Gear reducer with improved housing configuration

A housing for a gear reducer, the housing comprising:

• a support housing having a rear wall portion and a peripheral wall portion contiguous with the rear wall portion, the rear wall portion including a plurality of supports for rotating assemblies of the gear reducer, the peripheral wall portion including a sealing surface for mating with another housing component;
• and
• a peripheral flange extending from the support housing, the flange including a plurality of integrally formed fixturing pads disposed about an external peripheral region of the support housing adjacent to the sealing surface and on a side of the support housing on which the sealing surface is formed for supporting the housing during machining of at least one of the sealing surface and the rotating assembly supports.

A housing for a shaft mounted gear reducer, the housing comprising:

• a housing shell having a support wall and a peripheral wall surrounding the support wall, the support wall including a plurality of rotational assembly supports having respective axes extending generally parallel to one another;
• a plurality of fixturing pads formed integrally with the housing shell, the fixturing pads lying substantially in a common plane on a side of the housing shell configured to mate with a similar housing shell and transverse to the axes of the rotational assembly supports, the fixturing pads being configured to support the housing shell during machining of the housing shell.