Patent ID: 7090608

Claim:
An apparatus comprising a wheel transmission which is configured to drive each of a pair of right and left wheels of a vehicle independently and shiftable between a forward drive stage, a neutral stage and a reverse stage, wherein the wheel transmission comprises: a drive axle shaft operatively coupled to an engine; a planetary gear assembly including a forward drive sun gear and a reverse sun gear both rotatable relative to the drive axle shaft, a plurality of first planetary gears engaged with the forward drive sun gear, a plurality of second planetary gears engaged with the reverse sun gear, and a ring gear fixed to a transmission housing and engaged with the first planetary gears; a carrier operatively connected to corresponding one of the pair of right and left wheels and rotatably supporting the first and second planetary gears of the planetary gear assembly; and a change clutch part comprising a first clutch for selectively drivingly connecting the forward drive sun gear to the drive axle shaft and a second clutch for selectively drivingly connecting the reverse sun gear to the drive axle shaft.