The Fortin Transaxle has continued to evolve to meet the demands of off-road racing, desert rally racing, endurance road course racing and drag racing around the world. The transaxle is currently running up to 700 Hp in off-road racing, over 1000 Hp in recreational vehicles and over 1100 Hp. We stand behind every transaxle we build because we build them all ourselves. The guy you talk to on the phone, is the same guy who builds and then ships it. Nothing goes out our door without our fingerprints all over it literally. Shop great deals on Craftsman Transaxle Lawnmower Parts. Get outdoors for some landscaping or spruce up your garden! Shop a huge online selection at eBay.com. Fast & Free shipping on many items!
A transaxle is a complex machine that brings together a transmission and final drive components like a differential. In that way, a transaxle is capable of driving the axles without any additional components. This is particularly useful in front wheel drive cars, where a CV axles can be plugged directly into the unit, although transaxles are also used in front-engine rear-wheel-drive applications.
This Volkswagen “direct-shift” gearbox is a type of transaxle.
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Defining the Transaxle
The word “transaxle” is a portmanteau of the words “transmission” and “driven axle,” which essentially describes what this component is and what it does. Specifically, it transmits power from the engine to the drive wheels via the driven axles, and it also allows the driver to change the gear ratios.
Of course, this is all in American English. In British English, the word “transmission” already refers to all of the various components in the drive train, which includes both the transmission and the differential. The main difference between a transaxle and the British definition of transmission is that a transaxle contains both a transmission and a differential in a single housing.
History of the Transaxle
Although transaxles have only entered into widespread use in relatively recent history, they’ve been around just as long as the automobile itself. Of course, the first transaxles were used in rear-wheel drive vehicles that had front-mounted engines. One of the earliest examples was the De Dion Bouton in 1898, although Stutz also introduced a rear-wheel drive, front-engine transaxle in 1914, and Bugatti had one by 1929. Of course, the rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive Volkswagen Beetle also used a transaxle starting in 1938.
Most early examples of transaxles were in European cars, and the trend didn’t reach the United States until the 1960s. Fraps 3.6.0 cracked full version software. Kubota m7040 manual. In 1960, the Chevrolet Corvair was introduced with a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive transaxle, and the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive Pontiac Tempest utilized one in 1961.
Starting in the 1980s, a handful of automakers turned to transaxles for four-wheel-drive vehicles. Audi’s Quattro system, which first appeared in the 1981 Audi Quatro turble coupe, uses a transaxle. Ford and Mitsubishi also introduced four-wheel-drive vehicles with transaxles in the 1980s, and Nissan’s 2007 GT-R also introduced a front-engine four-wheel-drive transaxle system.
Transaxle Ubiquity
Although the history of the transaxle is full of examples where the engine and the drive wheels are located on opposite ends of the vehicle, this technology is nearly ubiquitous in the reverse configuration. That is to say, vehicles where the drive wheels and the engine are located on the same end (front or rear) almost always use a transaxle.
An early example of this configuration is the Volkswagen Beetle with its rear-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration, but the popularity of this layout has exploded in the last few decades. Today, a huge number of Japanese and American front-wheel drive cars use transaxles, and that configuration is especially popular in smaller cars.
Transaxle Orientation
Transaxles can be oriented either longitudinally or in a transverse fashion. Transverse transaxles are used in concert with transverse engines in a large percentage of modern front-wheel drive vehicles, which is a configuration that places the entire drive train and the drive wheels in the front end of the vehicle.
This diagram shows the layout of a transverse engine and transaxle in a front-wheel drive car.
On the flip side, most rear-wheel drive vehicles utilize a longitudinal engine configuration with a conventional transmission and drive train. However, rear-wheel drive vehicles with transaxles that have either mid- or rear-engined layouts do use transverse-mounted transaxles. When the engine is located in the rear, the overall configuration is very similar to a front-engine layout.
Components of a Transaxle
The components of a transaxle can vary from one design to another, but they typically contain most of the same components as a transmission and a differential. 2210sd hamm roller service manual. Some of the major components include:
- Shafts (input, idler, counter, etc)
- Clutches and gears
- Bearings
Of course, a transaxle contains these components in different amounts and configurations than either a transmission or a differential. In addition to allowing the driver to change gear ratios (the function of the transmission), it also has to be able to distribute torque to the drive wheels.
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Transaxle Failure
Since a transaxle consists of a transmission, differential, and other final drive components, there are a lot of potential failure points to consider. Some things to keep an eye (or ear, or nose) out for include:
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- Burnt transmission fluid
- Slipping gears
- Transmission noise (especially in neutral)
- Excessive shaking on shifting gears
- Drag when coasting
- Excessive noise when starting from a complete stop (whining, rumbling, clunking)
Since you depend on your transaxle to get power from your engine to your drive wheels, it’s important to investigate potential failures as soon as (or before) they happen. To that end, it’s a good idea to check your fluid regularly and take your vehicle in to a trusted shop at the first sign of trouble.
Fortin Racing developed and converted the first Hewland Transaxle, originally designed for Formula and Indy Car racing, for off-road desert racing in 1971. The Hewland DG 300 with Fortin modifications quickly became the off-road racing industry leader as it allowed unlimited class teams to increase their engine size to 3.2 litre.
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In the early 1980’s Fortin Racing began developing the Fortin 5spd. The Fortin Transaxle has continued to evolve to meet the demands of off-road racing, desert rally racing, endurance road course racing and drag racing around the world. The transaxle is currently running up to 700 Hp in off-road racing, over 1000 Hp in recreational vehicles and over 1100 Hp in front-wheel-drive drag race cars. The new off-road desert and short course truck gearboxes are currently being run with over 800 Hp. The most recent Fortin Transaxle wins include the 2007 Dakar Rally, the 2008 BITD Terrible Town 250, the 2008 SCORE Baja 500, the 2008 SCORE Baja 1000 and the 2008 BITD Vegas to Reno. McDowell Motorsports recently won the 2008 BITD points championship and “The King of The Desert” award for fastest mile per hour average among all classes for the entire season using the FRS5 transaxle.
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The original Fortin 5 speed has evolved during the past 20 years into a complete line up of gearboxes including 4 and 5 speed “H” pattern gearboxes and 4, 5 and 6 speed sequential gearboxes. No matter what your application is we can match you with the right gearbox.