[apalrd]

In any case (Talons/Victors/etc. in Coast, in Brake, one in Brake, driver pulls back on stick) the drive line will transmit torque in the opposite direction (from motors>wheels to wheels>motors or to -motors>-wheels) and the gearing will transition through all of the lash, then hit the other load surface (a shock load on the dog and all of the gears/sprockets). The motor will spin more freely when in Coast, but the lash transition will still happen. The force of this is relatively low in any brake-mode case, as the motor provides zero brake force at zero speed (it acts as a generator to power itself, so the torque it reacts is proportional to the speed it is forced at, when in brake mode, not including electrical/efficiency losses). The torque reaction from the motor with reverse power braking will be related to the applied voltage and drive speed/

I've always liked driving full coast, and learning to coast/slow down properly into what I'm going for (or just hit it off-throttle if it's solid). The Cheesy and Culver drives were both fantastic improvements on the two-stick skid steer in that there is guaranteed to be no twist from asymetrical motions between the two sticks, since the throttle and steering are separated.

Edit: The more I think about cases like this, the dog is under a TON of repeated shock loading like this.