Posted on 1/9/2015
Every family car on CO expressways has a differential, and it is essential to the proper operation of the vehicle, but most Boulder auto owners don’t have a clue what it is. The differential compensates for differing wheel speeds. For example, when you turn, the inside tire on the turn travels a much shorter distance than the outside wheel. So the inside wheel of the family car must move at a slower speed than the outside wheel. Without a differential, the wheels would hop and scrape while turning. Have you ever seen the large bugle-shaped object in the middle of the rear axle of a truck? That’s the differential. In a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the differential is located on the back axle. Four-wheel drive vehicles and SUV’s have differentials on both the front and the rear axle. You might expect that the differential is located on the front axle of a front-wheel drive ve ... read more