Axle assembly having an angular contact bearing that supports a ring gear for rotation on an axle housing

摘要

An axle assembly that includes a housing, an input pinion, a ring gear, an angular contact bearing, and a differential assembly. The input pinion has a plurality of pinion teeth and is received in the housing for rotation about a first axis. The ring gear, which is received in the housing, is a bevel gear having ring gear teeth that define a pitch angle and are meshingly engaged with the pinion teeth. The angular contact bearing supports the ring gear for rotation on the housing about a second axis that is transverse to the first axis. The angular contact bearing has a first race, which is integrally formed into the ring gear, a second race, and a plurality of bearing balls disposed between the first and second races. The differential assembly has a differential case that is mounted to the ring gear for rotation therewith.

主权项

1. An axle assembly comprising:
an axle housing; an input pinion received in the axle housing and rotatable about a first axis, the input pinion having a plurality of pinion teeth; a ring gear received in the axle housing, the ring gear being a bevel gear having a plurality of ring gear teeth that are meshingly engaged with the pinion teeth, the ring gear teeth defining a pitch angle; an angular contact bearing supporting the ring gear for rotation on the axle housing about a second axis that is transverse to the first axis, the angular contact bearing having a first race, which is coupled to the ring gear for rotation therewith, a second race, and a plurality of bearing balls disposed between the first and second races; and a differential assembly having a differential case, the differential case being mounted to the ring gear for rotation therewith; wherein the second race comprises a first race member that cooperates with the bearing balls and the first race to define a first contact angle, and wherein the first contact angle is within ±15 degrees of being perpendicular to the pitch angle of the ring gear teeth.