How It Works: Planetary Gears

Transmissions have always seemed insanely complicated, like some sort of voodoo mix of gears, shafts and fluids that I never thought I would have a prayer of understanding, but this educational video actually does a pretty solid job of breaking down the inner workings of an automatic trans into fairly simple terms that are easy to understand and uses simplified visual aids to effectively demonstrate what’s going on when your slush box shifts through the gears.

While the process and mechanics involved are certainly still well over my head, at least after watching this I can imagine what’s going on in that big funnel-shaped metal box between the engine and the rear end. This video, which appears to have been made in the 1950’s, provides the breakdown in the typical monotone you expect from those videos you had to watch in Health class, However dull the narrator may be, though, there is a lot of knowledge to be gleaned from it, if you ever plan to add transmissions to your DIY repertoire, or if you just want to know exactly how the magic happens inside your transmission.