Vehicle wheel speed sensor for a drive axle

A speed sensing system for a pair of wheels mounted on opposite ends of a drive axle of a vehicle, comprising:

• a vehicle drive axle including a housing enclosing a pair of axle shafts and a differential with a pair of side gears for rotating said axle shafts and associated wheels;
• a pair of rotor disks each having a plurality of generally evenly spaced radially extending indicating means formed thereon and means for coupling each said rotor disk for rotation with an associated one of said axle shafts;
• a pair of mounting brackets mounted inside said housing enclosing the axle shafts, each said mounting bracket having an aperture formed therein for receiving said axle shaft and having a sensor mounting tube, each said mounting bracket having a cavity formed therein for retaining an associated one of said rotor disks;
• and
• a pair of sensors each mounted in an associated one of said mounting tubes for detecting the passage of said indicating means when said side gears rotate said axle shafts and said rotor disks whereby said cavities maintain a predetermined air gap between each said sensor and a periphery of an associated one of said rotor discs.

A speed sensing apparatus for a wheel mounted on the end of a drive axle of a vehicle, the drive axle including a housing enclosing an axle shaft and a differential with a side gear for rotating the axle shaft and an associated wheel, comprising:

• a disk having a plurality of generally evenly spaced radially extending indicating means formed adjacent a periphery thereof, an aperture formed therein, and a plurality of radially extending teeth formed in a wall of said aperture for coupling said disk for rotation with an axle shaft;
• a mounting bracket mounted inside a housing enclosing the axle shaft, said mounting bracket having a central aperture formed therein for receiving the axle shaft and having at least one mounting tube for a sensor formed therein, said mounting bracket having a cavity formed therein in communication with said central aperture for rotatably retaining said disk;
• and
• a sensor mounted in said one mounting tube for detecting the passage of said indicating means when the side gear rotates the axle shaft and said disk whereby opposed walls of said cavity limit axial movement of said disk to maintain a predetermined air gap between said sensor and said disk.