Dynamics Performance of the Front Drive Shaft with Clearances

An automotive drive shaft is used in a front drive transmission vehicle for transmitting rotary movement from the gearbox output shaft to the wheels with a constant velocity. The kinematics model of ball joint and tripod joint has been studied without consideration of clearance. This paper will propose a new model with consideration of the clearances on ball joint and tripod joint. The simulation results are given by using this model. The conclusions are made as well as the future work.