Читать книгу Ford Differentials - Joseph Palazzolo - Страница 21

While the majority of this book focuses on rear-wheel-drive applications, there are also four-wheel-drive applications of the Ford 8.8-inch and 9-inch axles. When used in these applications the axles are very similar to a rear axle except they have a different wheel end arrangement that allows for the steering knuckles to be mounted.

When these axles are used to drive the front wheels, the hypoid gear set is basically flipped over and special reverse-cut tooth geometry is utilized for the 8.8-inch version. Reverse cut just means that the spiral hand is the opposite of traditional ring gears for a rear axle application; it is the mirror image of a standard rear axle gear (see Chapter 3).

This means that the standard 8.8-inch rear axle gears cannot be used for a front axle application and vice versa. During the manufacturing process, the gear blank forgings and the gear design are the same; just the spiral angle is machined to the opposite hand.