An axle assembly having an input pinion with a pinion gear, which is received in an axle housing and rotatable about a first axis, and a pinion shaft. The pinion gear is meshed with a ring gear that is coupled to a differential assembly. A head bearing, which is disposed on a first axial end of the input pinion, supports the input pinion for rotation relative to the housing about the first axis. A tail bearing supports the input pinion for rotation relative to the housing about the first axis. The pinion gear is disposed axially between the tail bearing and the head bearing. A bearing groove is formed into the pinion shaft and the bearing elements are received into the bearing groove such that an inner bearing race of the tail bearing is unitarily and integrally formed with the pinion shaft.

An axle assembly with a housing, a pinion, a ring gear, a bearing and a pair of shafts. The pinon is mounted to the housing for rotation about a first axis. The ring gear is received in the housing and meshingly engaged with the pinion. The bearing supports the ring gear for rotation relative to the housing about a second axis and also handles thrust loads between the housing and the ring gear that are directed (in both directions) along the second axis. The bearing has a plurality of bearing elements and is abutted against a shoulder formed on the housing that is positioned along the second axis between the first axis and the bearing elements. The differential assembly has a differential case, which is coupled to the ring gear for rotation therewith, and a pair of output members that are coupled to the shafts for common rotation.

A housing for a bevel gear includes a pinion bearing seat configured to support a pinion bearing for a driveshaft having a drive pinion. The housing also includes an attachment structure configured to attach a support bearing seat to the housing such that the position of the support bearing seat with respect to the pinion bearing seat is variable in the radial direction.