Patent attributes
The present invention relates to a transmission for a recreation vehicle, such as an all-terrain vehicle that includes a locking assembly for locking a differential joint in the front- or rear-end portion of the transmission. A vehicle having both front and rear differentials may include separate locking assemblies for each differential to lock and unlock the differentials for various combinations of power allocation to wheels of the vehicle. A differential joint according to the invention may include a ring gear and spider gears that drive a universal joint coupled to wheels of the vehicle. A coupler of the locking assembly includes an inner surface configured to engage outer surfaces of the ring gear and the universal joint, and an outer surface configured to be engaged by an actuator. The actuator adjusts the coupler between a locked position wherein the ring gear and the universal joint are locked together, and an unlocked position wherein the universal joint is free to rotate relative to each other. The coupler preferably has a relatively thin width so as to minimize a track width of the vehicle.
