Abstract: A transaxle for use in an automotive vehicle driveline having a front wheel drive comprising a torque converter and a compound planetary gear system having two simple planetary gear units adapted to provide four forward driving torque delivery paths, the highest speed ratio torque delivery path being an overdrive, the axis of the converter being located on the crankshaft axis of the vehicle engine and the torque output shaft axis being parallel to the converter axis, and clutch and brake means including overrunning clutches and friction clutches in series relationship for establishing and disestablishing the speed ratios.

Abstract: A planetary transaxle driveline having a pair of simple planetary gear units adapted to deliver torque to aligned, oppositely disposed vehicle wheel driveshafts comprising a hydrokinetic unit adapted to be mounted for rotation on a first axis, the planetary gearing being adapted to be mounted on a second axis spaced laterally from and parallel to the first axis, a drive sprocket and chain mechanism for connecting driven portions of the hydrokinetic unit to input portions of the gearing, and clutch-and-brake structure for effecting ratio changes in the gearing whereby the gearing is adapted for nonsynchronous ratio changes from the second forward driving ratio to the third forward driving ratio and a nonsynchronous shift from the third driving ratio to the fourth driving ratio, all of the ratio changes being achieved by clutch-and-brake structure with a minimum number of friction elements and with a minimum space requirement.