Lohr & Bromkamp Gmbh

Gkn Automotive Ag

Ford-werke Ag

Rudolf Beier

Hans-Heinrich Welschof

Peter Schwarzler

Peter Amborn

Herbert Frielingsdorf

Norbert Hofmann

Klaus Greulich

Joachim Altdorf

Hans Wormsbacher

Wolfgang Exner

Ivan Rericha

Wolfgang Kuhnhold

A driveshaft assembly has external profiled teeth at its end and a slide-on hub with a shaft bore with corresponding inner profiled teeth. A first securing mechanism form-fittingly engages a groove or thread radially cut into the profiled teeth and provided at the free end of the driveshaft and axially supporting the hub in the direction of the end of the driveshaft. External profiled teeth, which are provided at the driveshaft and which, when the hub is fully slid on to the driveshaft while being in contact with the first securing mechanism, extend axially relative to the shaft shank and beyond the length of the hub. A second securing mechanism, with a radially undisturbed profile of the profiled teeth, is supported on the run-out of the profiled teeth or on an adjoining conical face of the driveshaft. The second securing mechanism is plastically formed in-situ and axially supports the hub in the direction of the shaft shank of the driveshaft.

Drive assembly for slide-on hub

A hub attachment assembly has a driveshaft with external splines at its shaft end, a slide-on hub with a shaft bore with corresponding internal splines, and an axial securing mechanism in the form of a resilient snap ring. The snap ring engages opposed recesses in the two sets of splines to couple the two parts together.

Hub attachment assembly

A driveshaft for a motor vehicle has an approximately constant wall thickness and a changing outer diameter which extends analogously to the amplitude of the second basic vibration of the natural bending frequency. In this way it is possible to achieve a distribution of cross-sectional area which is functionally optimized and meets the respective strength requirements. At the same time, torsional stiffness values may be set as required and natural resonance frequency values may be varied. With help of this design it is possible to move the natural resonance frequency of the tubular shaft into a speed range of minimum external excitation energy.

Driveshaft

A wheel drive shaft assembly for a motor vehicle including two universal joints, at least one of which is a plunging joint to enable axial movement of the shaft assembly, with one of the universal joints further including a splined journal engaging into a wheel hub, wherein the axial length of the splined journal is smaller than the amount of axial shortening available in the shaft assembly by virtue of the plunging movement of the at least one plunging universal joint when the shaft assembly is built into the motor vehicle.

Shaft assembly for the wheel drive of a motor vehicle

A constant velocity ratio universal joint of plunging type, comprising an outer joint member (1), an inner joint member (2), facing pairs of tracks (3, 4) in the joint members receiving balls (5) for torque transmission, and a cage (6) constraining the balls and having first and second control surfaces (7, 9) with centers of curvature unequally off-set from the ball center plane I, in order to guide the balls to the bisect or plane, wherein the first control surface of the cage comprises two portions (7.sub.1, 7.sub.2). The first portion (7.sub.1) is part-spherical, and the second portion (7.sub.2) is a surface of revolution about the axis of the cage of an arc of radius of curvature less than the radius of curvature of the part-spherical portion (7.sub.1). The effect of the unequal off-set of the control surfaces of the cage is to compensate for axial thrusts on the balls when the joint is articulated, and the provision of the two portions of the first control surface has the effect of reducing such compensation with increasing articulation, thereby preventing possible jamming of the balls.

Plunging constant velocity ratio universal joint

The invention relates to a wheel bearing/constant velocity joint unit having a double row bearing 2 which has been provided with at least one inner bearing ring 12 which is separate from the wheel hub 1. The wheel hub and the outer part of the constant velocity joint are form-fittingly and non-rotatingly connected to each other by spur teeth. The spur teeth at the wheel hub are preferably produced by orbital pressing or orbital forging, and while the forming process takes place a collar is produced at the wheel hub which serves for axially tensioning the inner bearing rings, at least the one of the joint end.

Wheel Bearing/constant velocity joint unit

A wheel supporting assembly for a motor vehicle, comprising a wheel carrier member (1) with means for attachment to at least one suspension component, and a unit of hub member (16), universal joint member (21), and bearing with outer race (15) integral with or received in a bearing housing (3), secured to the wheel carrier member. The wheel carrier member affords a formation (2) open and undercut-free in a direction transversely of the rotational axis of the hub member, so that the hub member-bearing unit can be fitted radially to the wheel carrier member. The bearing housing of the unit is then held to the wheel carrier member by at least two fixing elements, particularly bolts, spaced from one another by a distance greater than an outer diameter of the bearing, which distance is preferably less than the size of a flange on the hub member to which a wheel is to be attached.

Wheel supporting assembly

A differential gear assembly wherein at least one constant velocity universal joint is integrated within the gear housing and wherein an outer joint member of the universal joint is designed as an outer bevel gear and is axially inwardly supported relative to the differential or planetary gears of the assembly and is outwardly supported relative to the differential carrier on a radial supporting face. The inner member of the joint is supported toward the outside on a counter face of the differential cage and/or toward the inside on a corresponding part of a second constant velocity universal joint or on a special supporting ring. Support of the joint inner part may be effected either directly or indirectly by means of a ball cage or a shaft journal, and the supporting ring is particularly suitable as a central supporting element if two constant velocity universal joints are integrated into the differential gear assembly.

Differential gear assembly including at least one integrated constant

A hub assembly comprising a hub member (10), a flange (4) for wheel attachment, a double row bearing (2), and a constant velocity ratio universal joint (3), wherein the bearing has at least one inner bearing ring (13, 14) which is a separate component received on the hub member, and a connection between the hub member and a further part of the assembly is established by a welding and upsetting operation, and the inner bearing ring is engaged to hold it in position and to set the bearing as a result of such welding and upsetting operation. The welded and upset connection may be provided between the hub member and an outer member (15) of the constant velocity ratio universal joint, or between the hub member and flange. A weld bead formed by the welding and upsetting operation may engage the inner bearing ring either directly or indirectly, or a projection extending from the part welded to the hub member may engage the inner bearing ring.

Hub assembly

A differential gear assembly particularly for motor vehicles having a rotatably supported differential housing, a driving gear attached to the differential housing, at least two rotatably supported differential bevel gears and a pair of output bevel gears which engage into the differential bevel gears with a constant velocity universal joint being integrated into each of the output bevel gears. The differential bevel gears are connected in a form-fitting manner to the driving gear by means of radial and/or axial recesses, apertures or the like, with the differential housing, which may be formed of two parts, being connected to the driving gear. The differential housing is formed with an aperture or is divided in the region of each differential bevel gear to form a compact structure.

Differential gear assembly for motor vehicles

In a wheel assembly for a vehicle wheel, a supportive sleeve is provided mounted in rotatably fixed engagement with a hub of the wheel assembly with one side of a protective boot for the universal joint being attached thereto. The supportive sleeve is constructed as a shaped sheet metal part shaped which, during installation, is permanently plastically deformed in press-fitted engagement with a groove in the hub of the wheel assembly and is formed with a radially extending annular region which is pressed into abutting engagement with an inner bearing ring of the wheel bearing assembly.

Protective boot supporting sleeve for universal joint in wheel assembly

A protective boot for sealing the free space between the driving and driven parts of a constant velocity universal joint formed of a material which is suitable for injection molding, wherein the boot is formed with a larger outer diameter part mounted on an outer joint member of the joint and attached thereto by a relative thin-walled metal cap which, due to its resilience, is capable of sealingly pressing radial and axial sealing faces provided at the outer diameter part of the boot against an outer circumference and an end face of the outer joint member while securingly embracing them. The boot is formed with a smaller diameter part which is provided with an inwardly directed end facing the outer joint member and resting in sealing engagement against a driving shaft connected to an inner joint member of a universal joint over a defined distance. For improving production characteristics, the inwardly directed end of the boot may have a relatively short length and a resulting free space up to the axial limit of the joint inner member is bridged by a sleeve which may be of cardboard or plastic and which may have elongate slots to facilitate assembly.

Protective boot assembly for constant velocity universal joint

A wheel bearing assembly wherein the wheel is driven through a universal joint is arranged with the outer joint member of the universal joint in positive driving engagement with the inner bearing ring of the wheel bearing which is connected to drive the wheel hub.

Bearing assembly for a vehicle wheel driven by a rotary constant

A wheel bearing assembly driven by a universal joint is arranged to consist of two individual finish-assembled units having its components joined together so as to be easily disconnected and removable. The universal joint is formed with an outer joint member having an end face which is arranged with gear teeth engaging complementary gear teeth formed on the inner bearing ring of the wheel bearing assembly for torque transmission purposes whereby a construction having a shorter axial length may be achieved.

Growing community of inventors

Offenbach am Main, Germany

Rudolf Beier