Patent ID: 7641394

Claim:
A vehicle wheel bearing apparatus comprising: an outer member formed with a body mounting flange on its outer circumference, the body mounting flange to be mounted on a suspension apparatus of a vehicle, and on the outer member inner circumference has double row outer raceway surfaces; an inner member includes a wheel hub and an inner ring, the wheel hub having, at one end, an integrally formed wheel mounting flange, the wheel hub outer circumference has one inner raceway surface arranged opposite to one of the double row outer raceway surfaces, and a cylindrical portion axially extends from the inner raceway surface, via a shaft shaped portion, the inner ring is adapted to fit onto the cylindrical portion of the wheel hub, via a predetermined interference, and the inner ring outer circumference includes the other inner raceway surface arranged opposite to the other of the double row outer raceway surfaces; double row rolling elements freely rollably contained between the outer and inner raceway surfaces, respectively, of the outer member and the inner member; at least the inner side rolling elements of the double row rolling elements are tapered rollers and a pitch circle diameter of the inner side rolling elements is set smaller than that of the outer side rolling elements; a substantially conical recess is formed at an outer side end portion of the wheel hub and a depth of the recess extends near to the shaft shaped portion beyond the bottom of the inner raceway surface of the wheel hub; and thickness of a portion of the wheel hub where the inner raceway surface is formed is set within a predetermined range and the outer side wall of the wheel hub is formed with a substantially constant thickness along the inner surface of the recess.