Auxiliary transmission for Max T20

[greg pinson]

I have searched all over the web looking for some sort of small 2 or 3 speed, stand alone, transmission that could be mounted on top of my T20 that I could use to get some lower gearing. The only thing that came close was a 5 or 6 speed custom motorcycle transmission for custom Harley Davidson style motorcycles. The cheapest of those I could find were $700 to $900. Problem is, besides cost, the input and output shafts on these transmissions are together on the same side. I'm thinking about something that resembles a tiny 4 speed truck transmission with an input shaft on one end and an output shaft on the other. I would still use the CVT the Max came with, I would use the transmission as a transfer case.

A 2 speed with 1 to 1 and 2 to 1 would be ideal.
Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions???

[mudbug3]

max 4 with a 3 speed trans - Amphibious ATV Pictures

[thebuggyman1]

My thought would be a garden tractor trans with the driven clutch mounted on it, chain drive between its output shaft and the t-20 input. Otherwise you would need 2.
Check Ebay or a local small engine repair shop, usually they have parts machines that people decided not to fix.
Keep in mind shaft rotation direction......cw on one side may give ccw on the other, but this may be what you want anyway.

[greg pinson]

I've looked for garden tractor transmissions, but all the ones I found were transaxles, which wouldn't work.

MUDBUG, that is perfect, but what kind of tranny is it and where do I find one? Wish we had some internal pics of that machine.

[mudbug3]

greg pinson


Gus marrone is the only person that I,ve read about that owns an amphib with a three speed tractor transmission in it. An oil feild company had this modification done to the Max IV before Gus bought it he told me. Gus had it for sale at one time and I asked Gus to email me some close up pictures of how this was done. From what I remember the 3-speed tractor transmission was mounted on the engine stand next the briggs motor. The driven clutch was mounted on the shaft of the 3-speed transmission. Gus told me that a machinist who worked for the oil company did this modification to the Max IV before he bought it.

[thebuggyman1]

Jim Dandy 1612 Tractor Primary T-92 Transmission - eBay (item 200530859863 end time Jan-10-11 18:57:42 PST) some rwd car/truck transmissions had removable bell housings and look similar to this. It might be hard to find a small light weight one though.

[TripleTriple]

Suzuki Samurai transfer case gets my vote (small, light,bulletproof and a huge aftermarket for gear swaps) Also is self contained- it is divorce mounted and has flanges already mounted for adapting it.

[thebuggyman1]

Suzuki Samurai transfer case gets my vote (small, light,bulletproof and a huge aftermarket for gear swaps) Also is self contained- it is divorce mounted and has flanges already mounted for adapting it.

Same as a tracker? I know where I can get a couple of those. I know the samuri had a different front axle (tracker was independant).

[greg pinson]

I looked at a divorced Suzuki transfer case. One was on Ebay for $170. How small are they? What do they weigh? Wish I could see one in person. My main concern is getting something that doesn't take too much power to run it in high range. What do you guys think?

[TripleTriple]

NOT like a Tracker- they are bolted to the transmission (married) the Samuria is attached to the tranny with a short driveshaft. Wieghs maybe 30-40lbs. High range does have some reduction as well so they don't take much power to turn (1.23 :1 if memory serves). Take a look on google- lots of pics. I have one under my Samurai I could measure if it wasn't so wet out but, they are as small as it gets for a divorced style case.