Axle assembly with an angular bearing that supports a ring gear for rotation on an axle housing

摘要

An axle assembly comprising: an axle housing; a drive pinion received in the axle housing and rotatable about a first axis, the drive pinion having a plurality of pinion teeth; a ring gear received in the axle housing, the ring gear being a bevel gear having a plurality of sprocket teeth; engaging with the pinion teeth, the pinion teeth defining a pitch angle; an angular bearing supporting the ring gear for rotation on the axle housing about a second axis transverse to the first axis, the angular bearing defining a first race associated with the ring gear coupled to the associated rotation, a second race and a plurality of ball bearing balls, which are arranged between the first and second races; anda differential assembly having a differential housing, wherein the differential housing is mounted on the sprocket for rotation therewith, the second race comprising a first race member cooperating with the ball bearing balls, and the first race defining a first contact angle, and wherein the first contact angle is within ± 15 degrees perpendicular to the pitch angle of the sprocket teeth.