Patent ID: 7770961

Claim:
A sliding door drive assembly for a motor vehicle with an electric energy source and a sliding door, said sliding door drive assembly comprising: a motor adapted to be electrically connected to the electric energy source, said motor converting electric energy into a rotating force; a transmission operatively connected to said motor for transmitting said rotating force to an output shaft; a cable drum fixedly secured to said output shaft for rotating with said output shaft; first and second cables wound about said cable drum in opposite directions, said first cable extending from said cable drum forward along the sliding door, said second cable extending from said cable drum rearward along the sliding door; support guides extending tangentially out from said cable drum to guide said first and second cables outwardly and away from said cable drum along a path minimizing frictional forces; and front and rear pulley assemblies adapted to be mounted to the motor vehicle and operatively coupled to said first and second cables between said sliding door drive assembly and the sliding door for tensioning said first and second cables, wherein each of said front and rear pulley assemblies include a housing defining a cavity, a pulley disposed in said cavity and rotatably journaled on a shaft and wherein said first or second cable is wound around a portion of said pulley, a pair of end caps receiving opposite ends of said shaft and slidably disposed in opposing grooves formed in said housing, and a pair of springs extending between said end caps and said housing biasing said front and rear pulleys forward and rearward respectively away from said cable drum.