Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Masaki Sawabe

Tadanobu Kumagai

A drive shaft assembly has a first shaft, a casing receiving an end portion of the first shaft through an opening at its one end and provided with a first flange on the periphery of the other end, a second shaft provided with a second flange to be joined with the first flange, and an end cover held between the first and second flanges and adapted to hold a sealing member in association with the first flange. The first and second flanges and end cover are respectively provided with bolt holes through which bolts extend. Two knock pins are secured to one of the first and second flanges and extend in an axial direction through knock pin holes in the end cover and are received in knock pin holes provided in the other flange. Centering of the first and second shafts can effectively be made by centering the first and second flanges by way of the knock pin engagement.

Drive shaft assembly

A sealing device for a joint, such as a tripod joint including flanges to be joined to each other, has a sealing member having an endless shape and provided with a plurality of projections and an end cover having its periphery held between the flanges and adapted to hold the sealing member in association with the flange of the casing. The end cover is provided with a plurality of through holes to receive the projections of the sealing member. The holes are visible from outside when the flanges are joined to form the joint.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Masaki Sawabe