Gear couplings offer efficient torque transmission in a compact mechanism and permit a high degree of axial movement. However, gear couplings require piloting and may malfunction at very high or very low torques. Crowned tooth flanks allow angular displacement to occur between each gear. Read More…
Leading Manufacturers
DieQua Corporation
Bloomingdale, IL | 630-980-1133Our shaft couplings are the best around! Not only do we provide you with exceptional levels of customer service but we also provide you with manufacturing and a repair service that you can count on. We are also capable of providing you with special designs. That’s right! Our design team will work closely with you in order to ensure that you are getting the product that will fit your specific requirements perfectly! Call or email us today for more information!

Climax Metal Products Company
Mentor, OH | 800-542-6552Climax Metal Products Co. specializes in the manufacture of shaft collars and rigid couplings. Our rigid couplings and shaft collars are presented as one- or two-piece types, plus set screw and metric offerings. We can customize our products for you. We are ISO 9001 certified. Contact us for your needs.

System Components, Inc.
South Haven, MI | 231-879-3372Niche shaft couplings manufacturer System Components offers a combination of highly specialized automotive expertise, skilled engineering & unbeatable prices. Let our team of engineers & service representatives help you find universal joints, spicer u joints, cardan joints & custom power transmission components made with CNC machining & high-grade steel.

Stoffel Polygon Systems, Inc.
Tuckahoe, NY | 914-961-2000Stoffel Polygon Systems manufactures precision polygon drive connections and other mechanical parts. Whether for prototype or production we will engineer a part to match your needs and specifications. Polygon systems offer the highest torque carrying capacity of any drive connection and ours are made from high quality materials to ensure smooth movement, reduced backlash and many other benefits.

Gam Enterprises, Inc.
Mount Prospect, IL | 888-426-7117Gam Enterprises is a distributor of Jakob torsion-resistant precision couplings and safety couplings for servo drive applications. We also manufacture shaft couplings, gear couplings and rigid shaft couplings. What sets us apart from our competitors is our flexibility in making sure all of our customers' needs are met. Contact Gam today for more information.

Two coaxial shafts can also be connected by a single joint gear coupling, known as a gear-type flexible or flexible coupling. Slight misalignments of 0.5° to 5° are tolerated by this type of gear coupling.
Gear couplings and universal joints are used in similar applications, most predominantly in the automobile industry. While gear couplings have higher torque density, universal joints induce lower vibration than gear couplings. The gear teeth in a gear coupling have high backlash, which can contribute to vibration, to allow for angular misalignment. Gear couplings are found in all rear-wheel and four-wheel driven passenger cars.
In a gear coupling, the two shafts being joined meet in the third shaft which contains gears. The teeth interlock with each other to rotate and, in doing so, they transfer torque, power and energy. Every gear coupling has differing stall speeds, which is the highest speed that the gears can turn when maximum input power is applied. Flexible shaft couplings such as gear couplings are necessary because during operation, some types of shafts tend to shift, causing misalignment.
Shaft movement is caused by bumps or vibration and it results in parallel, angular or skewed shaft misalignment. Flexible shaft couplings provide efficient accommodation for moderate shaft misalignment that occurs when the shafts' axes of rotation become skewed. There are many different kinds of shaft couplings. The bellows coupling has two hubs and a thin walled metallic bellows and can accommodate all three types of misalignment.
Single beam couplings are usually made of a single piece of aluminum and have a system of spiral cuts that allow it to bend in order to accommodate angular misalignment. Multiple beam couplings consist of two to three overlapping beams that address problems of torsional rigidity. The Oldham coupling consists of three components: two hubs and a central plastic disk. It accommodates slight parallel misalignment, while providing almost zero backlash.