US Patent 7975796 Reduced friction differential disconnect for a motor vehicle

An axle disconnect system for selectively connecting or disconnecting a wheel-side shaft and a differential-side shaft having a common axis of rotation in a drivetrain of a motor vehicle. In the axle disconnect an output gear is splined to the wheel-side shaft on an outside diameter of the wheel-side shaft, and a translatable collar is splined to the output gear on an outside diameter of the output gear. The collar is arranged to be translated along the common axis of rotation for splined connection with the differential-side shaft while retaining the splined connection with the output gear.