Manual transmissions and transaxles are more poular today than in the recent past. One concern is fuel economy: manuals get slightly better fuel economy than automatics. Lots of folks prefer a manual where THEY shift the thing when THEY want to! HOW THEY WORK: A clutch connects the engine flywheel to the transmission input shaft. The input shaft spins on one end of the output shaft. They share the same axis, but they are not connected. The input shaft spins the countershaft, which is below or beside the input and output shafts.

The gearshift lever moves shifter collars, which lock varius gears to the output shaft. Then the input shaft turns the countershaft which turns the output shaft!

The input shaft is sometimes called the input pinion gear.
The countershaft is sometimes called the cluster gear.
The output shaft is sometimes called the mainshaft.

SYNCHONIZERS are brass (usually) rings inside the shifter collars. As the shifter moves the collar towards the gear, the brass ring in the collar rubs/slips against a steel cone, which it is being pressed into. This speeds the gear up or slows it down so the collar speed matches the speed of the gear, making the gear lock in smoothly. you can hear the gear spin up by downshifting at a fairly high speed with the clutch mashed in: you'll hear a "whirring" sound.

HOW THEY FAIL

As long as you keep oil in them, manual gearboxes last a long time. Seals fail and leak out the oil: that's when the trans goes bad.
High mileage transmissions eventually use up the lifespan of either the bearings or the synchronizers. Bad bearings will make a rumbling sound. Bad synchros will make a grinding going into gear, or sometimes will "pop out" of gear going down the road.

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We also serve the surrounding communities of Alachua, High Springs, Hawthorne, and Newberry!

Thank you for visiting the ECONOMECHANIX WEB SITE. Please feel free to comment. We also serve the surrounding communities of Alachua, High Springs, Hawthorne, and Newberry! Gainesville has been my home since 1974, and I've loved Gvl and the Gators since I came here in the fall of 1974 to attend the University of Florida. I loved it so much I stayed and opened my car repair business. Originally it was out of the back of a 1963 Chevrolet wagon, but in 1977 a fellow mechanic and I opened an auto repair shop with actual walls, etc. I stayed in the same location for 26 years, and recently moved my operation to property I bought 15 miles east of Gainesville. I am doing most all the repairs myself now, having reduced my overhead from $1500 per month to practically nothing. I do work by appointment only. I mostly work only on my established customers cars, but I will occasionally take on new clients. E-mail me and I will either make arrangements to look at your car, or I will recommend you to someone who will.

George G. Scott, Jr.