The ideal setup for an axle housing is that of the full floater assembly. First off it’s 20% stronger than a conventional (semi-floater) assembly and the housing is usually 40% stronger. All NASCAR rears are Full-Floaters and use oversize rear bearings in a 4"+ Hub!. FullFloaters are not always used in a production vehicles simply because it costs more to manufacture than that of the semi-floating axle. However, for the Racing and off-road worlds, the advantages of a full floater axle setup far outweigh any cost difference between it and the semi-floater axle. First, the full floater axle uses the housing to mount the wheel (and hub/bearings) as opposed to mounting the wheel directly to the axle shaft. This allows the forces created by the wheel and car to be transferred directly to the housing, which is specifically designed to handle this type of loading. By concentrating the force to the housing, the axle shafts are used for torsion loading only, as their design originally entailed. Second, with the use of a drive plate (spindle) the ability to lock and unlock the wheel from the axle shaft is now possible. In a rear axle setup, this is desirable if the vehicle is being flat towed. Also, in case of axle shaft failure, the wheel remains on the vehicle as opposed to the semi-floater axle where the wheel could come off the vehicle Finally, the ease of changing the third member (centerchunk, pig etc.) becomes the most valuable attribute of this type of rear. Some NASCAR teams can change the ThirdMember in just 7 minutes!. |
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