How Overdrives Work, And Why They're Not A Thing Anymore

Only seen now in older cars, the overdrive system was the precursor to transmissions with over four gears
How Overdrives Work, And Why They're Not A Thing Anymore

Overdrive as a concept seems pretty awesome - normally displayed as a button or switch, it almost seems like a hidden source of power that can suddenly be unleashed with a press or a flick. Unfortunately, it’s the complete opposite, being used in older cars to produce decent fuel economy and less engine noise once up at a cruising speed.

Overdrive as a definition is simply having a faster transmission output shaft speed than the input rotation speed of the input shaft from the engine. This means torque is effectively being multiplied in a positive sense so being ‘overdriven’, creating a more effortless driving experience.

‘Underdrive’ is therefore the opposite, where the engine is spinning faster than the resultant rotation of the output shaft. This is experienced in the lower gears (normally up to third gear) which are used for acceleration before cruising gears are employed.

The overdrive unit can be seen bolted to the rear (right) of this Triumph TR3's transmission
The overdrive unit can be seen bolted to the rear (right) of this Triumph…

You may associate ‘going into overdrive’ with classic cars, particularly ones that only have four forward gears. This is because, back in the day, top gear in most cars featured a gear ratio of 1:1. This meant that at highway speeds, cars would have to sit at high engine speeds, wasting fuel and making a bit of a racket. Gear ratios are written as the input shaft speed against the output shaft’s constant of one, determining the differences in drive after the power has been sent through the transmission. So a 1:1 ratio is known as ‘direct drive’ as there is no differential in rotation across the transmission.

To solve the issue of inefficient cruising with a 1:1 ratio, engineers decided that it would be easier to make an additional gearing unit on the back of the gearbox before the propshaft. Redesigning entire transmissions with more gears would be a much more expensive and time-consuming task, so the overdrive unit was born.

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An overdrive is effectively a gear-reduction system made up of a combination of sun, planetary and rings gears. When not in use, the overdrive allows direct drive to take place with the sun gear turning the ring gear. Once overdrive is enabled, the sun gear is fixed in place and the planetary gears are brought to life, rotating the ring gear.

The increase in gearing occurs due to the planetary gears having more teeth than the original sun gear, thus turning the ring gear further per rotation. This means that if the planetary gears can rotate the ring gear 1.2 times compared to just one turn for direct drive, the output shaft will have turned 20 per cent further than usual. This will allow the engine to operate at a lower RPM for a given road speed while cruising.

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An overdrive system is generally actuated by using a mechanical linkage or electronic solenoid displayed as a button or lever on the gearstick or dashboard. Although it could be used as a function for every forward gear, most systems are locked until either third or fourth gear is selected to avoid lugging the engine after each gear change.

The addition of an overdrive system to a transmission began to fall away in popularity when transmission technology expanded to five- and six-speed gearboxes. The additional gears have ratios higher than 1:1, creating the overdrive feature needed for cruising and motorway driving. This is then further enhanced by the latest crop of transmissions that feature 10 or 11 forward gears, all of which can combine to produce fairly nifty fuel consumption figures.

The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 features a 10-speed automatic transmission that effectively morphs into overdrive after the seventh ratio
The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 features a 10-speed automatic transmission that…

You may not have to look too far back for automatic cars featuring overdrive, but the technology has been out of date for quite some time in manual transmissions. Saying that, an overdrive unit certainly had its place back in the day and showed one of the first ventures towards creating reasonable fuel economy on a long cruise.

Comments

Dinindu Perera

Here come the Fast & Furious jokes.

03/11/2017 - 10:46 |
192 | 2

Vin Diesel intensifies

03/11/2017 - 11:24 |
174 | 2
Anonymous

[DELETED]

03/11/2017 - 11:22 |
0 | 0
CatHat

21st!

il lead myself out

03/11/2017 - 11:46 |
4 | 4
Anonymous

Is it bad I want to put an overdrive in a 4 speed manual that never came with it? I want to retain the 4 speed pattern

03/11/2017 - 12:14 |
24 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

there’s nothing like a 6-speed tractive sequential gearbox.. forget about overdrives :P

03/11/2017 - 13:19 |
18 | 0
Michael Smith 2

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

So basically you want an eighties 5 speed that can be found in most light duty pickups.Nothing wrong with that, save you on some maintenance costs really.

03/11/2017 - 14:02 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Nope, wanting to see what you can do, and think “if I do x, then y should happen” is good. It’s people like you, people who do stuff, who gave us the internal combustion engine that we all love.

03/11/2017 - 15:42 |
18 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Put a 5 or 6 speed in it and use a 4 speed knob. Problem solved

03/11/2017 - 16:58 |
2 | 0
Mournful3ch0

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Well, your options are pretty limited.
1) You could swap your differential gears to a lower ratio to lower engine speeds, but this would affect all gears and reduce usable torque
2) Slap a GearVendors under/overdrive behind your 4-speed (I know they make them for Muncie M20-M23s) which is a switchable OD that is nearly indestructible and can be used in any gear and switched manually or using automatic mode.

03/11/2017 - 20:00 |
8 | 0
ramses rizal

Simplest way to explain it is :
Overdrive makes your car shift to 3rd gear and it allows you to rev the engine higher thus means moar speed and power. Cmiiw.

03/11/2017 - 13:35 |
2 | 14

It says in the article that it reduces engine speed relative to the ground speed to improve fuel economy.

03/11/2017 - 13:57 |
6 | 0

That is not the function of overdrive at all….. yes an over-driven gear set can produce higher top speeds, but that is not what an overdrive (be it a separate unit or inside the gear box) is for.

03/11/2017 - 14:03 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

My Boxster S has the 7 speed PDK box.

In truth it’s only 6 gears and the 7th effectively being an overdrive.

03/11/2017 - 13:52 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

In simple words, overdrive gear means it’s not used for reaching top speed?

03/11/2017 - 15:14 |
2 | 0
HF_Martini6

the OD off switch on my ‘90 Jeep Cherokee simply said “Power” with a Gearbox Symbol on it… pretty hilarious if you think about it seeing that it had a 4.0L straight Six with 172HP and toped out at 150kph )90mph).

03/11/2017 - 14:11 |
0 | 0

Are the aerodynamics really that bad lmao

03/11/2017 - 15:53 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Weird fact: the automatic 42RLE in Jeep Wranglers from 2003-2011 has overdrive

03/11/2017 - 14:16 |
8 | 0
Patrick McClammy

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

not only that, it is a stupid high gear ratio at .69:1

03/11/2017 - 15:48 |
2 | 0
Esteban Gomez

I have a 2013 Mazda 2 and it has a overdrive button

03/11/2017 - 14:30 |
0 | 0

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