
 Originally Posted by 
Lotz-A-Landies
					
				 
				Basically it was a sprag clutch, like the one in the gear cluster on a pushbike.  Turned the other way around the Rover one was used in the 1948-(mid)1950 80" Land Rover to make the constant 4X4.
			
		 
	 
 Free wheel units like this were introduced on cars in the 1930's, mainly because when fitted with one of these you can easily and noiselessly change gears without having synchromesh, as the gearbox stops moving almost as soon as you disengage the clutch. While the general introduction of synchromesh made them somewhat redundant, they continued to be fitted to semiluxury and luxury British cars into the sixties, as they make it easy to drive very smoothly. They were often combined with overdrive to give extra gears.
John
				
			 
			
		 
			
				
			
			
				John
JDNSW
1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol
			
			
		 
	
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