Gear drive assembly

摘要

A drive axle assembly for a low floor vehicle utilizes a single input gear assembly to drive a pair of laterally spaced wheel ends. The input gear assembly is positioned next to one of the wheel ends so that the vehicle floor can be lowered to facilitate passenger access to the vehicle. Each wheel end includes a gear reduction assembly (44) with a ring gear (80) rotatably mounted within a gear housing (82). A drive gear (56) is operatively coupled to the input gear assembly and is in meshing engagement with the ring gear (80). The gear reduction assembly (44) also includes an output or driven gear (86), which is larger than the drive gear, to provide the desired gear reduction. The driven gear (86) is also in meshing engagement with the ring gear (80). A pair of idler gears (90) is rotatably mounted within the gear housing (82) and are in meshing engagement with both the drive (56) and driven gear (86). The idler gears (90) and drive gear (56) do not have a common centerline. The assembly thus provides toothed contact via three gear sets combinations, which equalizes loading and eliminates the need for support bearings for the drive and driven gears.