Patent ID: 8092335

Claim:
A differential for a vehicle, comprising: a differential case rotatable about an axis; one pair of side gears rotatably accommodated in the differential case; at least one pair of pinion gears engaged at right angles with the one pair of side gears, shaft insertion holes extending along rotation axes of the at least one pair of pinion gears, respectively, wherein the pinion gears each have an outer peripheral surface extending generally parallel to the respective shaft insertion hole therein; and a pinion gear shaft inserted through the shaft insertion holes and supported by the differential case; wherein the differential case has a first pinion gear supporting portion for directly engaging and rotatably supporting the outer peripheral surfaces of the at least one pair of pinion gears, the pinion gear shaft has a second pinion gear supporting portion for rotatably supporting the at least one pair of pinion gears by sliding on inner surfaces of the shaft insertion holes, and the second pinion gear supporting portion is disposed closer to the axis of rotation of the differential case than is the first pinion gear supporting portion.