Planetary final drive

Claim 1

A planetary final drive comprising: a housing; a ring gear secured to said housing; inboard and outboard bearings, each of which has inner and outer races, mounted in said housing; and output shaft having a flange on one end and threaded at the other end rotatably mounted in said bearings; a planet carrier splined to said output shaft; a compound gear having a spur gear and a sun gear; a mounting bearing having an inner race carried by said shaft and an outer race axially centered with said spur gear and the sun gear cantilevered over said shaft; a plurality of planet gears rotatably mounted on said carrier and engaging said sun and ring gears; a tubular spacer positioned over said shaft and being continuously radially spaced inwardly from said compound gear, having its one end engaging the inner race of said mounting bearing and its other end directly engaging said carrier adjacent its splined connection to said output shaft; a second spacer positioned on said shaft between and contacting the inner race of each of said inboard and mounting bearings; a third spacer positioned on said shaft between and contacting the inner race of said outboard bearing and said flange; and a nut engageable with said threaded end; whereby when said nut is tightened on said threaded end, said inner race of said inboard bearing is forced against said second spacer which is forced against the inner race of said mounting bearing which is forced against said tubular spacer which is forced against said carrier to form a unitary structure and properly position said carrier relative to said compound gear.