It Floats (1935)

the rear axle in the old wooden Ox cart had only one job to do in this type of vehicle the power was supplied from an outside force the cart was either pulled or pushed while the axle was stationary and had nothing to do but support the load with the coming of the automobile it became necessary to transmit the power of the engine to the rear wheels so room was made for a shaft to transmit this power next room had to be made so that the differential ring gears and pinions could be inserted of course when this was was done a strong connection had to be made to join the two tubes together Chevrolet engineers build a strong Calver Bridge across the cut in the axle making it even stronger than the old solid axle the three units of the rear axle housing the bridge and the two tubes are firmly assembled into one complete sturdy unit Chevrolet Engineers realized that this part of the axle should be easily accessible from the outside so an inspection plate was placed over the rear of this banjo construction the rear axle now became merely an axle housing to support the load next gears were added added to transmit the engine power to the axle shafts and wheels all these axle shafts have to do is turn the wheels they do not bear the weight of the load as it is born by this husky axle housing one of the outstanding features of Chevrolet's new full floating rear axle is the barrel-shaped roller bearings which are entirely self-aligning because of the barrel shape of these rollers they form only a small area of contact with the races under normal load conditions reducing friction to a minimum and keeping the rowers in exact alignment as the load is increased each rower spreads into the bearing Race Pro providing support along the width of the bearing when the load is decreased again the area of contact is decreased so that the capacity of the bearing is always in proportion to the load this feature prevents the races from becoming grooved as is common in straight roller bearings and the bearing life is therefore great increased in order to show you the action of these bearings this drawing has been greatly exaggerated another important advantage of Chevrolet's full floating rear axle is the four pinion differential mounting this means that any load is spread over four teeth instead of only two and ensures less strain on all parts and longer axle life in addition the rear axle housing on the 1936 Chevrolet truck is 35% stronger than last year's housing in fact this housing alone is stronger than the combined strength of the housing and shaft in previous models this new heavier and huskier rear axle housing with inspection plate together with the new exclusive self-aligning bearings combined to make this full floating rear axle the finest axle ever built into a truck with this construction axle shaft breakage is extremely remote but should it ever happen the Chevrolet full floating rear axle permits easy removal and replacement of either axle shafts without taking off the wheel or removing the load the design of the axle with the smaller banjo Center gives it much greater Road clearance which is another advantage that helps to make this new axle the outstanding development in the 193 six Chevrolet truck