Wheel end for drive axle

Details Wheel end for drive axle Wheel end for drive axle

2000-06-09

2001-11-27

Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)

Land vehicles: wheels and axles

Wheel

Device for attaching wheel to axle

C301S105100, C301S137000, C301S124100, C384S477000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06322157

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to axle housings, and particularly to an integrally cast spindle having a machined trumpet arm made from high strength ductile iron and a corresponding seal retainer that prevent debris from damaging the wheel end.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
In the past, it has been the practice on heavy trucks to make an axle housing from seamless tubing which had one end hot-forged to form a spindle and the opposite end expanded to form one-half of a banjo housing provided at the center of the axle housing. Typically, the material of the spindle is high strength steel or ductile iron, and this material is very sensitive to stress concentration and fatigue-related issues. Therefore, serious drawbacks result when the spindle is formed with ridges, shoulders and large-diameter portions.
FIG. 1
shows one type of prior art wheel end assembly, wherein a pair of bearings
12
,
14
are mounted onto the spindle
10
. The spindle
10
is formed with an inside shoulder
10
a,
and an outside mounting abutment
11
is bolted onto the spindle
10
via bolts
15
. The inside bearing
12
abuts the inside surface of the large diameter shoulder
10
a,
and the outside bearing
14
abuts the mounting abutment
11
. A seal member
18
is mounted onto the large diameter shoulder
10
a
to provide a sealing interface between the spindle
10
and the wheel hub
1
.
FIG. 2
shows another type of prior art wheel end assembly, wherein a pair of bearings
22
are mounted onto the spindle
20
. The spindle
20
is formed with an inside shoulder
20
a,
and an outside mounting abutment (not shown) is provided. The inside bearing
22
abuts the inside surface of the large diameter shoulder
20
a.
A seal member
28
is mounted onto the large diameter shoulder
20
a
and against a second mounting shoulder
22
b
to provide a sealing interface between the spindle
20
and the wheel hub
21
.
Such conventional wheel end designs use either very large expensive wheel bearings and extra large diameters of the spindle to make up for the high stress concentration factor in conventional designs. Moreover, because of the high stress concentrations and large bearings used for the spindle, it is also known to bolt a steel spindle onto a ductile iron housing. However, this arrangement is very expensive and inefficient to manufacture.
The need exists for a drive axle wheel end wherein the stress concentration factors are diminished or significantly eliminated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks and deficiencies that exist in the prior art wheel end for drive axles.
The present invention maximizes the strength and capacity of the spindle structure by implementing a stress-concentration-free design. The present invention also eliminates the required bolted joint and two-piece structure of the conventional axle design, thus substantially reducing cost.
In the preferred design, the spindle of the instant invention is an integral cast and machined trumpet-shaped arm made from high strength ductile iron, wherein a seal retainer is provided to locate and protect the inner wheel bearing and wheel end from debris. The trumpet-shaped arm is formed with a long parabolic radius machined with a reasonable surface finish to reduce of significantly eliminate stress concentrations.
In the preferred embodiment, a mating cast iron seal retainer is employed to provide proper location for the inner wheel bearing and to transfer axial loads of the bearing to the spindle shoulder. In addition, the seal retainer retains the inner half of the seal face and provides a sealing surface to prevent escape of the axle wheel end oil. In this design, the outside diameter of the seal retainer is made to fit inside the wheel hub bore where it is protected from rocks, stumps, other debris, etc. The shape of the back exterior of the retainer is made in such a way that vines, wires, rope, etc that become entangled in the wheel(s) is not caught by the retainer; instead, spindle and seal design passes the debris onto the trumpet arm where the debris will do no damage.
Moreover, the planet carrier to wheel hub pilot diameter is moved to the outside diameter of the two parts. This arrangement allows the planet carrier casting to be a simple green sand casting with no cores.


REFERENCES:
patent: 1999710 (1935-04-01), Weckstein
patent: 2052524 (1936-08-01), Baker
patent: 2477576 (1949-08-01), Buckendale
patent: 2858163 (1958-10-01), Nagel
patent: 3015238 (1962-01-01), Williams
patent: 4234120 (1980-11-01), Pringle
patent: 4417462 (1983-11-01), Palovcik
patent: 5442977 (1995-08-01), Danjou et al.
patent: 5549395 (1996-08-01), Sink
patent: 5997103 (1999-12-01), Wagner
patent: 6017097 (2000-01-01), Weir, III
patent: 6126321 (2000-10-01), Fetty et al.
patent: 3424730 A1 (1985-10-01), None
patent: WO 89/09141 (1989-10-01), None

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