How does a drive shaft work

Most joint sleeves on newer vehicles are made from TPE. As a general rule: A TPE sleeve must not be replaced with a rubber sleeve. The relevant specification must also be complied with when topping up with grease. Use of a standard grease in a high-performance application can cause gas evolution from the grease and ultimately lead to the total failure of the joint.

Both brand new replacement drive shafts for passenger vehicles and professionally reconditioned drive shafts are available on the market. When used drive shafts most of which will have been damaged are reconditioned, the old parts are taken back from vehicle garages for professional recycling in special production plants in accordance with the standards set for original equipment.

As part of this process, all usable steel parts are reused. The old shafts are inspected, taken apart, cleaned, remachined and then put back together for the car repairs market.

Other materials resulting from the reconditioning process old grease, metal chips or worn steel parts, for example are disposed of in the correct and proper way in accordance with applicable environmental guidelines.

Recycling significantly reduces the consumption of both raw materials and energy and makes a significant contribution to active protection of the environment.

Home » Cardictionary » Drive train » Drive shaft. Drive shaft The function of the drive shaft is to transfer the engine torque from the gearbox or differential to the wheels. Function The function of the drive shaft is to transfer the engine torque from the gearbox or differential to the wheels. Safety Drive shafts and constant velocity joints are components of modern cars, which demand maximum safety. Shafts differ between different types of vehicles, each with a distinct configuration.

The correct part will depend on whether your vehicle is front-wheel, four-wheel, front-engine, or rear-wheel drive. We pride ourselves on maintaining a team of certified technicians that can get components quickly and efficiently help you with any issues you have regarding your driveline.

Addressing driveshaft issues as quickly as possible ensures that no harm comes to the surrounding components. If your shaft does break, the team at DriveShafts of Tulsa will ensure a fast turn-around for your repair needs. Just added to your cart. Continue shopping. The spider gears are mechanically linked to share torque regardless of conditions. This can be done simply by adding spring-loaded clutch packs that keep the spider gears from spinning. Power then flows to both wheels to the limit of the clutch packs' capacity.

The spiders can also be pneumatically or electrically locked together—but this defeats the differential function. From a traction point of view, the best of all worlds is when both front and rear wheels are propelling the vehicle. However, the front and rear axles rotate at different speeds except when driving in a perfectly straight line. So the only way both can power the vehicle on dry-road turns is if there's a differential between them.

On slippery surfaces the tire slippage compensates for the wheel-speed differences. Many awd vehicles share much of their drivetrain with similar front-drive models but add a compact center differential, driveshaft and rear differential. Four-wheel-drive vehicles use a transfer case placed after the transmission that directs power to both the front and rear axles when needed.

When engaged, the transfer case drives two separate driveshafts that operate individual differentials. No center differential is used on true 4wd vehicles going off-road in 4wd mode. Two decades from now, you can expect that the power to move your vehicle will be electric. It will likely have a relatively small electric motor for each wheel, and the concepts of front-, rear- and all-wheel drive will become obsolete.

The electronics will be able to direct power to any one wheel, to all wheels at the same time, or to any combination. Either a hydrogen fuel cell or an internal-combustion engine running on hydrogen turning a generator will supply the electricity. As fuel cell development costs are still staggering, a more economic alternative might be to replace gas stations with hydrogen filling stations.

This is a differential with no gears. The input shaft from the transaxle at the front wheels and the output shaft to the rear wheels each carry a series of plates that are alternately intertwined and closely spaced.

If the front-drive wheels begin to slip, their shaft and plates spin more quickly than the others. This speed differential within the housing churns and heats the fluid, which thickens it and more tightly bonds the alternating plates. Some torque is now sent to the grippier wheels until spinning ones regain traction. The Torsen dates back to Since then it has been used by various carmakers, including Audi and Hummer.

The Torsen multiplies what torque is available from the axle that is starting to spin or lose traction, and sends it to the slower-turning axle with better traction.