Wow. I've heard of airport gears in the form mentioned, but never airplane gears, and I've been immersed in both sports car and hot rod terminology since the '60s, and through reading all my dad's hot rodding magazines, back into the '50s.
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June 9, 2009 12:40 p.m. Chris_V SuperDork
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June 9, 2009 3:08 p.m. JohnGalt Reader
Never heard of the term. For me gears are either tall, short, high, low, new, or broken that's it.
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June 9, 2009 3:13 p.m. cwh Dork
Airplane gears? Yup, them's the ones that are shifted with the fragellator cylinder, and when you strip them, you also have to use a left handed wrench to remove the bendix screws that hold them in place.
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June 9, 2009 3:27 p.m. ClemSparks SuperDork
It's new to me.
However, in an airplane I have heard the exchange:
"Gear down?"
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June 9, 2009 3:44 p.m. Jensenman SuperDork
I'm with ClemSparks, airplane landing gear is as close as I have heard.
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June 9, 2009 4:12 p.m. Shaun New Reader
I think this post is a clever troll but I like it. Airport gears? Umm,,,o.k, got it: my granddad Jimmy told me that is what they called the av gas they stole in the middle of the night from Fullerton Airport because it made their flatheads pump out the jams. He said it was a common thing to do in the early hot rod days and the manual crank pumps hooked up to the ww2 surplus above ground tanks were left unlocked at night (who would steal gas when it was almost free at a gas station?!) until someone finally caught on to what young whippersnappers like my grandpappy were up to. At drag races late at night in the middle of the orange groves people would, after getting stomped by my grandpappy, mutter to no one in particular , "I think Jimmy is running airport gears, how else is he getting the extra 10 mph?".
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June 9, 2009 6:25 p.m. iceracer Reader
Never heard that one. Years ago you could get a car with "Plains Gears".
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June 9, 2009 6:43 p.m. pinchvalve SuperDork
Never heard the term, and I am a sponge for useless car trivia and terms.
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June 9, 2009 6:48 p.m. MCarp22 Reader
I've used "airplane gears" for a long time to describe anything with a relatively tall final drive that runs the engine at a low rpm when cruising on the highway.
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June 9, 2009 6:49 p.m. slowcamaro New Reader
As a western Marylander, I've heard the term before...Go figure, his mustang had 'airplane gears'
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June 9, 2009 6:54 p.m. Trans_Maro Reader
JohnGalt wrote:
Never heard of the term. For me gears are either tall, short, high, low, new, or broken that's it.
You forgot noisy.
Shawn
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June 10, 2009 8:51 a.m. GameboyRMH SuperDork
Never heard of it...
