Patent ID: 7377988

Claim:
A bearing shaft with a hardened section serving as a raceway for rolling elements in a reception bore of a housing, at least one end of the shaft being adapted to be swaged to the reception bore for achieving at least one of a force locking and a positive engagement, and an outer peripheral hardened surface of the shaft having a hardness that is greater than a hardness of ends of the shaft, wherein the entire shaft is at first carbonitrided, quenched and tempered so that a hardness of HV 745-950 (HRC 62-68) is realized, following which, the thus treated shaft is soft annealed to produce a hardness of HV 212-305 (HRB 93-HRC 30), and the outer peripheral surface is then subjected to induction hardening to achieve a final hardness of HV 745-950 (HRC 62-68).