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Chris_V
Chris_V SuperDork
6/9/09 12:40 p.m.

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.

JohnGalt
JohnGalt Reader
6/9/09 3:08 p.m.

Never heard of the term. For me gears are either tall, short, high, low, new, or broken that's it.

cwh
cwh Dork
6/9/09 3:13 p.m.

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.

ClemSparks
ClemSparks SuperDork
6/9/09 3:27 p.m.

It's new to me.

However, in an airplane I have heard the exchange:

"Gear down?"
"Gear down."

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
6/9/09 3:44 p.m.

I'm with ClemSparks, airplane landing gear is as close as I have heard.

Shaun
Shaun New Reader
6/9/09 4:12 p.m.

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?".

iceracer
iceracer Reader
6/9/09 6:25 p.m.

Never heard that one. Years ago you could get a car with "Plains Gears".

pinchvalve
pinchvalve GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
6/9/09 6:43 p.m.

Never heard the term, and I am a sponge for useless car trivia and terms.

MCarp22
MCarp22 Reader
6/9/09 6:48 p.m.

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.

slowcamaro
slowcamaro New Reader
6/9/09 6:49 p.m.

As a western Marylander, I've heard the term before...Go figure, his mustang had 'airplane gears'

Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro Reader
6/9/09 6:54 p.m.
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

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
6/10/09 8:51 a.m.

Never heard of it...

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