Thru axle
A quick- release axle allows a quick wheel assembly or disassembly without the use of tools.
It is mainly used in lightweight vehicles that are often partially dismantled for transport or maintenance.
The axle is inserted through the receptacle on the vehicle frame and through the wheel hub . At the other end, the quick-release axle is screwed into a thread, held by a nut or fixed in some other way.
If the locking is to be done without tools, the head of the quick-release axle z. B. clamped by a quick release lever or positioned by a spring mechanism, which is released again by pressing a button.
bicycle
Thru axles are used on bicycles, especially on mountain bikes and BMX, as a more stable alternative to hollow axles, usually 9 or 10 mm in diameter, which are used with 5 mm quick releases. On the front wheel, thru axles with 20, 15, 12 or 9 mm are used, at the rear with 12 mm (installation width 135, 150 or 165 mm) and 10 mm. Wheels with thru axles always require matching dropouts or axle mounts on the fork. Some hubs can be converted to different axle systems.
truck
In truck technology there is a different use of the term “quick-release axle”: in rear-driven rigid axles of heavy trucks, two quick-release axles toothed on both sides create a positive connection from the center differential to the hub of a wheel outside. The internal teeth on the differential have a smaller diameter than the external teeth on the wheel hub. They can be changed very easily after loosening the hub nuts. New shafts are inserted into the inner and outer gears, hence the name. In this application, the quick-release axles are drive shafts. As a result, the "quick-release axles" are not correctly designated as axles because nothing rotates on them in a bearing, but rather shafts are correctly designated (which are stuck in the axle for the purpose of wheel drive).