Our transmission has Dodson heavy-duty drop gears. They are made of extremely strong alloy and are 30% wider than stock to be able to take extreme power loads.
Many parts in our transmission are built to help withstand severe thrust loads caused by helical-cut gears being fed a huge amount of torque and the tremendous loads that AWD with sticky tires can produce. Very high-powered cars can develop problems with the shafts and bearings sending power to the front wheels. A Shep trans billet forward transfer bearing retainer plate helps keep the bearing from walking out. while a Dodson Forward transfer gear lock prevents the stock snap ring from breaking and allowing the gear to walk loose. This is a decently common problem with high-powered cars.
Here is a closer look at the Forward transfer gear lock. It totally fortifies the snap ring and absolutely prevents it from popping off.
These extremely beefy Dodson mechanical locks for the drop gear bearing sleeves take the place of the shaft snap rings and give a very positive lock, preventing the bearings from walking out. Wow, these are not going anywhere.
This Dodson billet part retains the 6 ball bearings that apply pressure to the clutches of the AWD system. It also retains the clutches and applies pressure to them. This is known to fail and this part is much stronger than stock.
7 comments
Are you sure you want to add “super-strong ARP bolts” in the blind holes machined in to the cast aluminum differential cover? Higher strength bolts means more clamp load to achieve the same stretch which in turns leads to shearing the threads in the non-serviceable transaxle. Those holes don’t look to deep so it would be a good idea to triple check the thread engagement calculations.
There is nothing wrong with that and its proven in competition.
Any significant penalty in weight or rotational inertia from the beefier gears?
It’s probably a slight penalty but when the alternative is breakage, it’s a moot point!
Is there some reason that they don’t go with straight cut gears? Seems like noise and vibration wouldn’t be a serious consideration in this application.
Personally, I kind of enjoy a bit of gear whine in a race car.
The helix of the gears is changed for more strength. Helix gears can be stronger although they do waste more power.
Best in the business plus he always helps you out with any kind of questions! Installed my SHEP stage 4+ and ready now for turbo upgrades.