Axle Assembly

摘要

An axle assembly having an input pinion with a pinion gear, which is received in an axle housing and rotatable about a first axis, and a pinion shaft. The pinion gear is meshed with a ring gear that is coupled to a differential assembly. A head bearing, which is disposed on a first axial end of the input pinion, supports the input pinion for rotation relative to the housing about the first axis. A tail bearing supports the input pinion for rotation relative to the housing about the first axis. The pinion gear is disposed axially between the tail bearing and the head bearing. A bearing groove is formed into the pinion shaft and the bearing elements are received into the bearing groove such that an inner bearing race of the tail bearing is unitarily and integrally formed with the pinion shaft.

主权项

1. An axle assembly comprising:
a housing; an input pinion having a pinion gear and a pinion shaft, the input pinion being received in the housing and being rotatable about a first axis; a ring gear meshed with the pinion gear and rotatable about a second axis that is transverse to the first axis; a differential assembly having a differential case and a pair of output members, the differential case being driven by the ring gear; and a head bearing and a tail bearing for supporting the input pinion for rotation relative to the housing about the first axis, the head bearing being disposed on a first axial end of the input pinion, the tail bearing being a four-point contact ball bearing having a plurality of bearing elements, an inner race and an outer race, the pinion gear being disposed axially between the tail bearing and the head bearing; wherein a bearing groove is formed into the pinion shaft and wherein the bearing elements are received into the bearing groove such that the inner bearing race is unitarily and integrally formed with the pinion shaft.