Disengaging from wheels to something else?

I am thinking about creating an amphibious vehicle out of a standard car, but before I start seriously working on it I need to know if it is possible to disengage the engine from the wheels and to something else. If it is possible the amount of difficulty would be nice too. For example would I have to just add parts, reassemble some stuff, or practically reassemble everything in the car to make it work?

Thanks

if u want to make a car that can go on water and not sink good god that will require a lot of fabrication ya basically every will need to come apart to first off make the car float second to make all the electrical stay dry third to create a way to drive the vehicle in the water. um to dissengage the wheels from the engine ya u can that is basically wat a clutch does but that is the entire transmission so basically u can do it if u want to spend about 2 years of your life to make one fully functional. and two years is most likey a massive understatement.

I do realize that it will require a lot of fabrication to make it float. I’m looking at some older cars to do this with as they will be much lighter and I’ve already figured out ways of making it float. What I need to know is if I can somewhat easily disengage from the wheels and engage onto something else like a boat propeller. Is this possible with some work or will I basically have to engineer my own clutch system from scratch to do this. I also do realize what I’m trying to do will take a while. When I do start on it I figure it’ll take me about 5 years of free time to finish the project. Thanks for the feedback.

Not to burst you bubble but most older cars are actually heavier making your floating task a little harder plus its probably going to be pretty expensive, lots of overtime :grinyes: sounds like a cool project tho.

Many 4wd transfer boxes have a neutral position.

Pick one with an offset drive to front and rear axles (landrover LT230 is the one I'm most familiar with) so you can take a propellor shaft straight out the back PTO cover.

Put the transfer lever in neutral, your wheels stop driving but the PTO still runs at the output speed of your gearbox.
You probably want a clutch on the shaft to the propellor/water jet or whatever is providing water thrust so it's not turning when you're on the road.

Kiwi's on the right track. Many older 4x4s had optional PTOs in the tranny or transfer case. Newer trucks have them too, but usually only on heavier duty trucks and big trannys don't fit will in small cars.

Tow trucks often use PTOs. The truck pulls up, they put it in neutral or park, and engage a gear that spins a shaft out the side of the tranny for other purposes like running hydraulic pumps, operating the flatbed and winch, etc.

My 65 International Harvester Scout has a cover on the side of the tranny for an optional PTO.

I’m looking at most likely using an old VW beetle because it is the size I need, and is decently light. Thanks for the info. I’ll have to look into this more on my side before I end up doing it, but it looks like I’ll probably end up installing the engine from one of those old 4x4s that has a PTO into the beetle.