Axle assembly having a bearing preload bolt

1. An axle assembly comprising:

an axle housing;

a brake housing that is fixedly disposed on the axle housing, wherein the brake housing receives a brake assembly and has an outer ring that extends around an axis and has holes that receive fasteners that couple the brake assembly to the brake housing and a positioning ring that extends around the axis;

a wheel bearing cage that is fixedly disposed on the brake housing such that the brake housing extends from the axle housing to the wheel bearing cage, wherein the positioning ring is received in the wheel bearing cage;

a planetary gear set that is received in the wheel bearing cage, the planetary gear set having a planet carrier that rotates about the axis;

an output flange that is configured to facilitate mounting of a wheel, wherein the output flange is disposed on the planet carrier;

a roller bearing assembly that is disposed on the wheel bearing cage and rotatably supports the output flange; and

a preload bolt that couples the output flange to the planet carrier, wherein a preload force is exerted on the roller bearing assembly when the preload bolt is tightened to the planet carrier.

2. The axle assembly of claim 1 wherein the preload bolt has a preload bolt flange that has a set of preload bolt flange openings, wherein a locking fastener is received in a member of the set of preload bolt flange openings and is coupled to the output flange to inhibit relative rotation of the preload bolt about the axis with respect to the output flange.

3. The axle assembly of claim 1 wherein the preload bolt extends along the axis and engages the output flange.

4. The axle assembly of claim 3 wherein the planet carrier has a threaded hole that extends along the axis and that receives a threaded portion of the preload bolt.

5. The axle assembly of claim 4 wherein the output flange has an output flange hole that receives the planet carrier and the preload bolt.

6. The axle assembly of claim 5 wherein the planet carrier has a shaft portion that extends along the axis and into the output flange hole, wherein the threaded hole is disposed in the shaft portion.

7. The axle assembly of claim 1 wherein the output flange is spaced apart from and does not engage the wheel bearing cage.

8. The axle assembly of claim 1 wherein the planet carrier engages the output flange and is spaced apart from and does not engage the wheel bearing cage.

9. The axle assembly of claim 2 wherein the preload bolt flange openings are generally semicircular and extend from an outside circumferential surface of the preload bolt flange toward the axis.

10. An axle assembly comprising:

an axle housing;

a brake housing fixedly disposed on the axle housing;

a wheel bearing cage fixedly disposed on the brake housing;

an axle shaft that is disposed in the axle housing and rotates about an axis;

a planetary gear set that is disposed on the axle shaft and is received in the wheel bearing cage, the planetary gear set having a planet carrier;

an output flange that is disposed on the planet carrier, wherein the output flange has a step surface that extends between a second inner surface and a third inner surface that extend around the axis and partially define an output flange hole, wherein the third inner surface has a larger diameter than the second inner surface;

a preload bolt that extends along the axis and couples the output flange to the planet carrier, wherein the preload bolt is received in the output flange hole and has a preload bolt flange that exerts force on the step surface and that has a preload bolt flange opening, wherein the third inner surface extends around the preload bolt and the preload bolt is spaced apart from the third inner surface; and

a locking fastener that is received in the preload bolt flange opening and extends through the step surface to inhibit rotation of the preload bolt about the axis.

11. The axle assembly of claim 10 wherein the output flange has a first inner surface that extends around the axis and at least partially defines the output flange hole, wherein the preload bolt is spaced apart from the first inner surface.

12. The axle assembly of claim 11 wherein a preload bolt seal is disposed between the second inner surface and the preload bolt.

13. The axle assembly of claim 12 wherein the second inner surface is axially positioned between the first inner surface and the third inner surface.

14. The axle assembly of claim 10 wherein the preload bolt flange engages the step surface and is spaced apart from the third inner surface.

15. An axle assembly comprising:

an axle housing;

a wheel bearing cage fixedly positioned with respect to the axle housing;

a planetary gear set that is received in the wheel bearing cage, the planetary gear set having a planet carrier that rotates about an axis;

an output flange that is partially received in the wheel bearing cage, wherein the output flange is disposed on the planet carrier;

a first roller bearing assembly and a second roller bearing assembly that are disposed on the wheel bearing cage and that rotatably support the output flange; and

a preload bolt that couples the output flange to the planet carrier, wherein the preload bolt exerts a preload force that biases the first roller bearing assembly toward the second roller bearing assembly and the preload bolt includes a threaded preload bolt body and a preload bolt flange that extends from the preload bolt body and wherein a preload bolt seal is spaced apart from the preload bolt body and extends from the preload bolt flange to the output flange.

16. The axle assembly of claim 15 wherein the first roller bearing assembly has a first inner race that engages the output flange, wherein the first inner race is biased toward the planet carrier when the preload bolt is tightened.

17. The axle assembly of claim 15 wherein the second roller bearing assembly has a second inner race that engages the output flange and the planet carrier, wherein the second inner race is biased toward the first roller bearing assembly when the preload bolt is tightened.

18. The axle assembly of claim 15 wherein the output flange has an output flange hole and the planet carrier and the preload bolt engage the output flange in the output flange hole.

19. The axle assembly of claim 15 wherein the preload bolt extends along the axis and a locking fastener is offset from the axis and engages the preload bolt and the output flange to inhibit relative rotation of the preload bolt with respect to the output flange.