Patent ID: 7669941

Claim:
A wheel end for coupling a road wheel to a suspension system component of an automotive vehicle so that the wheel can rotate about an axis of rotation and for further reflecting forces and moments exerted by the vehicle on the wheel end and vice versa, said wheel end comprising: a housing including a tubular core, a plurality of mounts spaced outwardly from the core for securement to a suspension system component, and a plurality of webs extending between the core and the mounts to couple the core to the mounts, the transverse dimension of each web measured parallel to the axis being substantially greater than the dimension of the cross-section of each web measured in a radial direction with respect to the axis, so that the webs have extended axially directed surfaces and are wider than they are thick; a hub having a flange configured for securement of the road wheel to it and a spindle that projects from the flange into the tubular core of the housing; an antifriction bearing located between the tubular core of the housing and the spindle of the hub, the bearing being configured to transfer radial loads between the housing and hub and thrust loads in both axial directions as well; wherein said plurity of webs are configured to accomodates radial deflections between said housing and said plurality of mounts in response to said transferred loads, and to retard axial deflections between said housing and said plurality of mounts in response to said transferred loads; and further including a plurality of sensors attached to the axially directed surfaces of at least some of the webs, radially outwardly from the tubular core, to detect deflections in the webs.