The half shaft is the shaft that transmits torque between the gearbox reducer and the driving wheel (mostly solid in the past, but the hollow shaft is easier to control the rotation imbalance. Therefore, many cars use hollow shafts). Its inner and outer ends have a universal joint (U / joint) respectively, which is connected with the reducer gear and the inner ring of the hub bearing through the spline on the universal joint.
The axle shaft is used to transfer power between the differential and the drive wheel. The half axle of ordinary non breaking drive axle can be divided into full floating, 3 / 4 floating and semi floating according to different support forms at the outer end.