What are the four types of axles available?

Common vehicle axles can be mainly divided into four types: drive axle, steering axle, steering drive axle, and support axle.

1. Drive axle

The drive axle is generally composed of a reducer, differential, half shaft, and axle housing, and is generally installed at the end of the transmission system. It can change the speed and torque from the transmission and transmit it to the driving wheels to drive the vehicle.

Common drive axles can be divided into three categories: central single stage reduction drive axle, central double stage reduction drive axle, and central single stage wheel side reduction drive axle. Among them, the central single stage reduction drive axle is the simplest type of drive axle structure, which is widely used in heavy-duty trucks; The central double reduction drive axle is a type derived when the speed ratio of a single stage axle exceeds a certain value or the total traction mass is large; The wheel drive axle is widely used in off-road and military vehicles such as oil fields, construction sites, mines, etc.

2. Steering axle

As the name suggests, a steering bridge refers to a vehicle bridge that undertakes steering tasks, usually located at the front of the vehicle. In addition to carrying the vertical load of the vehicle, it also bears longitudinal and lateral forces and their resulting moments. The working principle of a steering axle is mainly to use the steering knuckles in the axle to deflect the wheels at both ends to a certain angle, in order to achieve vehicle steering.

3. Steering drive axle

The so-called steering drive axle refers to a vehicle axle that undertakes both steering and power transmission tasks, such as on front wheel drive and all wheel drive vehicles, where the front axle is a typical steering drive axle. Structurally, the steering drive axle has the main reducer, differential, and half axle that typical drive axles have, as well as the steering knuckle and kingpin that steering axles have.

4. Support Bridge

A support bridge, also known as a driven bridge, is generally installed on the rear wheels of a vehicle. For example, a common trailer bridge belongs to a driven bridge, which does not require the transmission of vehicle power or steering function. Its main task is to bear the weight of the vehicle body, and it can also alleviate road bumps, ensure vehicle braking, and maintain vehicle driving.

Exploded view and name of trailer axle assembly

In general, the trailer axle can be decomposed into several parts, including axle assembly, camshaft assembly, brake assembly, axle end assembly, and other components.

The shaft assembly includes a shaft beam, brake base plate, spherical bearing seat, air chamber seat, ABS support seat, etc;

The camshaft assembly includes a camshaft, washers, bushings, spherical bearing sealing rings, shaft retaining rings, etc;

The brake assembly includes brake pads, rollers, tension springs, return springs, fixing pins, etc;

The shaft end assembly includes brake drum, wheel hub, bearing ABS gear ring, oil seal, dust cover, wheel hub cover, etc;

Other components such as stop washers, shaft head nuts, adjustment arms, split pins, ABS sensors, etc.