Germany's premier truck show, the bi-annual IAA in Hannover, saw the announcement of the revolutionary Meritor LogixDrive ultra-high efficiency axle, which will be introduced first in Europe within two years, then to the North American trucking market.


Engineered to actively monitor vehicle operating conditions, Meritor's LogixDrive system is likely to be the industry's first intelligent axle system. Enabled by electronic controls, the drive unit constantly senses temperature, speed, braking and torque conditions to apply the optimized amount of lubrication to the axle. According to the company, the LogixDrive system addresses the two main areas of power loss in axles: gear and bearing friction and oil churning due to gear rotation.

Managing these losses, the LogixDrive can save up to 1% of fuel use, said company executives at the announcement.

Speaking in Hannover, Carsten Reinhardt, chief operating officer for ArvinMeritor, said that the electronically controlled lubrication system will be available as an option on the Meritor 17X and other drive axle systems beginning in 2012.

Details were not released, by the controls are believed to monitor both lubricant level and pump activity. Only when demand torque, heat and load parameters are exceeded is lubricant pumped around the differential.

18X for European Market

In another announcement, the executives said the 17X drive axle will be available in Europe in 2011. The 17X is a beefed up axle that features gears and power dividers that can handle on-highway GCWs of 65+ tonnes and more than 700 horsepower.

Previously, such applications have required double-reduction, usually using hub-reduction axles. Now the 17X provides a lightweight, more efficient single-reduction alternative.

The Meritor 17X axle is available with a wide variety of ratios, including a new 2.47 ratio, which is among the fastest in the European market, developed to allow Euro 6 compliant engines to operate at lower RPMs to increase overall fuel economy.

ArvinMeritor also announced the expansion of its hub reduction products with the MX series of front drive steer axles, targeted particularly for heavy construction and military applications.
Long available in North America, these axles bring European customers a fully integrated, high GVW all-wheel drive solution, said Alex Mortali, vice president, Europe, ArvinMeritor.

Updated 1 p.m. EDT 9/27/2010 to correct name of drive axle to 17X, not 18X.