I really do not think this is feasible.  The ratio is determined by the gear
that is part of the input shaft, the a;most 2/1 reduction gear in the
housing, and the reverse/low gear on the output shaft.  The drive gear on
the input shaft can not be practical to make smaller and there is no room to
make the other gears larger.  BTW, the ratio here is so extreme already that
the gear case can be busted on demand,(ask anyone who tried to push start
the engine in reverse or low) that a lower ratio here will severely increase
the housing failure rate.  Stick with changing the ring/pinion.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 3:02 PM
Subject: Wheddle Engineering Lower Low Gear

>The folks at Wheddle Engineering have offered to perform a feasibility
>study on manufacturing new lower low gears for the creeper gear in Syncros.
>They offered to do a bunch of work on this issue if I were to send them
>$100 or $200 or something like that to buy their engineering time. They
>said that the per-transmission cost to make up new lower ratio low gears
>might be on the order of $2,000 each, possibly a lot more, possibly less if
>ordering several sets. I am into it although I do not plan to order such a
>thing this year.
>_______________________________________________
>Derek Drew                  New York, NY & Washington DC
>CEO, ConsumerSearch
>drew@interport.net
>212-580-6486, 202-966-7907 (Work)
>212-580-4459; 202-966-0938 (Home)
>     (cell: 917-848-6425)