Straight cut gears vs helical

Many car enthusiasts are familiar with the high pitch whine a transmission with straight cut gears makes, but not many people know why race cars use straight cut gears.

Most people think that straight cut (actually called spur) gears are stronger than helical gears and that’s why their used. While generally race transmissions with straight gears are very strong, its not because of the straight teeth on the gears. What may shock you is that straight cut gears are actually weaker than a same sized helical gear. The reason for this is quite simple: helical gears have more teeth meshing and thus have a greater load bearing surface area. Another myth is that straight cut gears are more efficient than a helical gears; but the difference in efficiency is negligible with both spur and helical gears having about 98-99% efficiency.

So why are straight cut gears used in race transmissions? Well, there is only one real reason, and that is because straight gears don’t produce any axial loads (thrust loads). Its very easy to build strong gears that are either straight cut or helical, so that’s not the problem. The problem is when you start putting a lot of torque through helical gears, the axial loads become so high that you need a very strong transmission case and shafts (axles) to contain the loads; this can add significant weight to the transmission. Straight cut gears simplifies the transmission case design and also the types of bearings used. This allows for a very light weight transmission to be designed – and we know that weight is everything in a race car. The one negative of straight cut gears, and its a big one, is that they produce a lot of noise.

HelicalGearsThrust
The above image shows the axial loads (red) produced by helical gears. The transmission case and bearings must be designed to handle this load as well as the normal force (blue) of the gears pushing away from each other.

In many instances, the axial loads produced from the helical gears can be limiting factor of a transmissions torque capacity. That is, the case fails before the teeth on the gears do. By installing an aftermarket straight cut gear set into a case that came from the factory with helical gears, it is possible to drastically increase the load capacity of the transmission. Depending on the application, straight cut gears may not be necessary because it would increase the transmission capacity well beyond the power the engine outputs. Simply reducing the helix angle of helical gears can increase transmission capacity and keep the noise at a more acceptable level. This was the case with the famous Muncie M22 4 speed that was prolific in many GM muscle cars. Even though that transmission used helical gears, the helix was at a shallow 20 degrees compared to 45 for the M21 (the low performance version of the same trans). The M22’s gears did make some noise which earned it the nickname “Rockcrusher”.

Interestingly, there is a gear design called a double helical (or herringbone gears) which cancels out the thrust loads; but, I’m not aware of any car transmissions that use this design.


These gears are from an industrial application. The larger gear is over 12′ tall (3.65m)

I’m not sure if these types of gears are suitable for a car transmission since all of the double helical gears I have seen are very wide. There’s probably not enough of a benefit to justify the extra cost and manufacturing difficulty in using this type of gear.

If you like this post, be sure to check out my post on Dog Engaged transmissions. “Dog Boxes” or, incorrectly, “Crash boxes” as they are also called, are high performance race transmissions that typically use straight cut gears. These transmissions provide clutchless shifting and are the fastest transmissions outside of twin clutch paddle shifts.

Muncie M21/22 information source:
http://442restoration.homestead.com/files/muncie_4_speeds.htm

Gear types and efficiencies:
http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Drive/Gear_Efficiency.html

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15 Comments to "Straight cut gears vs helical"

  1. Christopher Gray's Gravatar Christopher Gray
    May 8, 2012 - 3:32 pm | Permalink

    An example of double helical gears can be found here in the 1934 Jaguar SS owners manual:

    http://www.tocmp.com/manuals/Jaguar/1934SS/pages/34_ss_manual_10_l_jpg.htm

  2. nicke's Gravatar nicke
    June 1, 2015 - 2:32 am | Permalink

    Problem solved – no axial forces, take a look at http://www.belix.se
    Hi-performace gearbox without no drawbacks

  3. July 24, 2015 - 6:16 am | Permalink

    what is the furmula is helical gearcuttting and sitting thedrive gearand lead gear.pllease

  4. Martin Robert Altria's Gravatar Martin Robert Altria
    February 29, 2016 - 5:29 am | Permalink

    Crash boxes and dog boxes are entirely different things, a crash box is a gearbox where the gears are not in mesh until you slide it in to gear, this also means that by default you cannot have a helical or herringbone crash box, these where common in big trucks 70 years ago..

  5. Martin Robert Altria's Gravatar Martin Robert Altria
    February 29, 2016 - 5:31 am | Permalink

    Also Citroen’s logo is a herringbone gear..

  6. Noncog's Gravatar Noncog
    June 9, 2016 - 8:46 pm | Permalink

    Herringbone gears would not work in an automotive transmission as the gears have to slide against each other

  7. Martin's Gravatar Martin
    August 4, 2018 - 8:26 am | Permalink

    Also herringbone are not quite the same as double helical…. although they posses similar characteristics and look similar, the double helical is 2 helical gears machined onto a common shaft or hub with a clearance groove down the middle, the herringbone has no such clearance groove down the middle and is much stronger, they where used in Citroens …

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