Re: [MV] M35 Air shift ??

From: Ronzo (rojoha@attbi.com)
Date: Mon Mar 24 2003 - 16:39:42 PST


Hi Joe:
    Nope you got it right.... An 'experienced' (he'd kick my ass if I called
him old and crusty) motor pool CWO took me out 2 summers ago and showed me
how to 'drive' vs. 'operate' a deuce. One of the things he showed me was
using the low range of the gear case when going less than 25 mph and then
when reaching that speed barrier, pulling the trans out of 5th, pulling the
range lever from 'LOW' to 'HIGH' and stuffing the tranny into 4th.
    It is not driven as a conventional 2 speed rear end. It IS used to
expand the conventional 5 speed tyranny's range by using what the
manufacturer gave the Gov't to work with. The CWO points out the mission of
the driver is to keep the vehicle in motion to complete the mission.
Understanding the drive train and how it works and CAN be operated is the
difference between an operator and a driver. Like the vehicle recovery
manual shows the method of 'unstucking' a vehicle if it's not equipped with
a winch or a winch equipped vehicle is unavailable.
    He pointed out that only about 40% of the 'motor T' types he and his
people showed this method to could master it. They could keep trucks and
loads moving when other folks were stopping and restarting in first or
slipping the clutch with lots of throttle and eventual damage to the clutch,
lugging the engine in the wrong gear or spinning wheels since the power
wasn't being matched to the tractive surface. It does take a lot of strain
off the truck when operated this way, versus staying with just 5 gears.
    He also demonstrated starting out in 1st 'L' using the clutch and going
up through 6 'shifts or gears' and back down to 2nd without touching the
clutch, just the throttle pedal, ear and a light grip on the shifter. He
pointed out that he could get back into 1st 'L' without the clutch only
about 50% of the time. He demoed it both on road and off, going uphill and
down. That whole shifting sequence I have not tried and probably will not
master. I don't have an understanding motor pool CWO behind me to repair my
truck or point out my errors while I try to learn his tricks. But school
goes back into session during our Weare, NH summer rally again for 5 days.
     As the saying goes, it's not for everyone. But handy to know.

    Ron

----- Original Message -----
From: "GOTAM35" <gotam35@sc.rr.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] M35 Air shift ??

> I don't want to discourage anyone from doing something new, but my
> understanding, limited as it is, about two speed rear ends and the m35
> transfer case leads me to the following conclusion:
>
> With a two speed rear end I think the gear ratios are much closer than the
> difference between the high and low of the transfer case. I have never
> tried to use the transfer case to achieve a selection of gear ratios
> because, unlike the trucks I have used with the two speed rear, you would
> have to shift the transmission to a different gear each time you shifted
the
> transfer. When using the 2 speed rears, for example, you shift from 1st
> gear high to 2nd gear low, then to 2nd gear high. If I understand the tag
> on the dash of my deuce, if you have the transfer in low range 5th gear,
you
> would have to shift to 4th (?) high, then to 5th high. Am I missing
> something? Just something to think about.
>
> Joe Trapp



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