Patent ID: 8104567

Claim:
A vehicle steering apparatus comprising: a housing for supporting, coaxially to a steering shaft, a rotating cylinder by a thrust bearing, said rotating cylinder being provided with a screw mechanism constructed between said rotating cylinder and said steering shaft for moving in an axial direction for the purpose of steering and being rotated by a transmission from a steering motor, said housing being constructed in a separated form having first and second housings, wherein the first housing is provided with a fitting part, and the second housing is provided with a retaining part, said retaining part having a first portion whose diameter is smaller than a diameter of a second portion thereof which secures concentricity of the first and second housing, and being configured to be fitted to the fitting part of the first housing by spigot-joint fitting; wherein an interior surface of the fitting part is radially spaced from an exterior surface of the first portion of the retaining part, said interior surface of the fitting part and said exterior surface of the first portion of the retaining part together defining an absorbing gap, wherein a fixing nut is configured to be screwed into an interior surface of the retaining part in order to apply a tightening force on said thrust bearing from one side thereof, and said absorbing gap is configured to absorb an increase in an outer diameter of the first portion of the retaining part when the fixing nut is tightened into an interior surface of the first portion of the retaining part, and wherein said absorbing gap substantially overlaps, in the axial direction, with a screwing region between said retaining part and said fixing nut screwed into said retaining part.