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How does a car's differential work?

Model: (Various brands) Various
Part: Differential

Video tutorial

What is the differential for? The youtuber explains it to us: if we are driving around a curve, the inner wheels are closer to the inner radius of the curve, so the outer wheels will have to travel more distance than the inner ones, and this is where the differential comes into play.

The transmission from the rear gear arrives, where the driveshaft is connected to the gearbox output; inside we see the pinion of the bevel gear, consisting of a crown and pinion.

If we take a curve, every turn lost by the inner wheel is gained by the outer wheel, allowing us to have wheels that move at different speeds, but with the constant rotation imposed by the engine. This is thanks to the "planetary" which transmits the rotation to the driveshaft and the "satellites" small gears that are moved by the movement of the planetary.

If we keep the crown still, a planetary gear rotates and the planetary gear on the opposite side rotates in the opposite direction. In fact, if we engage the differential lock in off-road vehicles, the two half-axles cannot rotate independently, so if one of the two wheels has lost traction, I prevent the other from slipping; if they are locked, at least one of the two wheels will have traction.


Posted on 26 June 2025 by ScegliAuto


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by ScegliAuto

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