TECHNICAL: Wheel motors are becoming more popular, especially on larger trailers and tankers … or on more specialist machines such as potato harvesters, where they can lend a helping hand in wet conditions or on hillsides. This is how they work.
With more axles and bigger loads, a powered axle could provide some extra traction when in the field. Driven axles are not a new concept; indeed, they have been in use since engineers started looking at ways of boosting traction together with four-wheel drive using a ground speed pto or other means to match the speed of the tractor. Even when you look at today’s new generation of electric-powered axles you need a suitable power source. Nevertheless, it is obvious that driven axles are a useful thing to have on trailers or trailed kit such as heavy slurry tankers, trailers or
harvesters where a lot of the weight rests on the axles. The tractor needn’t be as big if the axle that carries the main load of the trailer is driven.
One manufacturer of such axle drive systems is Black Bruin, which says that a drive axle can produce about 30-50% of the traction that would otherwise be supplied by the tractor. The reason for this is the bulldozing effect. If the wheels of the trailer sink into the soil, a bow wave forms in front of the tyre that it has to constantly overcome; otherwise it will stall … and, well, you will no doubt know the outcome. Overcoming this bow wave is akin to effectively climbing a hill; consequently, the smaller the ‘bow wave’, the easier the load is to pull.
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