Exotic gearchange patterns, unranked

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 08/23/2014 at 18:22 • Filed to: None

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HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 18:24

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who thought this was a good idea?

Cé hé sin > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/23/2014 at 18:28

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I think it's off a tractor, where you weren't expected to change gear on the move - you selected the gear needed for the job in hand and left it there. I've actually driven something like this - an old Ford tractor.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/23/2014 at 18:29

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Probably an older tractor, my grandad used to drive them and reported awkward shift patterns among other things. Being user friendly wasnt really a consideration.

thedevilinside > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 18:30

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WTF?

Cé hé sin > thedevilinside 08/23/2014 at 18:35

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Minneapolis Moline ZAU tractor.

Here's a Ford one:

And another:

And another:

Reborn Pyrrhic > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 18:40

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PSA (Peugeot/Citroën) Be1 shift pattern

Trabant shift pattern

thedevilinside > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 18:40

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Ahhh a tractor, that explains it a bit.

twochevrons > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 18:43

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Not an exotic shift pattern per se, but I like the somewhat-cryptic In/Out switch that Triumph used on their overdrive gearboxes. Volvo also did something similar, but I grew up with a Triumph 2500, which became my first car, so I'm particularly attached to their version:

The switch controlled a two-speed epicyclic gearbox on the tailshaft of the main gearbox that would effectively give you a higher gear ratio.

3-In and 4-Out were almost the same gear (1:1), but because you could switch the overdrive in and out without using the clutch, the overlap made a lot of sense for passing.

Cé hé sin > twochevrons 08/23/2014 at 18:47

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Yes, the notorious Laycock overdrive!

The DAF lever I showed earlier has something similar, as do all large trucks, except that in that case you get 12 gears from three gear positions.

twochevrons > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 18:51

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Somebody who knows that that is! Hooray! Ours never failed us, but the number of old Triumphs that I've seen with jury-rigged or completely nonfunctional overdrives is somewhat telling.

Back when I still had the Triumph, a lorry-driver friend of mine thought that it was hilarious that my car had, in his words, "a baby split-shifter."

twochevrons > Reborn Pyrrhic 08/23/2014 at 18:52

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Ah, the BE1. Whenever I borrow my father's BX 16v, I always have a hard time finding reverse. Especially with that lovely rubbery shift linkage.

Reborn Pyrrhic > twochevrons 08/23/2014 at 18:53

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I should have said PSA BE1. I forget those are used on Citroën too.

Cé hé sin > twochevrons 08/23/2014 at 18:55

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Some truck drivers still swear by these (they are more commonly sworn at and were a commercial failure).

Eaton Twin Splitter: Four speed non synchro box with each gear split twice.

twochevrons > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 18:57

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The Citroën BVH semi-automatic transmission had a fascinatingly bizarre shift pattern, too:

The gear selector, mounted on the column, also served as the starter switch (the S position on the diagram below), which made for a novel way to prevent starting in-gear.

Cé hé sin > twochevrons 08/23/2014 at 19:01

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That reminds me of my father's old Ferguson tractor. Straightforward four speed pattern but with an extra S position to start with.

twochevrons > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 19:02

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A 4x3 non-synchro transmission sounds somewhat terrifying.

I always liked the Laycock overdrive, though (at least, when it works). Sure, it's more complicated than just adding another gear, but the extra flexibility and clutchless shifting were great to have.

Cé hé sin > twochevrons 08/23/2014 at 19:10

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Here we go. Makes it all look so easy. You don't use the clutch and change by matching revs. The few companies who bought them found them difficult to sell on secondhand and so they died out. Interestingly American trucks still use non synchro boxes, now unknown in Europe except as automated manuals.

PelicanHazard > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 19:50

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The heck is 0th gear?

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > PelicanHazard 08/23/2014 at 20:16

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I figured that was a "C" for "Crawl". Probably a super low gear.

Slave2anMG > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 21:51

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I learned to drive a manual on a Renault 4. See the silver horizontal rod over the engine that makes the 90 degree turn straight down? That's the shift rod. The actual gear actuator sticks up out of the top of the trans, in front of the engine and behind the radiator. The shift rod ends in that odd shaped bracket with the rubber grommet that's around the actuator. Inside the car the shift lever came thru the firewall horizontally and came out under the dash. The shifter itself rotated left/right and slid in and out. Weird but effective...very French.

DisplacementForDayz, ironically lusts after a Honda Grom > Cé hé sin 08/23/2014 at 23:36

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0???

Cé hé sin > PelicanHazard 08/24/2014 at 05:17

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C for super low or crawler. I had thought at first it was a 16 speed but it's actually a ZF 9S-1110 9 speed. Either way it doesn't work the way you might think. You change 1 to 4 (although you'd probably skip one or two) and then depending on the truck you either lift a switch below the lever or slap the lever to the right and then go back to first gear - which has now become 5th - and proceed.

Cé hé sin > DisplacementForDayz, ironically lusts after a Honda Grom 08/24/2014 at 05:26

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C for crawler, a super low gear. It's actually a five speed box with a range change.

Cé hé sin > Slave2anMG 08/24/2014 at 05:29

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Oh yes, I remember seeing these. Normal change pattern but an unusual way to use it. The older R5s were the same.

DisplacementForDayz, ironically lusts after a Honda Grom > Cé hé sin 08/24/2014 at 14:03

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Oh, thanks, I thought it was a zero!

MonkeePuzzle > Cé hé sin 08/25/2014 at 12:23

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this goes here?

Saf1 > MonkeePuzzle 08/29/2014 at 03:13

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I didn't get the magic wand bit?

ACESandEIGHTS > Cé hé sin 08/29/2014 at 12:49

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Wow. Designed by Hungarians/ Czechs/ Poles to outwit invading Russians/ Germans?