Research on the Influence of Drive Shafts Angles on Vehicle Lateral Swing

The angles between the drive shafts and the power output shaft (hereinafter called the angles of the drive shafts) will generate the axial force. Excessive axial force will cause the vehicle to swing laterally. A vehicle, which appears lateral swing when accelerating at wide open throttle in third gear, is found that the frequency of the third-order vibration of the drive shafts is in good agreement with the frequency of lateral swing. The test result of the coordinate measuring machine (CMM) shows that the value of the angles of the drive shafts is larger than the design value. After reducing the angles of the drive shafts by adding weight, the lateral swing of the vehicle (hereinafter called lateral swing) is significantly weakened. In order to exclude the influence of the weight on the test results and considering the space constraints of engine room, the length of suspension spring is changed to reduce the angles of the drive shafts, and both subjective evaluation and test results show that the lateral swing is significantly weakened. Therefore, that the lateral swing is strongly related to the angles of the drive shafts is verified. This article could provide reference for the analysis of the lateral swing.