Some Common Gear Applications In Your Automobile

By: Garima Modi

Gears are everywhere and are used for a number of different applications ranging from your washing machine to multi-million dollar industrial machinery. Our cars would not be able to get us from place to place without the technology of gears. Gears are so important because they provide something called gear reduction. Gear reduction allows enough torque to be applied in instances where its needed despite sufficient power.

One common automotive application is the ring and pinion gear differential within rear-wheel-drive cars and trucks. Within the world of gears, the ring and pinion gears are a type of bevel gear. A bevel gear is used because it reassigns the power from the driveshaft 90 degrees, which is necessary to transfer power to the axle shafts that are connected to the rear wheels. A special type of bevel gear used for this application has hypoid teeth instead of straight teeth. Hypoid teeth are curved and allow for a gradual meshing of the gears that makes for much smoother and quieter operation than bevel gears with straight teeth. Without hypoid gears, our cars would be very loud and jerky in regard to the transmission of power.

The use of rack & pinion gear technology has helped to greatly improve the steering performance in our cars and trucks. Before rack & pinion steering systems, re-circulating ball was the most commonly used steering technology. Re-circulating ball steering uses a more complex system that involves a worm gear and ball bearings to help turn the wheels. The simpler, yet better rack & pinion steering system improves control and is more responsive throughout the entire steering range, especially at center. This system works by converting rotational motion originating from the steering wheel into the linear motion that eventually turns the wheels. Sometimes simpler is better.

The list of gear applications for automobiles goes on and on, including things ranging from your cars transmission, to its timing gears within the engine. Without gears, travel wouldnt be nearly the same as it is today.