Patent ID: 6857782

Claim:
A wheel bearing assembly rotatably supporting a wheel relative to a vehicle body structure, said wheel bearing assembly comprising: an outer member having an inner peripheral surface, said inner peripheral surface being formed with a plurality of rows of outer raceways; an inner member having an outer peripheral surface, said outer peripheral surface being formed with a corresponding rows of inner raceways aligned with the respective rows of the outer raceways; a plurality of rolling elements interposed between the outer and inner members and accommodated in part within the respective outer raceway and in part within the respective inner raceway to thereby allow the inner and outer members to be rotatable relative to each other; a wheel mounting flange formed in one of the outer and inner members that serves as a rotatable member; a magnetic encoder including a core metal; and at least one sealing unit sealing an annular open end of a cylindrical space delimited between the inner and outer members, said sealing unit including: a generally L-sectioned first sealing plate mounted on the rotatable member and having an inner cylindrical wall and a radially outwardly extending upright wall that lies generally perpendicular to the inner cylindrical wall; a generally L-sectioned second sealing plate mounted on the other of the outer and inner members that serves as a stationary member, said second sealing plate being positioned so as to confront the first sealing plate and having an outer cylindrical wall and a radially inwardly extending upright wall that lies generally perpendicular to the outer cylindrical wall; and said second sealing plate having secured thereto, a side sealing lip slidingly engaging the radially outwardly extending upright wall of the first sealing plate, and at least one radial sealing lip slidingly engaging the cylindrical wall of the first sealing plate; said magnetic encoder being formed on the radially outwardly extending upright wall of the first sealing plate with the core metal defined by said first sealing plate, and further including an elastic member integrated with the core metal in a ring-shaped configuration, said elastic member being made from an elastic material mixed with a powder of magnetic material, and having a plurality of different magnetic poles alternating in a direction circumferentially thereof, and having a Shore hardness not lower than Hs 90.