SuperATV has been making axles for a long time. In fact, the Rhino brand has been around since the very beginning and has since become one of the most popular UTV axles in the industry. We’ve always wanted to drive axle technology forward, first with Rhino, then Rhino 2.0, and now Rhino X300.
The Rhino X300 is a whole new kind of axle with 300M steel alloy construction and some clever design elements. It’s the toughest, most versatile axle we’ve ever built, but it’s not enough to call it “strong.” It’s smarter than that.
300M is at the center of the X300’s design philosophy. It is high strength and has a high fatigue resistance, which means it doesn’t break easily and it doesn’t get much weaker over time. That’s why it’s widely used in aircraft landing gear and airframe components. If airplanes trust 300M to not buckle when they’re landing at 200 mph, then it ought to make a pretty rad axle for your UTV.
The X300’s shaft is entirely 300M and heat treated to give it the perfect amount of strength. But we don’t save all the 300M for just the shaft.
Everybody knows that the CV joint is the weakest part of any axle. It makes sense, it’s got to bend and turn at the same time, all while transferring loads of torque out to the wheels. It’s a hard job. With the X300, we took some of the basic concepts that make our Rhino 2.0 CVs so strong and made them better by adding 300M.
First of all, we make the most important parts out of 300M. The CV components that do the most work get the best material. Secondly, we make them as large as possible, like in Rhino 2.0. That gives them even more strength and tremendous flexibility. It also keeps them cooler when running at higher angles. Finally, we designed this axle to be just as smart as it is strong. That solid 300M shaft I mentioned earlier does the real heavy lifting on the X300.
Here’s how:
We’ve been saying that the X300 is flexible, and that’s because it is. But what does flexibility really mean for an axle? In the X300, it means that our axle shaft twists—without breaking—to reduce the load on your CV joints, your differential, and the rest of your drivetrain. Once it’s done twisting, it whips right back to its original position and keeps spinning like it never got hit with a load in the first place.
How is that possible?
That’s right, the X300 axle shaft is just one giant torque stick. For some of you that just clicked, but most of you are either saying, “That doesn’t make any sense,” or maybe, “What the heck is a torque stick?” Bear with me.
A torque stick is a handy shop tool that fits between your impact driver—and it has to be an impact—and the nut you’re trying to torque to a specific ft-lb. Each stick is rated for specific torque limit and acts like a rigid extension of your socket when driven below that torque. Once they reach that limit when tightening the nut, the shaft of the torque stick itself twists with each impact of your driver and stops torquing the nut.
The 300M axle shaft on the X300 has been designed and shaped—down to the micron—to behave in a very similar way. They twist when they have to and won’t when they don’t. A purely rigid design would force the weakest point of your drivetrain to twist, and if it’s not designed to twist, it’ll break.
Now that you know the X300 shaft can flex without breaking and save your drivetrain components, what does that mean for you?
Picture yourself riding down a trail with your throttle floored about 90% of the time. Every time a tire comes off the ground then lands back down again, it’s taking a shock load. Most of the time that’s no problem. But when the bumps get bigger, you come down harder and the shock load on your axles gets stronger. Every single bump has the potential to twist your axle and snap a CV. With X300, that possibility is reduced to virtually zero.
Your axles are hit with shock loads constantly, no matter what kind of riding you do. When you hit the gas from a full stop, your axle gets hit with a torque load. When you’re buried in a mud hole and your tires don’t want to turn, you’re hitting your axle with a torque load. Hitting the ground after a jump and even slamming on the brakes at high speed can generate huge torque loads. Getting stuck in the rocks, going full speed into a wild hill climb, and transitioning from a steep dune slope to a flat valley at high speed all put massive strain on your axles.
X300 eats that torque and keeps on going where other traditionally-designed axles—even the strongest ones—would break.
No breaking—that’s what X300 does best. Are you ready to get your hands on a set of SuperATV X300 axles?
