Live front axle

[Danger FX4 Ranger]

I have been told my 2005 FX4 dosen't have locking hubs, but instead has a live front axle. Can anyone explain to me how this works, and what additional maintenance is required?

 

[Jspafford]

The live front axle is just that.. Live. The axle shafts are bolted to the spindles. There is no locking hub to stop working. It is similar to a front wheel drive car. There is really no extra maintenance.

When in 2WD the front driveshaft will always turn. It is actually a nice setup, and one less link in the chain you will have to worry about breaking.

 

[Will]

"Live axle" is pretty much an archaic term and it has nothing to do with the hubs on a 4x4. It's now used to mean "solid axle" as opposed to independent suspension. In the past it just meant the rear axle shaft was powered rather than being something for the hubs to float on--like a one-wheel drive go cart with a chain drive to one side and a free floating hub on the other. On a "live axle" the sprocket is on the axle (which may not may not have a differential in it) instead of the wheel so the shaft is "live" and turns both wheels.

A good examble of a non live axle is an old Mack AC. It had a beam axle in the rear with a hub on each end with it's own sprocket. There was a transaxle divorced from the engine--like a lot of tractors are--and on each side was a sprocket going to each respective wheel. Here's one side of it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I always thought it meant that it was meant it was like the hubs are always locked in, just normally unpowered.

Most of the chain drive tractors with a jackshaft were homebuilt rigs made from a old car to increase the wheelbase. However some really old tractors had a small gear that drove a bigger ring gear inside the wheel, so I guess they would be a non live axle by your diffination too.


However you cut it Danger FX4 Ranger, you don't have any hubs to worry about.

 

[Will]

By my tractor reference I did not mean that the tractors were chain driven. I was just describing that the drivetrain on those Macks looks like it was taken from a tractor--except chain sprockets replace the wheels.

I said the term was archaic--meaning old and out of use. It's a go kart term now. It's no good trying to apply it. I mean look at a full-floating rear axle. That, by the original use, would not be a live axle. The real axles are the little stubs on the outside of the tubes. What we call "axle shafts" are really propeller shafts because they support no weight--and do the same job the chain did.

So only a semi-float axle is a "live axle" in modern terms.

This is a go-cart wheel and is not a live axle because the axle is stationary.

This is a "live axle" hub--it's fixed to the axle, which is driven by the chain.