A universal joint for vehicle drivetrains and the like that eliminates the spinning of bearing caps relative to yoke years and trunnions and inhibits inadvertent spreading of opposing ears of a yoke away from each other under increasing torsional loads to reduce wear and failure of the joint. Broadly, the disclosed universal joint includes a central body having a plurality of pairs of opposite apertures, first and second yokes that are disposed about the central body over respective ones of the pairs of apertures, and a plurality of trunnions inserted through the yoke ears and into the apertures of the body to pivotally secure the yokes to the body. Each trunnion is non-rotatable relative to its respective yoke and a locking assembly inhibits movement of each opposite pair of trunnions away from each other thereby inhibiting movement of the opposite ears of each respective yoke away from each other.

The universal joint (5, 7) includes first and second forks (23, 25) each having a pair of arms (61) with seats (61.1) for respective trunnions (27.1) of a spider (27). The arms (61) extend from an outer edge (91.1) of a collar (91) provided to increase the stiffness of the arms and reduce bending deformations thereof under heavy load operating conditions.

A joint assembly having a first joint member drivingly connected to a second joint member by a third joint member. The first joint member of the joint assembly has a first yoke arm with a first yoke arm aperture defined by a first yoke arm aperture surface and a second yoke arm with a second yoke arm aperture defined by a second yoke arm aperture surface. The joint assembly M further includes one or more bearing cup assemblies having a bearing cup with a base portion and a tubular portion. At least a portion of the bearing cup assemblies are received and/or retained within at least a portion of the first yoke arm aperture and the second yoke arm aperture of the first joint member. One or more attachment portions extend outboard from at least a portion of an outer surface of the base portion of the bearing cup.

A joint assembly for use in a vehicle. The joint assembly includes a first joint member drivingly connected to a second joint member by one or more third joint members. The joint assembly further includes one or more bearing cup assemblies having a bearing cup, one or more bearings and one or more sealing members. The bearing cup has a receiving portion having a size and shape to receive and/or retain at least a portion of one or more trunnions extending from a body portion of the one or more third joint members. At least a portion of the one or more bearings are interposed between the one or more trunnions and one or more side surfaces of the receiving portion. Additionally, the one or more sealing members may be connected to and/or sealingly engaged with at least a portion of the outer surface of the one or more trunnions.

Articulable joints having diamond bearing surfaces engaged with metal bearing surfaces are provided herein. The articulable joints provide multiple degrees of freedom to components, such as drivelines, and bear loads in multiple directions. The articulable joints include diamond bearing surfaces slidingly engaged with opposing metal bearing surfaces that include more than trace amounts of diamond solvent-catalyst.

A universal joint for vehicle drivetrains and the like that eliminates the spinning of bearing caps relative to yoke years and trunnions and inhibits inadvertent spreading of opposing ears of a yoke away from each other under increasing torsional loads to reduce wear and failure of the joint. Broadly, the disclosed universal joint includes a central body having a plurality of pairs of opposite apertures, first and second yokes that are disposed about the central body over respective ones of the pairs of apertures, and a plurality of trunnions inserted through the yoke ears and into the apertures of the body to pivotally secure the yokes to the body. Each trunnion is non-rotatable relative to its respective yoke and a locking assembly inhibits movement of each opposite pair of trunnions away from each other thereby inhibiting movement of the opposite ears of each respective yoke away from each other.

Disclosed is a connection device for an agricultural machine, the device including: a front having an input shaft coupled with an input yoke and installed passing therethrough; a rear body having an output shaft coupled with an output yoke and installed passing therethrough; a joint part provided to allow each of the bodies to be coupled with each other and to be rotatable via center pins installed on central parts of upper and lower tip ends of each of the bodies; and a connection yoke fastening each of the input and output yokes thereto via “+” shaped bearings, wherein in the “+” shaped bearings, a length “L” of the connection yoke fastening shafts fastened to the connection yoke is formed to be longer than the length “l” of the input and output connection yoke fastening shafts fastened to the input and output yokes.

After a cup bearing (13a) is incorporated into a circular hole (11c) of a coupling arm portion (10c) forming a yoke, a notch (25) having a V-shaped cross section is formed in a portion near the periphery of the circular hole (11c) on an outer side surface of the coupling arm portion (10c). Thereafter, a thin-walled portion (27) having a substantially trapezoidal cross section formed in a radially inner portion of the notch (25) in an opening edge portion of the circular hole (11c) is plastically deformed inward in a radial direction to form a staking portion (14a). Therefore, it is possible to achieve a method of assembling a joint cross type universal joint and a joint cross type universal joint which can form the staking portion for preventing the cup bearing from falling off without complicating the staking work.

A method of manufacturing a universal joint includes: temporarily assembling a bearing, which supports a shaft portion of a joint spider such that the shaft portion is rotatable, with respect to a through-hole and the shaft portion by press-fitting the bearing to a first position in the through-hole of a yoke; and clinching, after the bearing is temporarily assembled, a portion of the yoke around the through-hole, and pressing the bearing deeper into the through-hole with a clinched portion formed by the clinching to press-fit the bearing to a second position located deeper than the first position in the through-hole.

A seal ring (26) configured to be employed with a cross shaft (16) including a center section (17) and four shaft sections (18a, 18b, 18c, 18d) extending in four directions from the center section and formed with step faces (17a) where the center section widens out from base ends of the shaft sections outward in radial directions of the shaft sections, and with bearings (21) for mounting to leading end portions of the shaft sections. The seal ring is fitted over the shaft section and interposed between the bearing and the step face. The seal ring includes a seal lip (34) configured to contact the step face around the entire circumference, and an indentation (36) the seal lip enters by deforming when mounted to the cross shaft.