Thread: Full floating axles into 80"

Originally Posted by rick130

Not so easy without pictures, but very roughly, a semi-floating axle only uses one set of wheel bearings pressed onto the axle shaft.
The axle shaft then supports some vehicle weight.
If you break a semi-floating axle the wheel usually falls off with the broken axle stub.

A fully floating axle uses a stub axle and a pair of wheel bearings spaced apart, (think any modern Land Rover, front or rear) that support the entire vehicle weight, no weight is born by the axle and you can actually remove the axle and the wheels will still support the vehicle.

THANK YOU for you time
still struggling with the description but

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Full floating has the hub, and hence the wheel, carried on two bearings, which are on a hollow stub axle, that at the rear is an extension of the axle housing. The drive axle or half shaft passes through that and has a flange on the end that is bolted to the hub and drives the hub and wheel. No load other than torque is carried by the half shaft, and the vehicle can operate with one broken or missing (and driving only on the front axle). With two tapered roller bearings, it can carry a much higher load than the single row ball bearing used in the semi-floating axle.

Semi-floatingdoes not have a separate hub, the wheel is bolted to a hub formed at the end of the driving axle or half axle, which is supported by a single bearing which is in a carrier bolted to the end of the axle housing. It is kept straight, and hence the wheel is kept upright, by the inner end of the half axle being located and supported by the side bearing in the differential. The half axle therefore carries both the load on the wheel, and the driving torque, and needs to be substantially heavier than the one in a fully floating setup. In the implementation on Series 1 Landrovers, the wheel bearing is held by a sleeve pressed on to the axle, and this keeps the wheel and axle attached to the vehicle. As the wheel bearing is required to carry side loads it is a substantial ball race, and being a sealed bearing cannot be relubricated. While axle failures are quite rare in Series 1s, wheel bearing failures are not, and replacing the bearing requires a workshop with a press. This contrasts with the later fully floating setup, where rare bearing failures can be replaced in the field with hand tools only. (So can the not infrequent broken half axles.)

Hope this is a bit clearer

John

thank you John
the mysteries of mechanical engineering and associated information will for ever be a mystery, My beloved series one will remain , elusive, mysterious and an enigma of the modern world to me..
Series rock and may my little semi floating hub be forever suspended in the illustrious figment of time and animation of the alro