Drive Axles and Differentials
The drive axles and the differential are the parts of your car that apply the power generated by your engine to the wheels.
Further the differential splits the power to the right and left wheels and compensates for the slower speed that the inside wheel on a turn must make to keep one of the wheels from sliding. Inside the differential there is the ring and pinion gear, the spider gears and the bearings which allow all of this to turn and transmit the power to the drive axles.
The drive axles, depending on the design, can have universal joints with individual journals with needle bearings or constant velocity joints that are a series of ball bearings held in place by a cage that allows the axle to flex as the vehicle goes over bumps. The suspension system moves up and down while turning and applying power over the wheels.
As you can suspect, these are tough precision-built pieces of equipment that must maintain a constant supply of lubricant to keep from prematurely wearing out and must be sealed to keep road grime and water from contaminating the precision parts. The constant velocity joints are protected by a rubber or neoprene boot that can be torn. The universal joints have individual seals at each journal. They are both located under the car and can be torn and are subjected to the elements.
How Fox and Fox can help
At Fox and Fox, we carry a full line of these parts. We can install remanufactured units or service the individual parts that make up the unit. We can replace the universal joints with a value line part of the super tough Spicer unit. We can replace CV joint boots or joints. If a drive axle becomes unbalanced due to damage or wear, we can diagnose and have that shaft rebalanced to eliminate vibrations.
We can rebuild any differential including the precision set up of the ring and pinion. We can diagnose noises and wear that comes from the differential and replace any worn bearings or seals in the differential. At Fox and Fox, we specialize in these kinds of drive train problems to keep your vehicle on the road.
