JP2005247043A - Suspension device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a suspension device capable of enhancing the forgeability and rigidity of a pair of boss parts which are formed on a lower portion of a light alloy-made forged knuckle body and fixed to a ferrous metal-made lower arm supporting bracket. <P>SOLUTION: When manufacturing a light alloy-made forged (light-alloy cast) knuckle body 14 of a suspension device, if the height of a pair of boss parts 14c and 14d protruded downwardly from front and rear ends of a lower portion in the vertical direction is large, forgeability (castability) of the knuckle body 14 is degraded and hardly manufactured, and the rigidity of the boss parts 14c and 14d is reduced, and the mounting strength of a ferrous metal-made lower arm supporting bracket 15 can be reduced. By setting the height h1 in the vertical direction of the pair of boss parts 14c and 14d of the knuckle body 14 to be smaller than the height h2 in the vertical direction of the lower arm supporting bracket 15, forgeability (castability) of the knuckle body 14 can be enhanced, and the rigidity of the boss parts 14c and 14d can be enhanced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a suspension device that supports a knuckle with an upper arm and a lower arm, and more particularly, to a suspension device configured by combining a knuckle body made of light alloy forging or light alloy casting and a lower arm support bracket made of iron-based metal. .

  FIG. 5 shows a knuckle 01 of a conventional suspension device. The knuckle 01 has a lower arm support bracket 03 made of a ferrous metal joined to the lower end of a light alloy forged knuckle body 02 with two bolts 04 and 05. Thus, the outer end in the vehicle width direction of the upper arm 06 is connected to the upper end of the knuckle body 01, and the outer end in the vehicle width direction of the lower arm 07 is connected to the lower arm support bracket 03. A pair of bosses 02a and 02b projecting downward are integrally formed at the front and rear ends of the lower part of the knuckle body 02 to which the lower arm 07 is connected, and the lower arm support bracket 03 is formed on the lower surface of these bosses 02a and 02b. Both front and rear ends are fastened with bolts 04 and 05.

  By the way, since the pair of bosses 02a and 02b protrudes greatly from the lower part of the knuckle main body 02 in the above-described conventional one, the elongated bosses 02a and 02b only deteriorate the forgeability and increase the manufacturing cost. In other words, the strength of the boss portions 02a and 02b to which a large load from the lower arm 07 is transmitted may be insufficient. Further, even when the knuckle body 02 is made of a light casting, the elongated boss portions 02a and 02b hinder the surroundings of the hot water to deteriorate the castability, and a nest is generated in the boss portions 02a and 02b to deteriorate the quality. There was a possibility.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and is formed of a pair of boss portions formed at a lower portion of a knuckle body made of light alloy forging (made of light alloy casting) and fixed to a lower arm support bracket made of iron-based metal. It aims at improving forgeability (castability) and rigidity.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention described in claim 1, a knuckle constituted by combining a light alloy forged or light alloy cast knuckle body and a ferrous metal lower arm support bracket; An upper arm whose inner end in the vehicle width direction is connected to the vehicle body and whose outer end in the vehicle width direction is connected to the upper portion of the knuckle body; and an inner end in the vehicle width direction is connected to the vehicle body and the outer end in the vehicle width direction is the lower arm A lower arm connected to the support bracket, wherein the lower arm support bracket is fixed to the lower surface of the pair of bosses projecting downward from the front and rear ends of the lower part of the knuckle body. A suspension device is proposed in which the height is smaller than the vertical height of the lower arm support bracket.

  According to the configuration of claim 1, when manufacturing a knuckle body made of light alloy forging or light alloy casting, if the height in the vertical direction of the pair of boss portions projecting downward from the front and rear ends of the lower portion is large, However, the forkability and castability of the knuckle body may be reduced, making it difficult to manufacture, and the rigidity of the boss part may be lowered, reducing the mounting strength of the lower arm support bracket. By making it smaller than the vertical height of the lower arm support bracket, it is possible to improve the forgeability and castability of the knuckle body and increase the rigidity of the boss portion to increase the mounting strength of the lower arm support bracket.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on examples of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a double wishbone type suspension of a left rear wheel, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view in two directions of FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the double wishbone type suspension device S includes a knuckle 13 supported on the vehicle body by an upper arm 11 and a lower arm 12. The knuckle 13 includes a knuckle body 14 made of light alloy forging, and a lower arm support bracket 15 made of an iron-based material fastened to the lower part thereof. The knuckle body 14 includes an axle support portion 14a that rotatably supports the axle of the wheel W, and an upper arm support portion 14b that extends upward from the axle support portion 14a, and a ball joint at the upper end of the upper arm support portion 14b. 16, the outer end of the upper arm 11 in the vehicle width direction is pivotally supported.

  As is apparent from FIG. 3, a pair of bosses 14c and 14d protrude downward from the front and rear ends of the axle support 14a of the knuckle body 14, and a recess 14e recessed upward between the bosses 14c and 14d. Is formed. The lower arm support bracket 15 includes front and rear end mounting portions 15a and 15b, a central lower arm support portion 15c, and a pair of inclined connection portions 15d and 15e that connect the mounting portions 15a and 15b and the lower arm support portion 15c. The front support portion 15 a is fixed to the lower end of the front boss portion 14 c with the stud bolt 17 and the nut 18, and the rear attachment portion 15 b is fixed to the lower end of the rear boss portion 14 d with the bolt 19. The lower arm support portion 15c of the lower arm support bracket 15 is positioned lower than the mounting portions 15a and 15b, and the lower arm 12 is formed in a space 20 formed between the recess 14e of the knuckle body 14 and the lower arm support portion 15c of the lower arm support bracket 15. The vehicle width direction outer end of is arranged.

  The ball joint 21 that pivotally supports the outer end in the vehicle width direction of the lower arm 12 to the lower arm support bracket 15 includes a spherical head 22a, a conical shaft portion 22b that is continuous with the head portion 22a, and a male screw portion 22c that is continuous with the shaft portion 22b. The ball stud 22 comprised by these is provided. The shaft portion 22b of the ball stud 22 passes through the mounting hole 15f provided in the lower arm support portion 15c of the lower arm support bracket 15 from the top to the bottom, and the nut 23 is screwed into the male screw portion 22c protruding downward from the lower arm support portion 15c. It is fixed by that. The ball joint 21 includes a cup-shaped housing 12 a provided at the end of the lower arm 12. A synthetic resin bearing 25 slidably contacting the head 22a of the ball stud 22 is housed on the inner peripheral surface of the housing 12a, and is held by a retainer 26 fixed so as to cover the opening of the housing 12a. A boot 27 is mounted between the opening of the housing 12a and the lower arm support portion 15c of the lower arm support bracket 15 so that dust and the like do not enter the head 22a of the ball stud 22 and the sliding surface of the bearing 25.

  The height h1 from the bottom surface of the recess 14e of the knuckle body 14 to the lower ends of the boss portions 14c, 14d is from the lower ends of the boss portions 14c, 14d to the lower arm support portion 15c of the lower arm support bracket 15, that is, from the lower arm 12 to the lower arm support bracket 15. It is made smaller than the height h2 to the load input point. As described above, by reducing the protruding height h1 of the pair of boss portions 14c and 14d provided at the lower end of the knuckle body 14, it is easy to process the boss portions 14c and 14d when the knuckle body 14 is forged. Thus, not only the machining cost is reduced, but also the rigidity of the boss portions 14c and 14d to which the load from the lower arm 12 is transmitted through the lower arm support bracket 15 can be increased.

  The distance d1 from the bottom surface of the recess 14e of the knuckle body 14 to the upper end of the ball joint 21 is smaller than the distance d2 from the upper end of the mounting hole 15f of the lower arm support portion 15c to the lower end of the male screw portion 22c of the ball stud 22. . Accordingly, the nut 23 for fixing the ball stud 22 of the ball joint 21 to the lower arm support bracket 15 is loosened and dropped due to vibration or the like accompanying traveling of the vehicle, and the shaft portion 22b of the ball stud 22 is removed from the mounting hole 15f of the lower arm support bracket 15. Even if it is about to fall upward, the housing 12a of the ball joint 21 comes into contact with the bottom surface of the recess 14e of the knuckle body 14 to prevent the ball joint 21 from falling off and reliably prevent the lower arm 12 from being separated from the knuckle 13. can do.

  Since the ball joint 21 cannot be attached after the lower arm support bracket 15 is coupled to the knuckle body 14, the lower arm support bracket 15 to which the ball joint 21 has been previously attached needs to be coupled to the knuckle body 14.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the first embodiment, the ball stud 22 of the ball joint 21 is fixed to the lower arm support bracket 15, but in the second embodiment, the housing 24 of the ball joint 21 is fixed to the lower arm support bracket 15. That is, the housing 24 of the ball joint 21 is press-fitted from the top to the bottom into the mounting hole 15 f formed in the ball joint support portion 15 c of the lower arm support bracket 15. The outer end in the vehicle width direction of the lower arm 12 is fitted to a ball stud 22 protruding downward from the housing 24 and fastened by a nut 28.

  Also in the second embodiment, the height h1 from the bottom surface of the recess 14e of the knuckle body 14 to the lower ends of the boss portions 14c, 14d is the height from the lower ends of the boss portions 14c, 14d to the lower arm support portion 15c of the lower arm support bracket 15. In other words, the height h2 from the lower arm 12 to the load input point to the lower arm support bracket 15 is set to be smaller than this, so that when the knuckle body 14 is forged, the bosses 14c and 14d can be easily projected. Thus, the processing cost can be reduced and the rigidity of the boss portions 14c and 14d can be increased.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design changes can be made without departing from the present invention described in the claims. It is.

  For example, in the embodiment, the double wishbone type suspension apparatus S is illustrated, but the present invention can be applied to any other type of suspension apparatus.

  The knuckle body is not limited to light alloy forging, and may be light alloy casting.

Perspective view of left wish wheel double wishbone suspension 2 direction enlarged view of FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of FIG. The figure corresponding to the said FIG. 3 based on 2nd Example. FIG. 2 is a diagram corresponding to FIG.

Explanation of symbols

11 Upper arm 12 Lower arm 13 Knuckle 14 Knuckle body 14c Boss part 14d Boss part 15 Lower arm support bracket h1 Height h2 Height

Claims (1)

A knuckle (13) constructed by combining a light alloy forged or light alloy cast knuckle body (14) and a ferrous metal lower arm support bracket (15), and an inner end in the vehicle width direction are connected to the vehicle body. An upper arm (11) whose outer end in the vehicle width direction is connected to the upper portion of the knuckle body (14), an inner end in the vehicle width direction is connected to the vehicle body, and an outer end in the vehicle width direction is connected to the lower arm support bracket (15). A suspension device having a lower arm (12) connected thereto, and a lower arm support bracket (15) fixed to the lower surface of a pair of boss portions (14c, 14d) projecting downward from the front and rear ends of the lower portion of the knuckle body (14) In
A suspension device characterized in that the vertical height (h1) of the pair of boss portions (14c, 14d) is smaller than the vertical height (h2) of the lower arm support bracket (15).

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