Patent ID: 7665900

Claim:
A vehicle wheel bearing apparatus comprising: an outer member formed with double row outer raceway surfaces on its inner circumferential surface; an inner member including a wheel hub and at least one inner ring, the wheel hub has a wheel mounting flange formed at its one end, a cylindrical portion axially extends from the wheel mounting flange, and the inner ring has at least one inner raceway surface arranged opposite to the plurality of outer raceway surfaces, the inner ring is press fit onto the cylindrical portion of the wheel hub; double row rolling elements are freely rollably contained between the outer and inner raceway surfaces, an outer joint member forms a constant velocity universal joint, the outer joint member has a cup-shaped mouth portion, a shoulder portion forms a bottom of the mouth portion, a shaft portion axially extends from the shoulder portion and is adapted to be axially separably and torque transmittably inserted into the wheel hub with the shoulder portion abutting against a caulked portion for transmitting torque between them; the inner ring is axially secured relative to the wheel hub by the caulked portion, the caulked portion is formed by plastically deforming, radially outwardly, the end portion of the cylindrical portion; the caulked portion has a flat surface formed by a cutting process adapted to be in surface contact with the shoulder, and a radially outermost end of the flat surface includes a slightly recessed annular portion formed by a cutting process, said slightly recessed annular portion is arranged so that it does not abut against the shoulder reducing surface pressure applied to the caulked portion.