Design and Development of New Spicer S400-S Tandem Axle

The design objective of the Spicer S400-S axle program was to develop a light weight, lower torsional vibration, long life tandem drive axle for the heavy truck industry. This was accomplished with the incorporation of a number of new product features and technical advancements, both in design and manufacturing. These include:

• reduced standouts for improved interaxle driveline angles
• use of finite element analysis
• fixed pinion mounting
• optimization of lube flow and direction of lubrication
• optimized gear design for improved strength and noise reduction.

This paper focuses on these features and also on the development process for the axle, including the use of simultaneous engineering. Utilizing simultaneous engineering, the S400-S was developed from concept to full production in fifteen months.