There is another 90-degree gear connection on the rear axle, which transfers the torque from the short longitudinal driveshaft to the latitudinal rear axle. However, this is not an ordinary gear connection; this is a special type of mechanism called a differential:
What does a differential do? First, it is important to understand one of the fundamental issues of the car-style drive system. When a car steers, it makes a wide, arcing turn, in which the outside wheels travel more distance than the inside wheels. Therefore, the outside wheels must drive faster to compensate for the increased distance they travel. If the drive wheels ...
