Patent ID: 7582037

Claim:
A differential assembly for being rotatably supported around a longitudinal axis (A) and for being rotatingly driven inside a housing, comprising: a differential carrier which comprises a base at a first end and an aperture at a second end; two sideshaft gears arranged coaxially relative to the longitudinal axis (A), and a plurality of differential gears in the differential carrier, each engaging the two sideshaft gears; an outer bearing seat at the first end of the differential carrier on which the outer bearing seat a first rolling contact bearing is supported and an inner bearing seat at the second end of the differential carrier in which the inner seat a second rolling contact bearing is supported; wherein a first one of the two sideshaft gears is axially supported on the base of the differential carrier and wherein a second one of the two sideshaft gears is axially supported on an outer bearing race of the second rolling contact bearing; and wherein the second one of the two sideshafts is supported by the outer bearing race either directly.