Hollow pinion support
AssigneeArvinMeritor Technology, LLC
InventorsJack Darrin Oates, I-Chao Chung
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hollow pinion gear is used in combination with a through shaft to provide coaxial power transfer from one location in a driveline to another location in the driveline. The pinion gear includes a shaft portion with a longitudinally extending bore that receives the through shaft and includes an integrally formed pinion gear head at one end of the shaft portion. A bearing member is installed within the bore between the through shaft and the pinion shaft portion. The bearing member permits relative rotation between the pinion gear and the through shaft.
Claims18
A drive axle comprising:
- an input;
- a hollow pinion gear operably connected to said input and including a pinion shaft portion with a central bore and a pinion gear head portion formed about an external surface of said pinion shaft portion;
- a through shaft received within said central bore for transferring a driving force from said input to an output;
- and
- a least one bearing member positioned within said bore between said pinion gear head portion and said through shaft to allow relative rotation between said through shaft and said hollow pinion gear under predetermined conditions.
A tandem drive axle set comprising:
- a forward drive axle including a forward input operably coupled to a vehicle driveshaft, an inter-axle differential assembly operably coupled to said forward input, a forward pinion gear for transferring a driving force from said inter-axle differential assembly to a forward differential assembly to drive a pair of forward axle shafts, and a through shaft for transferring driving force from said inter-axle differential assembly to an output;
- said forward pinion gear including a pinion shaft with a longitudinally extending central bore and a pinion gear head formed at one end of said pinion shaft, said pinion shaft and said pinion gear head being integrally formed as a single piece;
- said through shaft being received within said central bore and having one end coupled to said inter-axle differential and an opposite end coupled to said output;
- a least one bearing member positioned within said bore to allow relative rotation between said through shaft and said forward pinion gear;
- a rear drive axle including a rear input, a rear pinion gear operably coupled to said rear input to transfer driving force from said rear input to a rear differential assembly to drive a pair of rear axle shafts;
- and
- a connecting shaft extending between said forward and rear drive axles for transferring driving force from said output to said rear input wherein said through shaft, said forward pinion gear, and said rear pinion gear are coaxial.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.