Design Calculation of Axle Shaft
(Landcruiser)
Maung Aung Ko Oo
Abstract— This paper describes the design of axle shaft of the
drive line in Landcruiser. It is four wheel drive and the functions of
front and rear axles are the same. The engine speed is 3600 rpm at
163 hp. The axles in this paper are semi-floating axles. The
purpose of this paper is how to consider and calculate the
dimensions of axles using known data such as, the length and
diameter of front short axle. In this research, the diameters of the
front and rear axles are calculated. The diameters of axle shafts are
approximately equal to each other. The diameters of the front short
and long axles are 30 mm and 32 mm. And the diameters of the
rear long and short axles are 32 mm and 30 mm. Key design and
bearing selection are also calculated. Splines are designed for key
and the groove ball bearing is selected. The rotational critical
speeds for the axles are calculated. The comparison of the critical
speed and operating speed is also described. The axles are
designed to have the strength to withstand the heavy weight of
Landcruiser.
Keywords— Axles, Bearing, Critical speed, Splines.
I. INTRODUCTION
A xle shafts are the parts of the drive train of an
automobile. The drive train is the mechanism which
transmits power from the engine to the drive wheels. In
general, the drive train consists of a clutch, a gear box, a
transfer case, universal joint (U-joints), propeller shaft,
differential and axles extending to the drive wheels. The
axles are connected to the differential and drive wheel U-
joints. The purpose of an axle shaft is to transfer driving
torque from the differential assembly to the vehicle’s drive
wheels. There are two types of axles; the dead axle that
supports a load and the live axle that supports and drives the
vehicle. The live axle transmits power from the differential
to the wheels.
In a Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) car, the live axle or drive
axle is mounted at the rear of the car. In which the
differential gears and axles are mounted in a single housing.
On most Four Wheel Drive (FWD) cars, the final drive is
located within the transaxle. The drive axles in the transaxle
usually have two joints to allow independent front-wheel
movement and steering of the drive wheel. The joints also
allow for lengthening and shortening of the drive axles as
the wheels move up and down. In this paper, the axle shaft
design for FWD Landcruiser is described. Power train is
composed of engine, transmission gear box, transfer case,
AUNG KO OO (M-4) is with the Mandalay Technological University,
Mandalay, Myanmar. He is now with the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, , Technological University (Mandalay), Mandalay Division,
Myanmar (corresponding author to provide e-mail: ohn.gyee@gmail.com).
four joints, two propeller shafts, front axles and rear axles
with differentials and drive wheels.
II. THE DRIVE TRAIN OF FWD VEHICLE
The drive train of a FWD vehicle is the group which
transmits torque from the engine to the drive wheels. A
FWD vehicle power train consists of clutch, transmission
(gear box), transfer case, universal joints, two propeller
shafts, differentials and axles. The drive train of a FWD car
is as shown in Figure 2.1.
In FWD vehicles, either all the wheels of a passenger car
or commercial vehicle are continuously-in other words
permanently-driven, or one of the two axles is always linked
to the engine and the other can be selected manually or
automatically. This is made possible by what is known as
the “centredifferential lock”. If a middle differential is used
to distribute the driving torque between the front and rear
axles, the torque distribution can be established on the basis
of the axle-load ratios, the design philosophy of the vehicle
and the desired handling characteristics.
In a FWD system the drive torque is transmitted to all
four wheels. The front and rear axles are live and drive
axles. The advantage of a FWD system is that longitudinal
tire traction forces are generated to all four wheels to help
the forward motion of the vehicle.
wheel
Engine
Gear box
Housing
Differential
Axle shaft
Transfer case
Propeller shaft
Figure 1. The Power Train of FWD Car
A. Axles of FWD Vehicle
In a FWD vehicle, the four axles are drive axles or live
axles. There are basically three designs by which axles are
supported in a live axle; full-floating, three-quarter floating
and semi-floating are shown in Figure 2.12.
In this research paper, the semi-floating axle shafts for
landcruiser are presented and designed.
 Housing Table 2. Design Data of Pinion and Gear
Axle shaft
No Specification Dimension Unit
A 1. Number of teeth of 10 -
pinion (NP)
Inner splined end
Bearing
2. Number of teeth of 16 -
B bevel (NG)
3. Pressure angle of pinion 17.5 Degree
Double bearing (φ)
4. Mean diameter of pinion 66.75 mm
(dmP)
C
5. Mean diameter of bevel 68.55 mm
(dmG)
6. Weight of ring gear 15 Kg
Figure 2. The Three Types of Axle Shaft (Wring)
7. Weight of pinion 6 kg
III. DESIGN CALCULATION OF AXLE SHAFTS
(Wpinion)
Table 1. Design Specifications of HDJ81 Landcruiser 8. Weight of bevel (Wbevel) 10 kg

No Specification Dimension Unit A. Calculation of Forces and Moments on Bevel Gear

To secure the design, the maximum torque of the engine
1. Gross weight of must be used in the calculation of the torsional force on the
Landcruiser 2630 kg bevel gear.
The torsional force acting on the bevel can be computed
2. Engine power by using the following equation,
163 Hp
2T
3. Speed of the engine Ft = WtP = = 10871.91 N
3600 rpm d mP
4. Maximum torque of Where, WtP = tangential load on the pinion
362.85 at Ft = tangential force on the bevel gear
engine (T) N.m
2000rpm
5. Length of front short Pitch cone angle for bevel and pinion can be determined by
axle (L1) 0.7493 m using the following equation,

6. Length of front long γ = tan-1 (Np/Ng) = 32 deg

axle (L2) 0.9398 m
Where, γ = pitch cone angle
7. Length of rear long
axle (L3) 0.9398 m
The axial force acting on the bevel can be calculated by
8. Length of rear short using the following equation,
axle (L4) 0.7493 m
Fa = WxG = WtPtanφcosγ = 2907.02 N

The radial force acting on the bevel can be determined by

The material of the shafts = AISI (9255 Q&T 400) using the following equation,
Sy = 2140 MN/m2, Su = 1980 MN/m2 Fr = WrG = Wttanφsinγ = 1816.51

S S1 = 0.75 × 0.30 × 2140 = 481 .5MN/m 2 Torsional moment for axles,

S S2 = 0 .75 × 0.18 × 1980 = 267 .3MN/m 2
Choose SS = SS2 = 267.3 MN/m2 Mt = Ft × (dmG/2) = 372.63 N.m

For rotating shaft and load suddenly applied, Kb = 2 Axial bending moment for axles,
Kt = 1.5 d mG
M a = Fa × = 9 9 .6 4 N .m
2

2
 M4 = M 12 +M 32
B. Calculation of Bending Moment for Axles
= 267.16 N .m
a b c M 5 = M 2 = 589.7949 N.m
M5 > M4
The value of M 5 should be taken for maximum bending
R2 moment acting on the shaft.
Wring
Wbevel +Wpinion +
2 Vertical load M b1 = M 52 + M a2
R4 WF = 5 9 8 .1 5 N .m
Fr R1
2 Horizontal load
M2 Therefore the bending moment for other axles can also be
R3 determined by using the procedure of the front short axle.
Vertical moment For front long axle, M b2 = 759.93 N.m
M1 For rear long axle, M b3 = 760.19 N.m
Horizontal moment
M3 For rear short axle, M b4 = 582 N.m
M5
M4
Combined moment
C. Calculation of Diameters for Four Axles
For front short axle,
Figure.3. Bending Moment Diagram of Front Short
16
Axle d 13 = (K b M b1 ) 2 + (K t M t ) 2
πs s
The front axles withstand the front weight of the car. The d1 = 29.30 mm (Choose 30 mm)
front weight of the car does not exceed the half of gross
For front long axle,
weight of the car. To secure the design, the front weight of
16
the car can be calculated from the weight of the car. d 32 = (k b M b2 ) 2 +(k t M t ) 2
πss
Gross weight 2630
Front weight of car, WF = = = 1315 kg d 2 = 31.07 mm (Choose 32 mm)
2 2
= 12900.15 N For rear long axle,
16
a = 5 .7 5 in d 33 = (k b M b3 ) 2 +(k t M t ) 2
πss
= 0 .1 4 6 m
b = 0 .5 1 1 8 m d 3 = 31.37 mm (Choose 32 mm)
c = 0 .0 9 1 4 4 m For rear long axle,
W rin g 16
(W b e v e l + W p in io n + ) a+
WF
(b + c ) = R 2 × b
d 34 = (k b M b4 ) 2 +(k t M t ) 2
2 2 πss
15
9.81×(9+6+ )×0.146+
12900.15
(0.5118+0.09144) = R 2 ×0.5118
d 4 = 29.08 mm (Choose 30 mm)
2 2
D. Calculation for the Dimensions of the Splines of the
R 2 = 8 0 3 3 .7 4 N Shafts

Then the summation of forces must be zero. Number of splines, N = 16

W Key length for four axles, L = 76 mm
R 1 + F = (W bevel +W pinion +W ring )+R 2
2 Torque to be transmitted, T = 362.85 N.m
R 1 = 1 8 0 4 .3 9 N
The relations of h, W, d and D for sliding under load can be
15
M1 = (Wbevel +Wpinion +Wring ) ×a = 9.81×(9+6+ )×0.146 = 32.22 N.m determined
2 d = 0.81D
h = 0.095D
WF W = 0.098D
M 2 = × c
2
1 2 9 0 0 .1 5 The value of R can be obtained by using the following
= × 0 .0 9 1 4 4
2 equation.
= 5 8 9 .7 9 4 9 N .m 1 D d D +d
R = [ + ] =
2 2 2 4
For horizontal reactions, The torque capacity can be obtained by using the following
Fr× a = R 4 × b equation.
R 4 = 5 1 8 .1 9 N T = pAR
M 3 = Fr × a Where, P = permissible pressure on splines (< 7 MPa)
1 4
= 2 6 5 .2 1 N .m A = Area of splines = (D-d)×L (mm )
2

3
 R = mean radius of splines (mm) Table 3. Results of Splines for Four Axles
d
E. Design Calculation of Bearing D h R A W P
Minimum bearing life for automobile, L10 = 1500 hr mm mm mm mm2 mm MPa
mm
As the inner race of bearing rotates, V = 1.0

For 1500 hr, fL = 1.3 Front

fN = 0.25 short 30 37 3.51 16.7 5712 3.62 3.79
axle
For front and rear short axles, d = 30 mm

Maximum reaction force or radial load on the shafts, Front

FR = R 22 + R 2
4 long 32 32 3.75 17.8 4560 3.87 4.45
axle
= 8050 N
For pure radial load, X =1
FA = 0 Rear
Then, P = XVFR = FR = 8050 N long 32 32 3.75 17.8 4560 3.87 4.45
axle
Dynamic load can be determined by using the following
equation.
PfL Rear
C = = 41.86 kN short 30 37 3.51 16.7 5712 3.62 3.79
fN axle
Choose bearing number 16406 from bearing selection data
for deep groove ball bearing.
Table.4. Comparison of Existing and Result Data for Shaft
For front and rear long axles, d = 32 mm Diameter
Maximum reaction force or radial load on the shafts, Type of axle Existing data (mm) Result data
FR = R 2
+R 2 (mm)
9 11

= 7567 N Front short axle 30 30

For pure radial load, X =1
FA = 0 Front long axle 30 32
Then, P = XVFR = FR = 7567 N
Rear long axle 30 32
Dynamic load can be determined by using the following
equation. Rear short axle 30 30
Pf
C = L = 39.35 kN
fN
Table 5. Comparison of Existing and Result Data for
Choose bearing number 16307 from bearing selection data Operating Speed
for deep groove ball bearing.
Type of axle Existing data (rpm) Result data
F. Critical Rotation Speed (rpm)

Design data: Acceleration due to gravity (g)= 9.81 m/s2 Front short axle
2000-3600 3116-3600
Modulus of elasticity for steel (E) = 1.96 × 1011
2
N/m
Density of carbon steel (ρ) = 7860 kg/m3 Front long axle
2000-3600 3116-3600
The critical rotation speed of the shafts can be determined
by using the following equation, Rear long axle 2000-3600 3116-3600
60 π 2 EI
Nc = (rpm)
2π L2 ρA Rear short axle 2000-3600 3116-3600
π 4 π
I= d (m 4 ) , A = d 2 (m 2 )
64 4
V. CONCLUSION
Generally, axle is to use in the machine which
consists of bearings and it needs to lift the rotating parts and
IV. RESULT TABLES the weight of the machine. In a vehicle, axles are the parts
of power train which drives the vehicle. Nowadays the

4
construction of the power train in an automobile is more
complex than that in the past. But the shapes and functions
of axles will never change. In this paper, the design
diameters of the shafts are almost equal to the existing
design values. The existing diameters for four axles are 30
mm. From the design results, the diameters for front and
rear short axles are 30mm and that of front and rear long
axles are 32 mm. Due to the locations of bearings, the
bending moments are different for each shaft and the
diameters of shafts are also different. Critical speed is also
considered to secure the design for high speed rotation. The
critical rotation speeds for front and rear short axles are
6287 rpm and that for front and rear short axles are 4265
rpm. The operating speed of the shafts is 3116 rpm. So the
critical speeds are larger than the operating speed and the
design is satisfied. In this thesis, the carbon alloy steel is
used for the shafts. The splines and groove ball bearing are
designed. The permissible stress acting on the splines must
be less than 7 MPa. So the design for splines is satisfied for
the axles. The bearing design is made depending upon the
dynamic load. The result data of dynamic load is less than
the dynamic load of bearing selected. For the shafts, carbon
alloy steel (9255) is selected.

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TE & KE, Shop Manual, HINO MOTORs, LTD,
TOKYO, JANPAN.
[5] KLEIN Gelenkwellen, 2004, Repairing of Wearing
Parts on Propeller Shaft,
http://www.Klein.gelenkwellen.com
[6] Martin W. Stockel, 1974. Auto Mechanics
Fundamentals, South Holland.
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Technology Roadmap for the 21st Century Truck
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[9] SAW YU MON, MA, 2007. Design Consideration and
Calculation of Propeller Shaft for Four Wheel Drive.
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