El landing It is one of the parts that make up a car's transmission. It is also often called the semishaft of the transmission, semiaxis o arrow in some Latin American countries. It is a articulated bar thanks to homokinetic joints, which transmits the rotation to the wheel.
It is one of the elements that should be checked from time to time, because expensive breakdowns can be avoided if problems are detected early. For this reason, it does not hurt to review them every time you go to change oil and filters or any other operation that requires lifting the car.
The function of the shield
The shield is in charge of transmit twist from the differential to the wheels. That is, from each differential two bearings will come out, one for each wheel. Thus, a car with front-wheel drive will have this set in front of you, one with rear wheel drive will have it behind and one with all-wheel drive you will have it in both places.
To understand what position does he occupy within the transmission, let's give a review of its components: The flywheel transmit the turn to clutch, this to the gearbox, from there it goes to the transmission shaft if the engine is on a different axis than the drive wheels. From this it passes to differential and from there it is divided into two shields, one for each rueda.
parts of a bearing
The word driveshaft or semiaxle is usually used to designate the entire assembly that transmits the rotation to the wheels, not just the simple metal bar. This is associated with various elements that allow the turn to be transmitted at all times. It must not be forgotten that hethe wheel can go up and down for ourselves thanks to the suspension and, at the front axle, it has to pivot so that the car can shift gears. steer axle truck. That is why the parts of the shield are:
Bearing
Metallic bar that transmits the rotation. It is important that it does not receive blows that could deform it, because a bent drive shaft will prevent the rotation from being transmitted correctly.
CV joints
It is the piece that allows to transmit the rotation of the drive shaft even if it is not aligned with the axis of the wheel. Each driveshaft has two: one on the wheel side and one on the differential side. Their characteristics are different depending on whether they are on the steering axis or not, and if the wheel is going to pivot, it needs a CV joint with more mobility. If you want to know more about them take a look at the article:
Bellows or dust covers
They are accordion-shaped rubber cones that encapsulate the CV joints. Its interior is filled with grease so that they can work with as little friction as possible. If the bellows are released, the grease will escape, which will cause very accelerated wear on the seals. If you want to know how to review them, we recommend the following article:
clamps
They are responsible for keeping the bellows in place. You must go very firmly adjusted because they must hold there for a long time. They are one of the pieces that must be checked when the drive shaft is checked. When putting them on, make sure that the surface where they are pressed is free of grease.
Faults in the bearing and how to detect them
Bent bearing
If the bearing is bent by a blow with a stone or a similar object, you will notice some awkward vibes which will increase in frequency the faster you go. Also, the car will behave imprecisely at all times. That is, both in curves and in straight lines.
This situation must be resolved as soon as possible because if not, the CV joints, bearings of the bushings and even the differential can get damaged due to excessive vibrations. If the drive shaft has bent only a little, you may not notice the vibrations, but that does not mean that the rest of the parts will also deteriorate little by little. That's why, these parts should be visually inspected when the car is going to be serviced.
clearance in bearing
You will hear a clack when accelerating or braking. Which means that the driveshaft moves on its axis when it does its job of transmitting rotation. In these cases, it should be replaced to avoid major problems. If it ends up breaking, you can be thrown or even lose the stability of the car. The latter can be especially serious in cars with certain characteristics.
Bearing breakage
If it reaches this extreme, you can take a good scare on the road. The most normal thing is that you hear a loud noise and that you stay lying down. Although this circumstance can be worse if the car you drive does not have ESP or other stability controls, but limited slip differential (some older cars). In these cases, all the power of the engine will be transmitted to the wheel with the driveshaft in good condition, which will affect its stability.
Worn CV joints
In this case the symptoms will only be noticeable when turning. When you turn the steering wheel and drive at low speed you will hear a rattle. The bad thing is that when this point is reached it usually means that the damage to the joint is already serious. The best thing to do to avoid it is check the bellows periodically, although it can also be detected if you see grease on the ground or on the rim. This will mean that it has slipped out of place and is not properly lubricating the CV joint.
Hello, I have a problem in the drive shaft of my Peugeot 407 coupe year 2008 and in the middle it has a bearing, how to know the size to be able to buy it. Cheers