Patent ID: 8167762

Claim:
An axle assembly comprising: an axle housing defining a central cavity and including an external sensor mount; a differential case received in the central cavity of the axle housing; a differential unit in the differential case, the differential unit including a pair of side gears; an axle tube coupled to the axle housing; an axle shaft coupled for rotation with one of the side gears, the axle shaft extending through the axle tube; a bearing supporting the differential case for rotation in the central cavity of the axle housing; a ring mounted in the axle housing; a tone ring defining an internal bore through which the axle shaft extends, the tone ring being coupled for rotation with the axle shaft; a retainer coupled to both the ring and the tone ring to maintain the tone ring at a predetermined axial spacing relative to the ring; and a sensor secured to the sensor mount and sensing the tone ring; wherein the retainer is separately snap-fit to the tone ring and to the ring to form an assembly.