Description

Layshaft is the countershaft of the manual gearbox, carrying the cluster of constant-mesh gears that transmit drive from the input shaft down to the mainshaft gear train.

The layshaft gear cluster runs in permanent mesh with the mainshaft gears, and each ratio is engaged when its mainshaft gear is locked to the shaft. This later shouldered design retains second gear against a machined shoulder rather than a circlip groove, giving greater strength than the earlier circlip-retained layshaft it supersedes.