What is a final drive in heavy construction equipment?

• On heavy construction equipment, final drives transfer power from the drive train to the tires or tracks using a system of gears designed to reduce speed and increase torque.
• If you visualize the great power trip force takes as it goes from engine to the movement of wheels or tracks, you’ll see it passes through a number of gears and shafts on it’s journey. The final drive is that last part in a Machine’s powertrain system and subsequently, the final component for increasing torque through gear reduction or changing the direction of power flow.
• Final drives exist across machine types, makes, and models and, though they often share many of the same basic concepts, final drives are implemented and designed in ways that are unique to their purpose, their machine type, and even the machine’s manufacturer.

What is the importance and purpose of a final drive?

• Torque is a measure of the amount of rotational force of an object and in large machinery it’s all (or at least mostly all) about torque. If you’ve ever used any kind of system of gears — even an old 10-speed bike — you already know that gears can quickly convert your power into speed or torque, and vice versa. That’s because the relationship between torque and speed is inversely proportional — one goes up and the other goes down.
• A final drive uses a set of planetary gears (or a bull-and-pinion gear system) to convert force into torque one last time and, in doing so, allows the shafts, bearings, and gears to deliver power without being under the constant strain of a high-torque system.
• Because of the high torque loads they routinely handle and their close connection to tires, tracks, or sprockets, final drives have to be designed to perform under intense circumstances and absorb feedback while they work.
• When you see a bulldozer clearing a small mountain down to flat land, you can thank the final drive for it’s important part in the process.

What is a planetary gear system?

• A planetary gear system (or epicyclic gear train) consists of a sun gear in the center surrounded by planet gears with a ring gear around the outside of the planet gears. The planetary gear system is named as such because of its analogy to the planets orbiting and circling the sun.
• Since multiple planet gears are used in the process, the torque capability of the system is greatly increased.

Where on a machine is a final drive located?

• A final drive on construction equipment machinery can be standalone or integrated into the axle housing and the position depends on the needs and duties of the machine. The workings and design of final drives often share similar aspects, but the shape, location, and many of the components of a final drive are specific to a machine.

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