(Kinda) Pusher Trailer - New Idea

[Ryland]

A normal car drive axle should work, my Honda civic axles have splines and pop in to a matching hole held in place by a snap ring, if you wanted a quick disconnect a push button with an indent ball like a socket set uses could work to hold it in place, keeping it clean when not in use would require a cover of some sort.
car drive axles also slide in and out a little to deal with suspension movement.
otherwise building a Gimbel would be needed.
Gimbal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Joe_Bloe

My understanding of articulated buses with the engine in the rear is that it is the rear axle that is powered, not the middle. Pushing loads on the front chassis are handled with active hydraulic rams between the front and rear chasses.

Yes, the newer busses (eg Solaris Urbino 18) are like that, but there are a few older rear-engined models driving the second axle (I can't remember which model at the moment). These older busses have double tires on the middle axle, while the first and third axles are single-tired and steerable.

I believe that the "pusher" types with the active hydraulic rams you mentioned turned out to be a better design.

[Automcdonough]

I'd think making it a generator with wires going to the car would be the superior option. The efficiency advantage of avoiding those 2 energy conversions will be diminished by the transmission/PTO setup. In the end it might still be few % more efficient for highway cruising, but at what cost with that added mechanical complexity? Maybe it would be easier to add traction control to it?