JP2001065541A - Ball joint - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase strength and an oscillating angle by forming an inner spherical surface with the same curvature as that of a ball stud spherical head in a press-in ring, and deforming the tip of a bearing straight portion vertically extending before assembling along the inner spherical surface and to the shaft core side. SOLUTION: A bearing 5 comprises a bottom 8 and a straight portion 7 substantially vertically extending from this, a spherical head 4 of a ball stud 2 is inserted from an opening 6 side, and in this state it is pressed into a housing 9. A press-in ring 14 of which inner spherical surface 15 with a substantially same curvature as that of the spherical head 4 is pressed in from an opening 10 of the housing 9, the inner spherical surface 15 is made to abut on the outer periphery of the end of the straight portion 7, and the straight portion 7 is deformed to the shaft core side. The proximity of the opening 10 is crimped to the inner periphery side to fix the press-in ring 14, a small opening 18 of a dust boot 17 is mounted to the outer periphery of a handle portion 3, a large opening 19 is mounted to a boot mounting groove 13 of the housing 9 in a state in which a circumferential snap ring 21 is engaged to finish an assembling. Therefore, projecting area receiving a tensile load is large and strength is increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball joint used for, for example, a vehicle suspension system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ball joints have been frequently used in connection parts of automobile suspension systems. As shown in FIG. 5, such a ball joint 101 has a spherical ball head 104 and a handle 103 protruding from the ball head 104.
Ball stud 102 having
02, a bearing 105 enclosing the ball head 104 and having a plurality of slits, a housing 109 supporting the bearing 105, and having an opening 110 on one side;
09, an annular press-fit ring 114 fixed to the opening 110, a small opening 118 on the outer periphery of the handle 103 of the ball stud 102, and a large opening 119 on the housing 109.
And a dust cover 117 attached to the outer periphery of the camera.

Next, a method of assembling the ball joint 101 will be described. First, put the ball stud 102 on the ball head 10
4 is inserted into the bearing 105, and then the ball stud 10 with the bearing 105 fitted on the ball head 104.
2 is pressed into the housing 109. Next, the annular press-fit ring 114 is arranged on the inner periphery of the opening 110 of the housing 109, and the end of the opening 110 of the housing 109 is caulked toward the inner periphery to fix the press-fit ring 114. Finally, the small opening 118 of the dust cover 117 is connected to the handle 1 of the ball stud 102.
03, the large opening 119 is mounted on the outer periphery of the housing 109, and the assembly of the ball joint 101 is completed.

[0004]

The ball joint 101 as described above applies the tensile load of the ball stud 102 to the inner peripheral surface of the bearing 105, especially the ball stud 10
Opening 106 from the equator, which is the maximum diameter of the second ball head 104
Side inner peripheral surface is received. However, since the ball head 104 of the ball stud 102 is inserted into the opening 106 of the bearing 105, the diameter of the opening 106 cannot be made smaller than necessary.
The projected area of the inner peripheral surface on the 06 side becomes small, so that a high tensile load cannot be received. Therefore, the bearing 105
Are provided with a plurality of slits, and the opening 10 of the bearing 105 is provided.
Although it is conceivable to increase the projected area of the inner peripheral surface on the opening 106 side by reducing the diameter of 6, there is a problem in that the slit reduces the strength.

It is also conceivable that the press-fit ring 114 is enlarged to increase the tensile load of the ball stud 102. However, when the press-fit ring 114 is enlarged, the ball stud 1
02 may come into contact with the press-fit ring 114, and a sufficient swing angle may not be obtained.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a ball joint which has a high strength, a sufficient swing angle, and can receive a high tensile load.

[0007]

The configuration of the present invention is as follows.

A ball stud having a spherical ball head and a handle protruding from the ball head, a bearing having a ball head of the ball stud swingably rotatably and having an opening on one side;
In a ball joint comprising a housing including a bearing and having an opening for protruding a handle portion of a ball stud on one side, and a press-fit ring fixed by caulking to the inner periphery of the housing opening, the press-fit ring has a curvature of the ball head of the ball stud and With the inner sphere of approximately the same curvature, before the ball joint is assembled, align the tip of the straight part of the bearing consisting of the bottom part and the straight part that extends substantially perpendicularly from the bottom part along the inner sphere of the press-fit ring. And deformed to the axial center side.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a ball joint 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 2 denotes a ball stud including a spherical ball head 4 and a handle 3 projecting from the ball head 4. The ball head 4 of this ball stud 2
A bearing 5 made of synthetic resin and having an opening 6 on one side for projecting the handle 3 of the ball stud 2 and having an inner peripheral surface having substantially the same curvature as the curvature of the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2 is swingably rotatable. Has been encased in The bearing 5 is made of metal, has an opening 10 on one side, has a circumferential boot mounting groove 13 formed on the outer peripheral surface near the opening 10, and has a step 12 formed on the inner periphery of the opening 10. It is included in the housing 9.
Reference numeral 14 denotes a press-fit ring made of metal, which has a convex portion 16 formed circumferentially on the outer peripheral side, and is fixed to the inner periphery of the opening 10 of the housing 9. Reference numeral 17 denotes a dust boot made of an elastic member. A small opening 18 in which a reinforcing ring 20 having an L-shaped cross section is buried is provided on the outer periphery of the handle 3 of the ball stud 2, and a large opening 19 is provided on the boot mounting groove 13 of the housing 9. Each of the circlips 21 is mounted in a fitted state.

Next, a method of manufacturing the ball joint 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the bearing 5 includes a bottom portion 8 and a straight portion 7 that extends substantially vertically continuously from the bottom portion 8. The ball head 4 of the ball stud 2 is inserted into the bearing 5 from the opening 6 side. Subsequently, the bearing 5 is press-fitted into the housing 9 with the bearing 5 fitted on the ball head 4 of the ball stud 2. Next, as shown in the left half of FIG.
Press-fit. The inner spherical surface 15 of the press-fit ring 14 has substantially the same curvature as the curvature of the ball stud 2 and the head 4.
A peripheral convex portion 16 is formed on the outer peripheral surface. The press-fit ring 14 is press-fitted from the opening 10 of the housing 9, and the inner spherical surface 15 abuts on the outer periphery of the end of the straight portion 7 of the bearing 5, and at the same time, the straight portion 7 of the bearing 5 extends along the inner circumferential side. The protrusion 16 is press-fitted to a predetermined position where it contacts the step 12 on the inner periphery of the opening 10 of the housing 9 to deform the straight portion 7 of the bearing 5 toward the axis as shown in the right half of FIG. Finally, as shown in FIG. 4, the vicinity of the opening 10 of the housing 9 is caulked to the inner peripheral side to fix the press-fit ring 14, and the fixation of the press-fit ring 14 is completed. Thereafter, the small opening 18 of the dust boot 17 is provided on the outer periphery of the handle 3 of the ball stud 2 and the large opening 19 is provided in the housing 9.
In the state where the circumferential circlip 21 is fitted in the boot mounting groove 13, each is mounted, and the assembly of the ball joint 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is completed.

In the above-described ball joint 1, since the straight portion 7 of the bearing 5 is deformed toward the axial center along the inner peripheral surface of the press-fit ring 14, the end face of the straight portion 7 of the bearing 5 on the opening 6 side is the ball stud 2. Extending along the ball head 4, the projected area of the ball stud 2 receiving the tensile load increases.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, a ball stud having a spherical ball head and a handle protruding from the ball head, and a ball head of the ball stud swayably rotatably held. In a ball joint composed of a bearing having an opening on one side, a housing including the bearing and having an opening for projecting the handle portion of the ball stud on one side, and a press-fit ring fixed by caulking to the inner periphery of the housing opening, the press-fit ring is It has an inner spherical surface with the same curvature as the curvature of the ball head of the ball stud, and before the ball joint is assembled, the straight portion tip of the bearing consisting of the bottom and the straight portion that extends substantially vertically from the bottom continuously. , Which is deformed to the axial center side along the inner spherical surface of the press-fit ring, so the end of the straight part deformed to the axial center side of the bearing is on the ball stud side along the ball head In order to exit, the projected area subjected to tensile load of the ball stud is increased, can be subjected to high tensile load. Also, after the ball head of the ball stud is fitted into the bearing, the straight part of the bearing is deformed to the axis side, so the opening of the bearing is straight before the assembly, and the ball head of the ball stud is Because the diameter is larger than the equatorial part,
Since the ball head of the ball stud can be fitted in the bearing without forming a slit in the bearing, the strength is high.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional plan view illustrating a ball joint according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a first example of a ball joint according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a fragmentary sectional plan view showing the assembling process.

FIG. 3 shows a second example of a ball joint according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the assembling process, the left half is a partial sectional plan view showing a state before the bearing is swaged and the right half is a state after the bearing is swaged.

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of a ball joint according to the present invention;
It is a fragmentary sectional plan view showing the assembling process.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional plan view showing a conventional ball joint.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ball stud 3 handle 4 ball head 5 bearing 6 (bearing) opening 7 straight part 8 bottom 9 housing 10 (housing) opening 14 press-fit ring 15 inner spherical surface

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ball stud (2) having a spherical ball head (4) and a handle (3) projecting from the ball head (4).
A bearing (5) which oscillates and rotatably holds the ball head (4) of the ball stud (2) and has an opening (6) on one side; The opening (1) through which the handle (3) of the ball stud (2) projects
(9) having a housing (9);
Press-fit ring (1) fixed by caulking to the inner circumference of opening (10)
4) The press-fit ring (14) has an inner spherical surface (15) having substantially the same curvature as the curvature of the ball head (4) of the ball stud (2), before the ball joint is assembled. And a straight portion (7) extending substantially vertically continuously from the bottom portion (8).
A straight portion (7) of the bearing (5) comprising:
A ball joint having a tip deformed toward an axial center along an inner spherical surface (15) of the press-fit ring (14).