Patent ID: 7445077

Claim:
An axle driving apparatus for a vehicle, comprising: an axle; a vertical pump shaft; a hydraulic pump having a cylinder block engaged with the pump shaft, the cylinder block containing plural reciprocally movable pistons therein, the hydraulic pump including a movable swash plate for receiving thrust from heads of the pistons; a pair of trunnion shafts provided coaxially at respective opposite sides of the movable swash plate; a hydraulic motor driven by pressurized oil from the hydraulic pump and having a motor shaft drivingly connected to the axle; and a housing containing the hydraulic pump, the hydraulic motor, and the axle, the housing including a first housing member and a second housing member separably jointed along a vertical plane perpendicular to a rotary axis of the axle, wherein a rotary axis of the hydraulic pump is substantially parallel to the vertical plane, the hydraulic pump being entirely disposed in the first housing member and the pump shaft extending outwardly from an upper surface of the first housing member, wherein the housing has a horizontal longitudinal length perpendicular to the rotary axis of the axle and has a horizontal lateral width parallel to the rotary axis of the axle, wherein the length is a distance between front and rear ends of the housing, wherein the width is a distance between opposite left and right ends of the housing, the axle projecting outward from one of the opposite left and right ends, wherein the length is greater than the width, wherein the hydraulic pump, the hydraulic motor and the axle are aligned along the horizontal longitudinal length of the housing, so that the hydraulic pump having the vertical pump shaft is disposed in front of the hydraulic motor, and the axle is disposed behind the hydraulic motor, wherein a rotary axis of the trunnion shafts is substantially perpendicular to the vertical plane, wherein one of the trunnion shafts is rotatably supported by the first housing member and the other of the trunnion shafts is rotatably supported by the second housing member, whereby the movable swash plate is slantingly rotatably supported in the housing, wherein one of the trunnion shafts extends outwardly from the housing to be fixed to an arm linked with a speed changing member equipped on the vehicle, and wherein the rotary axis of the motor shaft is lower than a bottom of the cylinder block of the hydraulic pump.