Quote Originally Posted by aphilipmarcou View Post
Can those gear wheels withstand such torque multiplication ie the machine would commit suicide long before getting dangerous ( (Comment made without a lot of thought)
No they can not withstand such a multiplication of torque they can however withstand many times their rated load capacity but once the gear wind limit is reached it only takes 1 single tooth or shaft to fail resulting in the instantaneous release of pent up energy which will cause more fragmentation from the sudden backlash.
A friend had a late model Ford super duty 4 X 4. While towing a heavy trailer at highway speed somehow the fully electronic shifted trans and transfer case went into low lock, fragments from the explosion cut through the floor board and even nearly cut the frame in half at one point He and his wife both had shrapnel embedded in their legs and one piece managed to go through the roof of the truck.