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Question:

what is the difference between a floating solid axle and a semi floating axle?

what is the difference between a floating solid axle and a semi floating axle? and what are independent racing supsensions called? also. for a small 2 man buggy rig running possible 28‘s with no movement whatsoever on the axle. what axle type should i build into it? im running on-wheel tracks over the wheels. v6 engine. like a tank sort of vehicle

Answer:

On a semi-floating axle the axleshafts support the weight of the vehicle and if the axleshaft breaks the wheel may come off with it (depends on design and failure). On full floating axles the axle housing supports the weight of the vehicle and the axleshaft merely transmits rotational movement. If you're planning on running tracks you'll probably want the full floating axle as it can take quite a bit of torque to turn tracks especially if the tracks are heavy not to mention full floating axles tend to be built stronger, but it is very possible to get away with using a semifloating axle if you keep things lightweight. It may just be a V6 but if you get enough gear reduction you can break axleshafts easily (Suzuki Samurai breaks axleshafts with a 1.3l 4 cylinder). As for the independent racing suspensions (the off-road style right?), it's usually a long travel A-arm suspension or multi-link suspension or the (rare) twin i-beam. I'm not sure what you mean by no movement on the axle, but you'll need suspension somewhere. Even tanks and tracked agricultural equipment have suspension. You could probably fabricate something out of old leaf springs for cheap.

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