For my German friends

The gear that drives the chain - Antrieb, but more frequent: Getriebe

the gear that drives the wheel - Getriebe

The translator says:

Zahnrad means 'gear wheel'

And - which drives the chain: welches die Kette fährt

which drives the wheel is: welches das Rad fährt

I tried these back and forth many times to see if they come out both ways and they stay constant. When Zahnrad is combined into the phrases we get:

Zahnrad welches das Rad fährt = Gear wheel of which the wheel drives

and Zahnrad welches die Kette fährt = Gear wheel of which the chain drives

And 'Getriebe' seems to mean 'transmission' while 'Antriebe' also means 'drives'.

Okay, I thought you asked for the possible translations of the word "gear".

'The gear that drives the chain" - Der Kettenantrieb (in German you use more nouns than verbs)-
you could say: "Das Getriebe, das die Kette antreibt" but that would sound strange in my ears.


"the gear that drives the wheel" - Das Rädergetriebe (unless it's a car, then you just say "Getriebe")-
Again you could say "Das Getriebe, das das Rad antreibt" but that would sure be the Anglicism of the month.

"drive" and "gear" have the same meaning , therefore you would not translate them both.

"gear wheel" is something different, it's the same as a toothed wheel.

Well, "toothed wheel" means "Zahnrad".

Sorry I can't really help you.

"gear" can also mean "der Gang"

But I don't even know much about these things in German so how could I help you with the English words?!

Sorry