Front-Wheel-Drive with

Steering

Objectives

Introduction
Parts of FWD and Its functions
Advantage and Disadvantage of FWD
FWD vs RWD
Steering Parts

Introduction
Most automobiles today have frontwheel drive
FWD car has transaxle
Drive axles extend to front wheels out of
each side of transaxle
Each end of the drive axle is a CV joint
Transaxle can be either manual or
automatic

Front wheel drive (FWD)

Front-engine longitudinally
mounted/ Front-wheel drive

Front-engine transversely mounted/

Front-wheel drive

Parts of FWD and Its

functions

FIGURE 3-2 Transverse (a) and longitudinal (b) mounted FWD drivetrains. Note that
(b) can easily be redesigned to drive a shaft to the rear wheels of a 4WD or AWD
vehicle.

Parts of FWD and Its functions

Transmission/gearbox
- usesgearsandgear trains
- provide speedandtorqueconversions from a rotating
power source to another device
Transaxle
- major mechanical component that combines the
functionality of thetransmission, the differential, and
associated components of the drivenaxleinto one
integrated assembly.
Final drive
-is the last in the set of components which delivers
torque to thedrive wheels.

Parts of FWD and Its

functions
Clutch
- mechanical device that engages and disengages
the powertransmission, especially fromdriving
shaftto driven shaft.
Differential
-is a particular type of simpleplanetary gear
trainthat has the property that the angular velocity
of its carrier is the average of the angular velocities
of its sun and annular gears.
Drive shafts/ drive axleandconstant-velocity
jointsto each wheel

FWD axle
Drive axles for FWD commonly called
half shafts
Half shafts allow wheels to turn and
have suspension movements
Half shafts consist of inner CV joint, axle
shaft and outer CV joint
Most half shafts are unequal length
causing torque steer

Drive Axle Components

Outer CV-joint
Allows wheels to steer while axle is
rotating
Inner CV-joint
Allows for suspension changes while
axle is rotating
Axle shaft
Transmits power from inner to outer
CV-joint

CV-Joints
Outboard joint types
Rzeppa CV joint
Inboard joint types
Double-offset joint
Tripod Tripod-type joint
Cross-groove plunge joint
CV-Joint Functions
a.) Fixed joint
Does not move in and out to change shaft length
Is used as the outboard joint
b.) Plunging joint
Changes in length to allow movement of the
suspension
Is used as the inboard joint

Inboard Joints
Tripod-type joint
Has longer grooves than a fixed-type joint to allow for
plunging
Ball-type joint
Is similar to a Rzeppa joint but has elongated grooves
in the inner race
Is commonly known as a double-offset joint
Outboard joint
Rzeppa CV joint (Ball-type)
Was named after its designer, Alfred Hans Rzeppa
Uses three to six steel balls held together by a steel
cage
The balls ride in a socket to allow rotation and turning
Is used in most front-wheel-drive vehicles

FWD Wheel Bearing Styles

Double-row, angular-contact bearings
(a)
Are used on most General Motors,
DaimlerChrysler, and European cars
Have two rows of ball bearings located
next to each other
Opposed tapered-roller bearings (b)
Are used on Fords and most Asian cars
a.
b.

Advantage and Disadvantage of FWD

Advantages
More efficient drivetrain
Better fuel economy
Combined with MacPherson struts: less
unsprung weight for better handling
Transmission hump is eliminated

A few FWD engines have been

mounted longitudinally
Most transaxles mounted sideways

Advantage and Disadvantage of FWD

Disadvantages
- FWD depends on drive shafts which
contain CV joints which allow the vehicles
to move in all directions that have a lot of
defects.
- Difficulty to direct the car when we start
moving with high speed.
- Unbalanced car because the mass is
concentrated at the forward part of the car
only
- Torque steer

Rear wheel drive (RWD)

FWD VS RWD

FWD VS RWD
1- Load on tires
*The biggest benefit to rear wheel drive is that it spreads the
loads of the car across all four tires of a car , the rear wheel do
the pushing while the front wheels are for the steering duties .
* In front wheel drive cars the front tires must perform both
functions , the engine acceleration\deceleration forces act on
the front wheels thats beside the steering duties.

2- Better weight balance

*Rear wheel drive cars have the engine in the front and the
drive components in the rear , but the front drive cars have
every thing up front .
*So by balancing the front and rear of the car you can improve
the handling, acceleration, braking and thus safety of the car .

3-Torque Steer
*Front wheel Drive cars have a problem known as
Torque Steer. This occurs when the acceleration
of the engine effects the cars steering . Since
the driveline is connected to the steering wheels
the torque of the engine applies force to the
front wheels causing the car to pull to the right
during acceleration.
*Rear Drive cars do not have this problem since
the engine is not connected to the steering gear.

wheel
STEERING Steering
PARTS
-manipulated by the driver

which the rest of the

steering systemresponds
to such driver inputs.
Steering column
- the shaft on which a
steering wheel in mounted
and by which it is
connected by the steering
gear.
Steering gear
- Rack and pinion which
connect steering wheel
and the
Tie rod
-Transmit motion from
steering wheel to front
wheels