General Motors Corp. (Detroit) is producing a new six-speed transmission for automobiles. When the company needed a supplier for steel gear preforms, the company looked no further than The Timken Co. (Canton, OH).

Timken supplies 100 percent of the gear preforms for the first two models of the rear-wheel drive version of GM's newly developed transmission. The automaker is using these precision-machined steel preforms as the base for 20 transmission components, including sun gears, ring gears and pinion gears. These planetary gears play a role in determining the ratio for the gear sets in transmission.

Timken engineers and metallurgists worked with the car company for nearly 2 years analyzing the application requirements and identifying appropriate steel grades. The steels for the preforms provide long life in high-wear conditions, as well as good machinability to accommodate the precision machining required to produce gears.

For more information on gear preforms, call 330-471-3514 or visit www.timken.com.