Steer Axle for Forklifts - The description of an axle is a central shaft used for turning a wheel or a gear. Where wheeled vehicles are concerned, the axle itself could be connected to the wheels and revolve with them. In this case, bushings or bearings are provided at the mounting points where the axle is supported. Conversely, the axle may be attached to its surroundings and the wheels may in turn revolve all-around the axle. In this case, a bearing or bushing is situated within the hole within the wheel to allow the gear or wheel to revolve around the axle.
When referring to cars and trucks, several references to the word axle co-occur in casual usage. Normally, the word refers to the shaft itself, a transverse pair of wheels or its housing. The shaft itself turns with the wheel. It is normally bolted in fixed relation to it and called an 'axle' or an 'axle shaft'. It is equally true that the housing around it which is normally called a casting is also known as an 'axle' or at times an 'axle housing.' An even broader sense of the term refers to every transverse pair of wheels, whether they are attached to one another or they are not. Thus, even transverse pairs of wheels in an independent suspension are often known as 'an axle.'
The axles are an essential part in a wheeled motor vehicle. The axle serves in order to transmit driving torque to the wheel in a live-axle suspension system. The position of the wheels is maintained by the axles relative to one another and to the motor vehicle body. In this system the axles should likewise be able to support the weight of the vehicle together with whichever cargo. In a non-driving axle, as in the front beam axle in several two-wheel drive light trucks and vans and in heavy-duty trucks, there would be no shaft. The axle in this particular situation works only as a steering part and as suspension. Various front wheel drive cars consist of a solid rear beam axle.
There are other types of suspension systems wherein the axles serve just to transmit driving torque to the wheels. The angle and position of the wheel hubs is a function of the suspension system. This is normally seen in the independent suspension found in most brand new SUV's, on the front of various light trucks and on nearly all new cars. These systems still consist of a differential but it does not have attached axle housing tubes. It can be connected to the motor vehicle frame or body or also can be integral in a transaxle. The axle shafts then transmit driving torque to the wheels. The shafts in an independent suspension system are similar to a full floating axle system as in they do not support the vehicle weight.
The motor vehicle axle has a more vague definition, meaning that the parallel wheels on opposing sides of the vehicle, regardless of their type of mechanical connection to one another.
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