The gearbox and main gear in our Vectra, as in all front-wheel drive vehicles, are located in a common housing. The flow of power from the engine to the gearbox enters the final drive through one small and one large gear. The differential housing is bolted to the large gear. This housing contains four nested bevel gears, two of which are connected to the drive shafts.
The differential, which is also called synchronized gearing, serves to adapt the different distance that the outer and inner wheel travel on a turn. While we are driving in a straight line, both front wheels roll at the speed of the large final drive gear. The bevel gears of the differential housing, rotating at the same speed, remain stationary. When turning, the outer wheel with respect to it must travel a greater distance than the inner one. Now the bevel gears come into play: the faster rotation of the outer wheel and its bevel gear acts through both transmission bevel gears on the bevel gear on the inside of the turn that rotates correspondingly slower. Without this synchronization, the car would jerk through the corner, with the front wheels spinning. On the other hand, the disadvantage of this synchronization is that one drive wheel can spin on a smooth road. Then the power flow is practically not transmitted to the other front wheel, and the car does not move. To repair the differential, you need to dismantle the entire gearbox assembly.
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