How does a 2-speed rear axle work? I've made thousands of air-operated shifts with big rig transmissions of all types without clutching. Just select the gear, back off the throttle momentarily, and it shifts. I'm thinking of using a vacuum chamber and a stout spring to the shifter linkage. Preselecting the gear stretches the spring, and when the power is interrupted for a moment the shift gets made by the spring. Ditto for the downshift, with a vacuum chamber and a spring pulling the other way.
On the subject of reverse-loading gears, lots of Volkswagen transaxles got the ring gear flipped over for Corvair engine conversions, and ran many thousands of miles afterward.
Jerry
