Gearbox failure - Help

[Guest]

You don't operate a drive plate.

 

It is just there instead of a clutch to absorb the jolt as gear is engaged

and some jolt it is

 

Reminds me of the converted lifeboats on the L&L when we were kids. Many of these had car engines and gearboxes in which the reverse gear had been somehow changed to the same ratio as the forwards highest gear. A motorcycle style clutch lever was often fitted to the gear stick so that you could de-clutch. Some fitted a car radiator for cooling, others used a keel cooler.