Wanni, it sounds as though you had quite the drive!
Sorry for your troubles.
Let's talk some about an affordable transaxle. I understand price of materials. I understand expense of R&D. I understand value-added services, ie, engineering, consulting, etc. I understand making a profit. But can you please explain to me how a sports-car gearbox costs MORE than many VEHICLES? There isn't enough steel or aluminum or electronic circuits controlling them to make them that expensive. There isn't enough MACHINING time in the components to make them that expensive. I have ordered and replaced many transmissions for 18-wheelers...in fact, for what one GearFox unit costs, I could have a Caterpillar 6-cylinder diesel engine overhauled with all new wear parts almost TWICE. That's including parts & labor. And factory labor at Caterpillar Machinery is $95 per hour.
So, why is it so expensive to purchase a good unit? You've already done the hard part...the engineering and spec'ing of materials. You've got the drawings done. You either have the machinery or the partners to machine your components. Justify to me the EXPENSE of a single gearbox. One gearbox that you have so lovingly and expertly created, costs more to purchase than my daily driver (!) cost to purchase. We're not talking F1 trickery here. We're not talking aerospace or even space-shuttle components. We're talking about: a) CASE b) shafts c) gears d)forks e)synchros or engagement dogs f)bearings g)shift rods h)ring & pinion. That's it folks, that's all that's in a transaxle. Why can I buy a bulletproof six speed manual transmission and bulletproof rear axle for my drag Mustang for 1/3 the price that a GearFox transaxle sells for? My Tranzilla T56 cost LESS than a junkyard Getrag transaxle (Porsche). It takes 1200 ft.lbs. of torque on a drag launch! 9310 steel gears and shafts. My 9 inch housing runs 9310 ring and pinion. 9310 steel is a premium aerospace steel used to make the gears and shafts for helicopter turbine gearboxes. It's shockproof, it's strong, it has tensile strength out the yang, it costs 1.5-3X as much as 4340....and still, with a stock case full of these components, it costs $6000 ready to run. I'm positively baffled why it costs so damn much to manufacture and sell a transaxle. It seems to me that everyone in the transaxle supply chain wants to make their maximum bucks up front and to hell with the end consumer.
So, please Wanni, explain to myself and everyone listening, why all the transaxle manufacturers want to bend us over, remove our wallets, and our pride along with it, when all WE want to do is complete what should be a simple business transaction. Seems to me, everyone should be happy if we could all just do what needs to be done!
epper::chug:
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