Rear Axle
REAR AXLE - 198RBIDESCRIPTION
The Rear Beam-design Iron (RBI) axle housing has an iron center casting with axle shaft tubes extending from either side. The tubes are pressed into and welded to the differential housing to form a one-piece axle housing. The axles has semi-floating axle shafts, meaning that loads are supported by the axle shaft and bearings. The axle shafts are retained by bearing retainer plates on the axles which are bolted to flanges at the outboard end of the axle tubes.
OPERATION
The axle receives power from the transmission/ transfer case through the rear propeller shaft. The rear propeller shaft is connected to the pinion gear which rotates the differential through the gear mesh with the ring gear bolted to the differential case. The engine power is transmitted to the axle shafts through the pinion mate and side gears. The side gears are splined to the axle shafts.