Gears and Splines What are they and what are they doing in a Differential?

What is a Gear? A toothed circular object used to transfer force from one from one shaft to another Usually composed of high grade steel Useful to change shaft speed of torque values

What is a Spline? Ridges machined out of or added onto a shaft or gear. Allows parts to move in unison without risk of slipping Look like a gear but do not rotate against other gears

Roles in a Differential Gears: Accept the input of the engine Use a rotating assemblies to allow one wheel to turn faster than the other Provide the final drive ratio adjustment. Splines: Allow the spindles or CV shafts to slide into the centre of a gear Divides the engine torque over the many splines evenly. Allow for easy removal and installation

The Bottom Line Without a form of gears there would be no way to adjust the speed and power coming out of the engine Without splines, the strength of the joint between the differential and the spindles would be hard to make strong

References Auto Repair: Splines. About Buggy Building. Rorty-Design Guide to the Mitsubishi 3000GT AWD System. Jeff Lucius. 17 March How Differentials Work. How Stuff Works