A suspended drive axle and agricultural tractor having same including a central
housing having inboard final drives and left and right axle housing suspended therefrom
by upper and lower control arms with axle shafts extending outwardly therefrom
to which wheel and tire assemblies are mounted. A constant velocity universal joint
is provided between the inboard final drives and the axle shafts. The universal
joint having a pair of journal members and a coupling yoke that radially surround
the drive and driven yokes of the joint whereby the axial length of the universal
joint is minimized to enable the wheels to be located on the axle shafts at 60
inch tread spacing. This allows the drive axle to be used on a row crop tractor
without altering the structure of the vehicle from a conventional row crop tractor
whereby the characteristics of a row crop tractor are maintained.
