, best-performance rpm value1. That is the idea behind the continuously variable transmission (CVT). A CVT has a nearly infinite range of gear ratios. In the past, CVTs could not compete with four-speed and five-speed transmissions in terms of cost, size and reliability, so you didnt see them in production automobiles. These days, improvements in design have made CVTs more common. The Toyota Prius is a hybrid car that uses a CVT. The transmission is connected to the engine through the clutch. The input shaft of the transmission therefore turns at the same rpm as the engine.Mercedes-Benz C-class sport coupe, six-speed manual transmission, graphic illustration. A five-speed transmission applies one of five different gear ratios to the input shaft to produce a different rpm value at the output shaft. Here are some typical gear ratios: GearRatioRPM at Transmission Output Shaft with Engine at 3,000 rpm1st2.315:11,2952nd1.568:11,9133rd1.195:12,5104th1.000:13,0005th0.915:13,278 Simple Transmission To understand the basic idea behind a standard transmission, the diagram below shows a very simple two-speed transmission in neutral: neutral position of a two-speed transmission Lets look at each of the parts in this diagram to understand how they fit together: The green shaft comes from the engine through the clutch. The green shaft and green gear are connected as a single unit. The red shaft and gears are called the layshaft. These are also connected as a single piece, so all of the gears on the layshaft and the layshaft itself spin as one unit. The green shaft and the red shaft are directly connected through their meshed gears so that if the green shaft is spinning, so is the red shaft. In this way, the layshaft receives its power directly from the engine whenever the clutch is engaged. The yellow shaft is a splined shaft that connects directly to the drive shaft through the differential to the drive wheels of the car. If the wheels are spinning, the yellow shaft is spinning. The blue gears ride on bearings, so they spin on the yellow shaft. If the engine is off but the car is coasting, the yellow shaft can turn inside the blue gears while the blue gears and the layshaft are motionless. The purpose of the collar is to connect one of the two blue gears to the yellow drive shaft. The collar is connected, through the splines, directly to the yellow shaft and spins with the yellow shaft. However, the collar can slide left or right along the yellow shaft to engage either of the blue gears. Teeth on the collar, called dog teeth, fit into holes on the sides of the blue gears to engage them. Now, lets see what happens when you shift into first gear. First Gear The picture below shows how, when shifted into first gear, the collar engages the blue gear on the right:First gear position of a two-speed transmission In this picture, the green shaft from the engine turns the layshaft, which turns the blue gear on the right. This gear transmits its energy through the collar to drive the yellow drive shaft. Meanwhile, the blue gear on the left is turning, but it is freewheeling on its bearing so it has no effect on the yellow shaft. When the collar is between the two gears (as shown in the first figure), the transmission is in neutral. Both of the blue gears freewheel on the yellow shaft at the different rates controlled by their ratios to the layshaft. From this discussion, you can answer several questions: When you make a mistake while shifting and hear a horrible grinding sound, you are not hearing the sound of gear teeth mis-meshing. As you can see in these diagrams, all gear teeth are all fully meshed at all times. The grinding is the sound of the dog teeth trying unsuccessfully to engage the holes in the side of a blue gear. The transmission shown here does not have synchros (discussed later in the article), so if you were using this transmission you would have to double-clutch it4. Double-clutching was common in older cars and is still common in some modern race cars. In double-clutching, you first push the clutch pedal in once to disengage the engine from the transmission. This takes the pressure off the dog teeth so you can move the collar into neutral. Then you release the clutch pedal and rev the engine to the right speed. The ri