A drive axle assembly incorporating a gear transmission housing (3, 13, 15) composed of a rear axle housing, a final drive gear carrier and a pinion bearing unit, the pinion bearing unit carrying outer and inner races (27, 29) of a front tapered roller bearing, as well as outer and inner races (33, 35) of a rear tapered roller bearing, both inner races (29, 35) of the front and rear tapered roller bearings (31, 37) locating a pinion shaft of a pinion gear, a rearward end of the pinion shaft being rotatably journalled in a ball bearing, an opposite screw threaded forward end of the pinion shaft receiving a driving flange attached by a nut engaging the forward end of the pinion shaft, the inner races (29, 35) of the tapered roller bearings (31, 37) being firmly located between a boss of the driving flange and the pinion gear, the gear transmission housing (3, 13, 15) having an outer fluid barrier formed by the rear axle housing which assembled with the gear carrier and the pinion bearing unit forms a fluid sealed interior for accommodating an amount of fluid lubricant not exceeding a predefined level, the gear transmission housing (3, 13, 15) accommodating a ring gear, the pinion gear drivingly engaging the ring gear, the ring gear being adapted to be partly immersed in an amount of fluid lubricant for causing splash distribution of the fluid lubricant when, in use, the ring gear is rotated in the fluid sealed interior, the gear transmission housing (3, 13, 15) further including an innermost pinion shaft bearing seat for receiving the ball bearing and laterally spaced left and right hand bearing seats (51, 53) accommodating bearings carrying a differential case and the ring gear, the innermost pinion shaft bearing seat and laterally spaced left and right hand case bearing seats (51, 53) being positioned above the predefined fluid level in the fluid sealed interior for receiving the ball bearing, said ball bearing being held in the innermost pinion shaft bearing seat, the gear transmission housing (3, 13, 15) further including a collecting reservoir in fluid communication with the innermost pinion shaft bearing seat, and integrally formed in the final drive gear carrier and coinciding with the innermost pinion shaft bearing seat is an upstanding wall, the collecting reservoir being formed by the upstanding wall for capturing, in use, a portion of splash distributed fluid lubricant, characterised in that the laterally spaced left hand and right hand bearing seats (51, 53) are each formed with a respective removable left hand and right hand bearing cap (57, 59), in that integrally formed at a bottom portion of each of the laterally spaced left and right hand bearing seats (51, 53) is a further upstanding wall, the further upstanding walls being each composed of a first complementary wall section on the gear carrier and a second complementary wall section on one of the left and right hand bearing caps (57, 59), and in that a further collecting reservoir is formed by each further upstanding wall for capturing, in use, a portion of splash distributed fluid lubricant, the further upstanding walls and the laterally spaced left hand and right hand bearing seats (51, 53) ensuring that the bearings carrying the differential case and the ring gear are sufficiently immersed in fluid lubricant.