GB2061845A - Motor vehicle drive axle - Google Patents

Motor vehicle drive axle Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2061845A
GB2061845A GB7937253A GB7937253A GB2061845A GB 2061845 A GB2061845 A GB 2061845A GB 7937253 A GB7937253 A GB 7937253A GB 7937253 A GB7937253 A GB 7937253A GB 2061845 A GB2061845 A GB 2061845A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
axle
differential gearing
shaft
shafts
hubs
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB7937253A
Other versions
GB2061845B (en
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Dana Spicer Europe Ltd
Original Assignee
GKN Axles Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by GKN Axles Ltd filed Critical GKN Axles Ltd
Priority to GB7937253A priority Critical patent/GB2061845B/en
Publication of GB2061845A publication Critical patent/GB2061845A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2061845B publication Critical patent/GB2061845B/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B27/00—Hubs
    • B60B27/0015—Hubs for driven wheels
    • B60B27/0021—Hubs for driven wheels characterised by torque transmission means from drive axle
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B27/00—Hubs
    • B60B27/02—Hubs adapted to be rotatably arranged on axle
    • B60B27/04—Hubs adapted to be rotatably arranged on axle housing driving means, e.g. sprockets
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B35/00—Axle units; Parts thereof ; Arrangements for lubrication of axles
    • B60B35/001—Axles of the portal type, i.e. axles designed for higher ground clearance
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B35/00—Axle units; Parts thereof ; Arrangements for lubrication of axles
    • B60B35/003—Steerable axles
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B35/00—Axle units; Parts thereof ; Arrangements for lubrication of axles
    • B60B35/12—Torque-transmitting axles
    • B60B35/121—Power-transmission from drive shaft to hub
    • B60B35/127—Power-transmission from drive shaft to hub using universal joints
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B35/00—Axle units; Parts thereof ; Arrangements for lubrication of axles
    • B60B35/12—Torque-transmitting axles
    • B60B35/16—Axle housings
    • B60B35/163—Axle housings characterised by specific shape of the housing, e.g. adaptations to give space for other vehicle elements like chassis or exhaust system
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B35/00—Axle units; Parts thereof ; Arrangements for lubrication of axles
    • B60B35/12—Torque-transmitting axles
    • B60B35/18—Arrangement of bearings
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60K—ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GAS EXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS IN VEHICLES
    • B60K17/00—Arrangement or mounting of transmissions in vehicles
    • B60K17/22—Arrangement or mounting of transmissions in vehicles characterised by arrangement, location, or type of main drive shafting, e.g. cardan shaft
    • B60K17/24—Arrangements of mountings for shafting
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B2310/00—Manufacturing methods
    • B60B2310/30—Manufacturing methods joining
    • B60B2310/305—Manufacturing methods joining by screwing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60B—VEHICLE WHEELS; CASTORS; AXLES FOR WHEELS OR CASTORS; INCREASING WHEEL ADHESION
    • B60B2380/00—Bearings
    • B60B2380/10—Type
    • B60B2380/14—Roller bearings
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16H—GEARING
    • F16H48/00—Differential gearings
    • F16H48/06—Differential gearings with gears having orbital motion
    • F16H48/08—Differential gearings with gears having orbital motion comprising bevel gears
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16H—GEARING
    • F16H48/00—Differential gearings
    • F16H48/20—Arrangements for suppressing or influencing the differential action, e.g. locking devices
    • F16H48/24—Arrangements for suppressing or influencing the differential action, e.g. locking devices using positive clutches or brakes

Abstract

A drive axle includes a central differential gearing carried by a casing part 16 removeable transversely of the axle, transmission from the differential gearing to hubs 48 at the ends of the axle being by way of shafts 41 of variable length permitting disengagement of the shafts from the differential gearing and removal of the latter without removal of the hubs. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Axles This invention relates to drive axles including a differential gearing located at or near the centre of the axle and providing for transmission from an input shaft to half shafts extending outwardly of the axle to hubs at the ends thereof.
It is common in such axles to carry the differential gearing on a part of the axle casing which is removeable, after appropriate removal of fastening elements, in a direction generally perpendicular to the length of the axle. However, the removal of the differential assembly in such manner has entailed the dismantling of the hubs of the axle in order to disengage the half shafts from the differential gearing. This is time consuming and unnecessary. It is the object of the present invention to overcome this disadvantage.
According to the invention, we provide a drive axle comprising a casing, a differential gearing located at or near the centre of the axle and carried by a casing part of the axle removeable in a direction transversely of the axle, hubs at the ends of the axle casing, and shafts extending between the differential gearing and the hubs, wherein said shafts have end portions disengageable from the differential gearing by axial movement and incorporate means permitting overall reduction of the shafts' length, so that they can be disengaged from the differential geariang and the latter removed without removal of the hubs.
Preferably the shafts incorporate sliding spline arrangements to permit said overall length reduction.
The axle may be of the type known as a portal axle, i.e., having the main axes of rotation of the hubs offset from the output axis of the differential gearing. In this case, the shafts are preferably universally jointed to accommodate said offset, and the sliding spline arrangement may be disposed between the universal joints of each shaft.
When the shafts are universally jointed, the end portion of each shaft engageable with the differential gearing may be supported by a bearing in a bearing carrier moveable axially within the casing of the axle. There may be locking means for locking the bearing carrier in a position where the shaft is in engagement with the differential gearing, and means permitting access to the bearing carrier for moving the latter for shaft disengagement.
The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a part vertical and part horizontal section through part of an axle embodying the invention.
The illustrated axle comprises a main casing part 10 at the centre of the axle, and further casing parts at the ends of the axle and connected to the part 10 by bearing means providing for steering swivelling movement of the end parts. One such further casing part is shown at 11, connected to the part 10 by bearings 12, 1 3 for steering movement about a vertical axis 14. In the drawing, those parts to the right of line 1 5 are shown in horizontal section (plan) and those to the left of line 1 5 in vertical section (elevation).
The main casing part 10 accommodates a drive head comprising a removeable casing part 1 6 supporting, in bearings 17, an input shaft 1 8 with a drive flange 1 9 and a pinion 20 engaging crown wheel 21. The crown wheel 21 drives the outer member 22 of a bevel gear differential gearing with planet bevels 23 and bevel side gears 24, 25 formed integrally with internally splined sleeves 26, 27 respectively. The sleeves 26, 27 of the side gear are rotatably mounted in the outer member 22 of the differential gearing, the latter being carried in taper roller bearing 28 supported in the removeable casing part 16.
The casing part 10 receives, in a bore 29, a bearing housing 30 carrying a bearing 31 supporting a stub shaft 32 which has an externally splined end portion 33 engaging in the sleeve 26 and at its opposite end is formed as the yoke 34 of a hookes universal joint. The bearing housing 30 is retained within bore 29 by a locking screw 35 with a lock nut 36. An aperture 37 in casing 10, with a removeable cover plate 38, provides for access to the bearing housing 30.
The other yoke 39 of the universal joint of which yoke 34 forms part is connected to a shaft 41 incorporating a sliding spline arrangement to allow for length variation, the yoke 39 being connected to the inner member 40 of the spline arrangement. The outer member 42 is connected to one yoke 43 of a further hookes joint, the other yoke 44 of that joint being connected to the input of a reduction hub assembly.
The end of the steerable casing part 11 has connected to it, by bolts 45, a hub body 46 which supports, on external bearings 47, a rotatable member 48 having a flange 49 with studs 50 for wheel attachment. The member 48 is bolted to a planet carrier 51 carrying planet gears 52 on pins 53, the planet gears meshing externally with a stationary annulus gear 54 fixed to the hub body 46. The planet gears 52 also mesh with a sun gear 55 formed integrally with a shaft 56 connected to joint yoke 44 and supported in a bearing 57.
Oil seals 58, 59 provide for retention of oil in the hub assembly which, by virtue of the arrangement of its planetary gearing, constitutes a reduction hub.
The use of shaft 41 and its associated universal joints provides for transmission between the offset axes of the output shafts of the differential gearing and the input shafts of the hubs. The sliding spline arrangement incorporated in the shaft accommodates plunge arising from steering movement of the hubs, and, because a universal joint must be provided for such steering movement in any event, the arrangement represents an appreciable economy over that usually adopted hitherto in portal axles, with drop gears.
The sliding spline arrangement incorporated in shaft 41 also serves another purpose, which is in facilitating removal of the drive head assembly from the centre of the axle should this be desired. In the arrangement illustrated, for removal of the drive head which constitutes the casing part 1 6 and the differential gearing and associated parts carrier thereby, it is necessary to disengage the stub shaft 33 (and the corresponding shaft on the opposite side of the differential) from the sleeve of the differential side gear.
To effect such removal, the locking screw 36 must be disengaged from the bearing housing 30. The bearing housing, and with it the stub shaft 33 and joint yoke 34 can then be moved to the left, which is done by removal of cover plate 38 and insertion of a bar or like member 60 into an aperture in the bearing housing 30 to move the latter. When this has been done, what ever bolts or like fastenings are provided to retain the drive head can be removed, followed by removal of the drive head itself. Of course, a similar arrangement to the moveable bearing housing 30 would be provided for the output shaft (part of which is shown at 61) on the opposite side of the differential.
Such an arrangement removes the necessity of removing the hubs or other axle components if servicing of the drive head is required.
The principle of incorporating variable length output shafts to permit disengagement from the drive head for removal thereof is applicable to axles in general, and not only to a portal axle as described above.
Means for locking the differential gearing may be incorporated in the axle, and this means comprises a sleeve 62 slidably splined to shaft 61 and having an end portion 63 formed with internal dogs for engagement with corresponding dogs 64 at the end of sleeve 27. To lock the differential, sleeve 62 is moved to the left, this movement being effected by a fork 65 engaging with a grooved end 66 of the sleeve and moveable by a selector rod 67 slidably mounted in a removeable casing part 68. If the casing part 68 is removed, this permits manual alignment of shaft 61 with the interior of sleeve 27 if the axle is being reassembled after replacement of the drive head assembly. This facility is particularly valuable if the end of shaft 61 is a relatively great distance from its supporting bearing assembly.
Instead of using a sliding spline arrangement in shaft 41, plunge capability could be achieved by the use of a plunging type of constant velocity ratio universal joint at one end of the shaft.

Claims (7)

1. A drive axle comprising a casing, a differential gearing located at or near the centre of the axle and carried by a casing part removeable in a direction generally transversely of the axle, hubs at the ends of the axle, and shafts extending outwardly from the differential gearing to the hubs, wherein said shafts have end portions disengageable from the differential gearing by axial movement and incorporate means permitting overall reduction of the shafts length so that they can be disengaged from the differential gearing and the latter removed without removal of the hubs.
2. An axle according to Claim 1 wherein said shafts incorporate sliding spline arrangements to permit said overall length reduction.
3. An axle according to Claim 2 wherein the main axes of rotation of the hubs are offset from the output axis of the differential gearing, and said shafts are universally jointed to accommodate said offset.
4. A shaft according to Claim 3 wherein a sliding spline arrangement is disposed between the universal joints of each shaft.
5. An axle according to clam 4 wherein the end portion of each shaft engageable with the differential gearing is supported by a bearing in a bearing carrier moveable axially within the casing of the axle.
6. An axle according to Claim 5 wherein there is provided locking means for locking the bearing carrier in a position where the shaft is in engagement with the differential gearing, and means permitting access to the bearing carrier for moving the latter for shaft disengagement.
7. An axle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawing.
GB7937253A 1979-10-26 1979-10-26 Motor vehicle drive axle Expired GB2061845B (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB7937253A GB2061845B (en) 1979-10-26 1979-10-26 Motor vehicle drive axle

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB7937253A GB2061845B (en) 1979-10-26 1979-10-26 Motor vehicle drive axle

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB2061845A true GB2061845A (en) 1981-05-20
GB2061845B GB2061845B (en) 1983-06-22

Family

ID=10508802

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB7937253A Expired GB2061845B (en) 1979-10-26 1979-10-26 Motor vehicle drive axle

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2061845B (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2514304A1 (en) * 1981-10-13 1983-04-15 Loehr & Bromkamp Gmbh ARTICULATED TREE COMPRISING A SUSPENSION SYSTEM
GB2257402A (en) * 1991-07-09 1993-01-13 Nicholas Mark Sellors Axle assembly

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2514304A1 (en) * 1981-10-13 1983-04-15 Loehr & Bromkamp Gmbh ARTICULATED TREE COMPRISING A SUSPENSION SYSTEM
GB2257402A (en) * 1991-07-09 1993-01-13 Nicholas Mark Sellors Axle assembly

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2061845B (en) 1983-06-22

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
732 Registration of transactions, instruments or events in the register (sect. 32/1977)
PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee