What is a front-wheel-drive?
- A transmission system that provides power to the front wheels of a motor vehicle.
In this layout, the engine drives the front wheels only and front-wheel can drive the real wheel of the vehicle.
Though the front-wheel-drive can be found is around 1929 where the engine is fitted in the front of the wheel, powering the front axle. it was the first front-wheel-drive automobile vehicle.
Many cars today use front-wheel drive. In front-wheel drive all the components of the drive train name transmission, differential and driveshaft are in front of the car. To fit all of this components in the front the engine is placed sideways in the car this is called transverse engine placement.
Because all the parts of a front-wheel drive train are positioned at the front of a vehicle, you can make cars smaller and lighter or make the bigger cars but just have more room for passengers.
Because of this more weight and traction are available at the front it provides more traction on slippery surfaces, like snow.
What really happens when you press down on the accelerator? To understand this you should know the drive-train assembly of front-wheel drive
Assembly of front-wheel drive train :
In most of the front wheel, the drive train has a transaxle. A transaxle combines the transmission and differential into one single unit.
Because all components are in front of the car front-wheel-drive vehicle don't need long drive shafts to transfer torque to the wheels. Instead of this half-shafts is used. Half-shaft is connected with the trans-axle to the wheel assembly.
Half-shaft connect with the trans-axle to the wheel assembly with the use of constant velocity joints or CV-joints instead of U-joints.
CV-joints use a ball bearing mechanism to reduce the friction and to allow more complex wheel movement.
Nowadays a car buyer will also one thing keep in mind and make a comparison between Front-wheel drive (FWD) Vs Rear-wheel drive (RWD) cars and Front-wheel drive (FWD) vs All wheel drive (AWD) cars.