Patent ID: 8863600

Claim:
A rack and pinion steering device comprising: a housing; a pinion shaft which is axially supported rotatably by the housing, and to one end of which a steering force of a steering wheel is transmitted; a pinion which is configured at another end of the pinion shaft; a rack which is brought in mesh with the pinion for transmitting the steering force to a side of a wheel; a large diameter shaft portion which is configured at one end of the pinion with a diameter thereof larger than a gear tooth root circle diameter of the pinion; a first bearing which is a ball bearing for axially supporting the large diameter shaft portion rotatably at the housing, the outer ring of the first bearing being inserted into a bearing hole and being fixed to the housing unmovably in an axial direction by a snap ring which is mounted to a ring-like groove on a side of an opening of the bearing hole; a small diameter shaft portion which is configured at another end of the pinion with a diameter thereof smaller than the gear tooth root circle diameter of the pinion; a second bearing which is a needle bearing for supporting the small diameter shaft portion rotatably at the housing; a first raised portion which is configured at a gear tooth root of the pinion on a side of the large diameter shaft portion; and a second raised portion which is configured at the gear tooth root of the pinion on a side of the small diameter shaft portion, wherein a distal end of the first raised portion is configured by a diameter the same as a gear tooth tip circle diameter of the pinion, a distal end of the second raised portion is configured by a diameter smaller than the gear tooth tip circle diameter of the pinion, the second raised portion has a radius larger than a radial distance from the axis of the pinion to a rack tooth, the pinion shaft is moved to a side of the first bearing by a thrust load applied to the pinion, a length in an axial direction until an outer peripheral face of the rack is brought into contact with the second raised portion is configured to be smaller than a length in the axial direction by which the second bearing supports the small diameter shaft portion, and the snap ring is located upstream of the first bearing, along a torque direction of the steering device.