JP2539904B2 - Manufacturing method of automobile extension knuckle arm - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an extension knuckle arm used as a component of a suspension system supporting a vehicle wheel, and more particularly to a bolt hole for attachment to an upper link. It has improved accuracy.

(Prior Art) Drive wheels of a general automobile have a structure as shown in FIG. That is, the constant velocity joint 14 is attached to the drive shaft 13 which is rotated by the drive source of the engine, and the hub 15 is spline-fitted to the shaft portion 14a of the constant velocity joint. A wheel 6 is fastened to the hub 15 by bolts 16, and the wheel 6 is
A tire 17 is mounted on the outer periphery of the wheel 17, so that a wheel 18 including the tire rotates together with the drive shaft 13.

On the other hand, in order to support the wheel 18 rotating in this manner so as to be able to swing within a predetermined range with respect to the vehicle body (not shown), the outer periphery of the shaft portion of the hub 15 is provided with a knuckle arm via a bearing 19. 7 is attached. This knuckle arm 7
A strut assembly 20, one end of which is fixed to the vehicle body, is attached to a portion 7a protruding to the upper end of the knuckle arm 7 by a bracket 21.
A transverse link (not shown) having one end swingably attached to a suspension member (not shown) fixed to the vehicle body is attached to the 7b via a ball joint 22. And the strut assembly 20
By gripping the upper and lower parts 7a, 7b of the knuckle arm 7 by means of the and transverse links, respectively, the wheel 18 rotating with respect to the knuckle arm 7 can be swingably supported with respect to the vehicle body. .

Since the conventional knuckle arm used for the wheel having the above-mentioned structure is manufactured by casting, there was no problem in strength and the like, but it was not satisfactory in terms of weight.

Therefore, a suspension structure as shown in FIG. 2 was developed to reduce the weight of the knuckle arm. In this structure, a conventional knuckle arm is downsized, and an extension knuckle arm, which is a press-molded product, is interposed between the knuckle arm and the upper link. As a result, a part of the knuckle arm, which is conventionally entirely made of cast metal, is formed by bending a steel plate, so that the weight of the suspension can be reduced.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, the above-mentioned component called extension knuckle arm has a structure as shown in FIGS. That is, bolt holes 26 and 27 for rotatably attaching one end of the upper link 9 are drilled in the upper portion of the extension knuckle arm body 23, which is formed by bending a flat plate into a U-shaped cross section. On the other hand, bolt holes 29 and 30 for attaching the lower end of the strut assembly 20 are drilled in the lower part of the extension knuckle arm body 23, respectively. Also,
As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 4, in order to increase the rigidity of the extension knuckle arm body 23,
The reinforcing member 24 is closed and welded 28 to the knuckle arm 7 and the extension knuckle arm.
A kingpin inserting collar 25 for connecting with 11 is welded to the extension knuckle arm body 23.

In the extension knuckle arm 11, first, the extension knuckle arm body 23 is formed by press working, and after the four bolt holes 26, 27, 29, 30 are bored, the reinforcing member 24 is welded 28, and then, The collar 25 for inserting the kingpin is the extension knuckle arm.
It was manufactured by the process of welding to 11.

However, in this manufacturing process, when the extension knuckle arm body and the reinforcing member are closed and welded, welding rigidity occurs in the extension knuckle arm body because of insufficient rigidity, and the bolts drilled in the preceding step of the welding process. There is a problem that the center position of the hole is displaced. This welding strain is one of the four bolt holes
The positional deviation between the two bolt holes 26, 27 formed in the upper portion of the extension knuckle arm and to which the upper link is attached has been a particularly serious problem. This means that, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper link and the extension knuckle arm are bolted after the cylindrical collar 35 fixed to one end of the upper link 9 is inserted between both vertical walls of the extension knuckle arm 11. This is because 36 is inserted and assembled, and if the center positions of the bolt holes 26, 27 are displaced, the bolt 36 cannot be inserted, or even if assembled, the upper link 9 and the extension knuckle arm 11 This is because the assembling accuracy of is reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the conventional technology, and an object thereof is to reduce the weight of a suspension, absorb the welding strain of an extension knuckle arm, and improve the assembly accuracy of the knuckle arm. And

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a knuckle arm rotatably attached to a wheel of an automobile, and swings one end of each of a transverse link and an upper link on a body of the automobile. Movably attached, the other end of the upper link is attached to one end of the extension knuckle arm by inserting a bolt, the other end of the extension knuckle arm is attached to the knuckle arm via a king pin, and the other of the transverse link is attached. An extension knuckle arm main body is formed by bending a flat plate into a U-shaped cross section in an automobile having the knuckle arm swingably held with respect to the vehicle body by freely attaching an end to the knuckle arm. Forming process for forming the A pre-drilling step of forming a large-diameter bolt hole at a position where one side wall of the extension knuckle arm body is inserted with the bolt; a welding step of welding a reinforcing member to the extension knuckle arm body; A bolt hole as a reference hole, a kingpin insertion collar welding step of attaching a kingpin insertion collar to the extension knuckle arm body, and the other side wall of the extension knuckle arm body, with the center position of the large diameter bolt hole as a reference, A final drilling step of drilling a bolt hole having the same diameter as the large-diameter bolt hole, and a method for manufacturing an extension knuckle arm for an automobile.

(Operation) In the present invention thus configured, an extension knuckle arm body is formed by bending a flat plate into a U-shaped cross section, and the extension knuckle arm body is formed at a position where one side wall of the body is inserted with the bolt. , Drill large-diameter bolt holes. Next, a reinforcement member is welded to the extension knuckle arm body, and a kingpin inserting collar is welded and attached to the extension knuckle arm body using the large-diameter bolt hole as a reference hole. Then, a bolt hole having the same diameter is formed in the other side wall of the extension knuckle arm body with reference to the center position of the large diameter bolt hole. Although welding distortion may occur when performing the above welding, since the large-diameter bolt hole that serves as a reference for the work in the subsequent process is formed in advance, the kingpin insertion collar is accurately attached to the extension knuckle arm body, and the final Therefore, the center positions of both bolt holes are to be drilled at the set positions.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a process diagram showing a manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which an extension knuckle arm manufactured according to the embodiment is assembled to a suspension of an automobile, FIG. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the extension knuckle arm of the embodiment,
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3, and FIG.
(C) is a view from the arrow A in FIG. 3 for explaining the operation of the embodiment, in which the same parts as the conventional parts shown in FIG. 6 are designated by the same reference numerals.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, a component 11 called an extension knuckle arm manufactured in this embodiment is
It is interposed between the upper link 9 and the knuckle arm 7, and the weight of the suspension can be reduced by the size of the knuckle arm 7. As shown in FIG. 3, the extension knuckle arm 11 is composed of an extension knuckle arm body 23, a reinforcing member 24, and a kingpin insertion collar 25, and the extension knuckle arm is completed by the following manufacturing process. .

Extension Knuckle Arm Forming Step 1 In this forming step 1, a flat plate cut into a predetermined shape is
In the step of bending by press molding, both edges are bent in the same direction so as to rise substantially vertically to form two vertical walls 33, 34. The space between the two vertical walls 33, 34 is such that a cylindrical collar 35 (see FIG. 2) attached to one end of the upper link 9 can be inserted, and can be fastened with a bolt 36 described later. Thus, the upper link 9 and the extension knuckle arm 11 are allowed to rotate relative to each other around the bolt 36.
Therefore, even if a wheel attached to the lower end of the extension knuckle arm 11 via the knuckle arm 7 bounces, the upper link 9 and the extension knuckle arm 11 rotate relative to each other to cause the wheel to move to a predetermined position. Will be held on the vehicle body within the range of. At this time, since the extension knuckle arm 11 is spring-biased downward in the vertical direction of the vehicle body by the spring provided in the strut assembly 20, the wheel can be returned to the original position.

Preliminary Drilling Step 2 Bolt holes 26 and 27, through which the bolt 36 is inserted, are formed on both vertical walls 33 and 34 of the extension knuckle arm main body 23, which is bent in the forming step 1, and the bolts are formed on the bottom thereof. The holes 29 and 30 are formed. At this time, in the present embodiment, among the bolt holes 26, 27, 29, 30 shown in FIG.
One of the seven holes has a large diameter and the other has a small diameter, and the holes 29 and 30 for attaching the strut assembly provided at the bottom are both bored to the final diameter. For example, the bolt hole 26 has a diameter of 12 mm and the other bolt hole 27 has a diameter of
Drill like 8mm. Which of the bolt holes 26, 27 is to be set to a larger diameter is selected depending on the circumstances at the time of welding the king pin inserting collar 25, which will be described later. That is, when the position reference plane of the welding position of the kingpin insertion collar 25 is on the vertical wall 33 surface on which the bolt hole 26 is formed, the bolt hole 26 has a large diameter, and in the opposite case. The bolt hole 27 has a larger diameter.

Further, the small-diameter bolt hole 27 is formed only to serve as a reference hole when welding the reinforcing member 24 and the like in the welding steps 3 and 4 described later, and thus such a welding step 3, When it is not necessary to use the small diameter bolt hole 27 as the reference hole in 4, it is possible to omit the drilling process of the small diameter bolt hole 27.

The large-diameter bolt hole 26 and the small-diameter bolt hole 27 are bored so as to be concentric as shown in FIG. 5 (A).

Reinforcing member welding step 3 and kingpin insertion collar welding step 4 The reinforcing member 24 shown in FIG. 3 is closed-welded 28 to the extension knuckle arm 11 as shown in FIG. The reinforcing member 24 is a member for increasing the rigidity of the extension knuckle arm 11, and after setting the end edge 24a of the reinforcing member 24 and the end edge 23a of the extension knuckle arm body 23 to be flush with each other, Weld the perimeter. At this time, due to the closing welding, the extension knuckle arm 11 including the reinforcing member is twisted and welding distortion occurs (l1 shown in FIG. 5 (B)).
And l2 is the amount of welding strain).

However, with respect to the mounting holes 29 and 30 of the strut assembly which have no influence even if there is a slight hole deviation, it is sufficient to form the final hole diameter in the preliminary hole forming step 2.

Next, after positioning the extension knuckle arm body 23 and the kingpin insertion collar 25 shown in FIG. 3 at the welding position by using the bolts 26 and 27 formed in the extension knuckle arm body 23 as reference holes, the kingpin insertion The flange portion 25a of the collar 25 and the extension knuckle arm body 23 are welded together. In the extension knuckle arm 11 of the present embodiment, no welding distortion occurred in the kingpin insertion collar welding step 4, but the kingpin insertion collar welding step 4
It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied even when welding distortion occurs in the above.

Final Drilling Step 5 Finally, as shown in FIG. 5 (B), of the large-diameter bolt hole 31 and the small-diameter bolt hole 32 whose center positions are displaced due to welding distortion,
With reference to the center position of the large-diameter bolt hole 31, a hole having the same diameter as the large-diameter bolt hole 31, that is, a hole having a diameter of 12 mm according to the above example, is formed in the vertical wall 34 in which the small-diameter bolt hole 32 is formed. To do. In FIG. 5 (C), the hatched portion is the portion cut off in the final drilling step 5. Thereby, the center positions of the large-diameter bolt hole 31 and the small-diameter bolt hole 32 are deviated due to the welding distortion generated in the reinforcing member welding step 3. In the final drilling step 5, the deviation amount is absorbed. Therefore, the center positions of the quantity bolt holes coincide with each other.

Thus, in the present embodiment, due to the welding strain generated by welding the reinforcing member and the like to the extension knuckle arm, the assembly accuracy of the upper link and the like assembled to the extension knuckle arm is reduced, Since the preliminary drilling step and the final drilling step are provided, the welding strain can be absorbed, and as a result, the assembling accuracy can be improved.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the manufacturing process of the extension knuckle arm, the extension knuckle arm body is formed by bending a flat plate into a U-shaped cross section, and the extension. A preliminary hole forming step of forming a large-diameter bolt hole at a position where the bolt is inserted on one side wall of the knuckle arm body,
A welding step of welding a reinforcing member to the extension knuckle arm body, a kingpin insertion collar welding step of attaching a kingpin insertion collar to the extension knuckle arm body using the large-diameter bolt hole as a reference hole, and the extension knuckle arm body On the other side wall of the large-diameter bolt hole, the center position of the large-diameter bolt hole is used as a reference, and a final hole forming step of forming a bolt hole having the same diameter as the large-diameter bolt hole is performed. However, because the large diameter bolt holes that will be used as a reference for the work in the post process are formed in advance, the king pin insertion collar can be attached accurately to the extension knuckle arm body, and finally the center of both bolt holes The position will be drilled at the set position.

Therefore, not only the weight of the suspension can be reduced, but also the assembling accuracy of the upper link and the extension knuckle arm can be improved, and at the same time,
It is also possible to improve the assembling accuracy of the extension knuckle arm and the kingpin.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process diagram showing a manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which an extension knuckle arm manufactured by the same embodiment is mounted on a suspension of an automobile, and FIG. 3 is the same. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the extension knuckle arm of the embodiment, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is an arrow A of FIG. 3 for explaining the operation of the embodiment. FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views of a main part of a conventional automobile wheel. 1 ... Forming process, 2 ... Preliminary drilling process, 3 ... Reinforcing member welding process, 4 ... Color welding process, 5 ... Final drilling process, 6 ... Wheel, 7 ... Knuckle arm, 8 ... … Transverse link, 9 …… upper link, 36 …… bolt, 11 …… extension knuckle arm, 12 …… king pin, 23 …… extension knuckle arm body, 24 …… reinforcing member, 26,27 …… bolt hole, 31 …… Large bolt hole, 32 …… Small bolt hole, 25 …… King pin insertion collar, 35 …… Cylindrical collar.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A knuckle arm is rotatably attached to a wheel of an automobile, one ends of a transverse link and an upper link are swingably attached to a vehicle body of the automobile, and a bolt is inserted into the other end of the upper link. By attaching to one end of the extension knuckle arm, the other end of the extension knuckle arm is attached to the knuckle arm via a kingpin, and the other end of the transverse link is movably attached to the knuckle arm. In an automobile in which an arm is swingably held with respect to the vehicle body, a forming step of forming an extension knuckle arm body by bending a flat plate into a U-shaped cross section, and one of the extension knuckle arm body In front of the side wall A preliminary drilling step of drilling a large-diameter bolt hole at a position where the bolt is inserted, a welding step of welding a reinforcing member to the extension knuckle arm body, and the extension knuckle arm using the large-diameter bolt hole as a reference hole. A kingpin insertion collar welding step of attaching the kingpin insertion collar to the main body, and a bolt hole having the same diameter as the large diameter bolt hole on the other side wall of the extension knuckle arm main body with reference to the center position of the large diameter bolt hole. A method for manufacturing an extension knuckle arm for an automobile, comprising: