New truck axles and systems are being engineered with distinct features to provide cost and operational benefits to end users.
A new whitepaper from Meritor, Drive Axle Technologies, written by Joe Elbehairy, vice president - engineering, and Charles Allen, general manager - Axles, discusses the evolution of drive axle technologies, and takes a look some of the new products the company is working on, including the:
- SmarTandem axle - Designed to reduce weight by 30 percent, reduce axle parasitic losses by 40 percent and provide traction controls to address simple 6x2 tandem traction deficiencies.
- LogixDrive lube management smart technology - Controls the amount of lube in the axle based on operating conditions, thereby improving fuel economy.
- Aluminum carrier - 100-pound weight savings compared with a traditional ductile iron carrier.
- DualTrac housing - Designed to optimize the use of wide base single tires or dual tires and offers the ability to improve bearing life compared to standard track axle with outset wheels, while providing the ability to convert back to duals if needed. It pro-actively addresses wheel bearing overload issues associated with wide base tire applications;
- More robust inter-axle differential to handle today’s higher torque engines.
The publication also includes advice for specifying drive axles.
The whitepaper can be found within the VehicleServicePros.com’s media center at http://www.vehicleservicepros.com/media-center/whitepaper.
