Manual Transmission/Transaxle: Description and Operation

Manual Transaxle

The manual transaxle is a fully synchronized 5-speed transaxle. The forward gears are selected by a synchronizer mechanism. The third gear (3GR), fourth gear (4GR), and fifth speed cluster gear are mounted on the input shaft. First gear (1GR) and second gear (2GR) are mounted on the mainshaft. The helical-cut forward gears are in constant mesh with the corresponding gears on the opposing shaft. The manual transaxle features a synchronized reverse gear. The reverse gears have helical-cut teeth and are engaged through a synchronizer.

Power Flow








External Shift Linkage
The manual transaxle is controlled by a floor-mounted gearshift lever located in the floor console. Connection between the floor-mounted gear shift lever and the manual transaxle gear shift control mechanism is made through 2 shift cables.

Internal Shift Linkage
The manual transaxle is shifted internally by four shift forks. The first/second gears shift fork, third/fourth gears shift fork, and the fifth gear shift fork controls all forward gear shifts. The reverse gear shift fork controls reverse.

Reverse Gear
The reverse idler gears are mounted on a reverse idler gear shaft supported at one end in the flywheel housing and at the other in the transaxle case. Because the reverse idler gears rotate on the reverse idler gear shaft, they are supported by 2 sets of reverse idler gear needle bearings to prevent metal-to-metal contact and wear.

When the reverse idler coupling sleeve and hub engage the reverse idler gear, it reverses the power flow to the mainshaft.

Differential
The ends of the differential are supported on tapered roller differential bearings. The cups for these differential bearings are seated in the transaxle case and the flywheel housing. Differential bearing preload is set using a selective differential bearing shim that is installed under the differential bearing cup in the transaxle case.

The differential includes the differential side gears and the shaft mounted differential pinion gears. Direct contact between the gears and the differential case is prevented by the differential side gear thrust washers installed under the gears. The differential pinion shaft is held in position by a differential pinion shaft lock pin that extends through the end of the differential pinion shaft and the differential case.

The speedometer drive gear is also mounted on the differential case. It is located between the tapered roller differential bearing and the differential case. A tab on the speedometer drive gear and a matching slot in the differential case prevent the speedometer drive gear from spinning on the differential case.

For 4-Wheel Drive (4WD) vehicles, there is an additional helical-cut ring gear installed on the differential case which is in constant mesh with the transfer case.