JPS6120464B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a structure of a mounting portion that supports a steering gear device of an automobile.

When a rack-and-pinion system is used as a steering device for an automobile, the steering device is attached to the dart lower cross member at the steering rack.For example, a conventional example of such a steering mounting structure is as follows. There are those shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

The mounting structure of this steering gear device includes a mounting flange 5 and a retainer mounting portion 6 in which the center portion of the mounting flange 5 is bulged forward and bolt insertion holes 7 are formed at the top and bottom. A bracket 4, which is made up of a nut plate 8 with a weld nut 9 fixed to the back side of the part 6, is attached to a vehicle body panel, that is, a dart lower cross member 15 in pairs on the left and right sides, while a steering rack is included in the front side of the bracket 4. A flange portion has a steering gear device 1 composed of a rack housing 2 and a gear case 3 with gears inside, and further has a steering gear device 1 holding portion 12 in the center and bolt insertion holes 13 on the upper and lower sides. 1
1 from the front of the rack housing 2, and the retainer mounting portion 6 of the bracket 4.
It was made by tightening 14 bolts. In this steering gear device mounting structure, both sides of the retainer mounting part 6 of the bracket 4 are bent at a substantially right angle, and a crown part 6a is formed in a crown-like structure. 15, and a leg portion 6b that extends gradually in the vehicle width direction. Also, the retainer mounting part 6
The nut plate 8 attached to the back side of the retainer mounting part 6 has a U-shaped cross section, which is obtained by bending a rectangular plate material at approximately right angles along two lines extending in the longitudinal direction. A nut 9 is fixed by welding and forms a threaded portion of the bolt 14, and also serves as a reinforcement for the top surface 6a of the retainer attachment portion 6.

However, in the case of such a conventional mounting part structure of a steering gear device, the nut plate 8 has a width smaller than that of the retainer mounting part 6, and is not welded to the back surface of the top part 6a of the retainer mounting part 6. Because it is only twisted and fixed,
The rigidity of the bracket 4 must be ensured by the shape of the bracket 4 and its plate thickness, and in order to provide the bracket 4 with sufficient rigidity, it is necessary to use a relatively thick plate material. This has resulted in problems such as an increase in vehicle weight, difficulty in machining, and an increase in material costs.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a steering gear device mounting structure that improves the rigidity of the bracket that supports the steering gear device.
A wide flange is formed between the nut mounting parts of the nut plate, and when the nut plate is fixed to the retainer mounting part, the nut plate is welded to the top and both legs on the back side of the retainer mounting part. It is characterized in that it is fixed and that closed cross-sectional spaces are formed at both corners of the top.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 4 to 7 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention. The steering mounting part structure according to this embodiment includes a mounting flange 5, a central portion of the mounting flange 5 which is bulged, and bolt insertion holes 7 at the top and bottom.
A nut plate 20 having a weld nut 21 is attached to the back side of the retainer attaching portion 6 of the bracket 4 having a retainer attaching portion 6 formed with a retainer attaching portion 6, and the bracket 4 is attached to the dart lower cross member 15 in pairs on the left and right sides. 4, a retainer 10 having a steering gear device 1 holding portion 12 and a flange portion 11 having a bolt insertion hole 13 is placed on the rack housing 2; is tightened and fixed to the retainer mounting portion 6 of the bracket 4 with bolts 14. As shown in FIG. 4, the nut plate 20 is made by bending a plate material along two longitudinal sides into a roughly ladder-shaped cross section, forming a plate main body 20a in the center and flanges on both sides. , this flange further includes a first flange 20b corresponding to the part to which the weld nut 21 is fixed;
Provided between the weld nut 21 mounting parts,
The second flange portion 20c is wider than the first flange portion 20b. In addition, the first
The flange portion 20b and the second flange portion 20c may both be molded on the same plane that is inclined with respect to the plate main body 20a, or the second flange portion 20c may be formed on the same surface that is inclined with respect to the plate main body 20a. ,
The first flange portion 20b may be bent at right angles to the plate body 20a, as shown in FIG.

When the nut plate 20 having such a structure is inserted into the back side of the retainer attachment part 6, the plate main body 20a comes into contact with the top part 6a, while the second flange part 20c comes into contact with the leg part 6b. After the nut plate 20 is set in this way, spot welding is performed between the bracket 4 and the portion of the plate main body 20a corresponding to the second flange 20c and the second flange 20c. is fixed to the bracket 4 at three spot points 22 in the cross section. Both sides of the top part 6a of the retainer mounting part 6 are bent at a substantially right angle, while the nut plate 20
are bent to have a substantially ladder-shaped cross section, so that a closed cross-sectional space 23 having a substantially triangular shape is formed at both corner portions of the retainer mounting portion 6 . Therefore, by integrally fixing the nut plate 20, the bracket 4 not only strengthens the top part 6a of the retainer attachment part 6, but also makes the entire bracket 4 a single strength member and increases its rigidity. will improve. On the other hand,
The first flange portion 20a of the nut plate 20 corresponding to the weld nut 21 attachment portion is a flange portion having the same structure as that of the conventional nut plate 8, and the weld nut attachment portion is welded to the bracket 4. Therefore, when attaching the retainer 10 to the bracket 4 to hold the rack housing 2 as shown in FIG. 6, sufficient tightening force can be secured by the bolts 14 and the weld nuts 9.

In this way, the extremely rigid bracket 4
Since the steering gear device 1 is supported by the steering gear device 1, the steering gear device is firmly held by the vehicle body portion formed by the dart lower cross member 15 and the dart lower panel 24.
Therefore, it is no longer necessary to form the bracket using a thick material in order to reliably support the steering gear device 1.

As explained above, according to the present invention, a wide flange portion is formed between the screw tightening portions of the nut plate fixed to the back surface of the retainer attachment portion of the bracket, and this wide flange portion is attached to the top of the retainer attachment portion. By welding the bracket to the legs on both sides and forming a closed cross-sectional space at both corners of the top, it is possible to significantly improve the structural rigidity of the bracket, and it is possible to use relatively thin material. We were able to realize a mounting structure that can fully utilize the support strength of the steering gear device. This makes it possible to reduce the weight of the vehicle and to obtain various effects such as improved workability in forming the bracket.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an automobile body showing the mounting structure of a conventional rack-and-pinion steering gear device, Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main parts of Figure 1, and Figure 3A is an illustration of the structure in Figure 2. 3B is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line --- in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the --- line in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the -- line in FIG. 4. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Steering gear device, 2... Rack housing, 4... Bracket, 5... Mounting flange, 6... Retainer mounting portion, 8, 20... Nut plate, 9, 21... Weld nut, 10...
Retainer, 20a...Plate body, 20b...
First flange portion, 20c... second flange portion (wide flange).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. While fixing a nut plate to the back side of the retainer mounting part of a bracket having a mounting flange to the vehicle body and a retainer mounting part bulged from the mounting flange, the bracket is fixed to the vehicle body, and a steering wheel is attached to the front surface of the bracket. In a mounting structure for a steering gear device in which a gear device is fixedly supported by a retainer, the retainer mounting portion has a top portion bent at a substantially right angle on both sides, and is connected to a bent end of the top portion, and is connected to the bent end of the top portion, and The nut plate has a leg portion that gradually expands and extends from the end to the vehicle body side attachment portion, and the nut plate is provided with a wide flange that opposes the leg portion, and the nut plate is attached to the top of the retainer attachment portion of the bracket and the leg portion. A mounting structure for a steering gear device, characterized in that the bracket is fixed by welding and a closed cross-sectional space is formed at both corners of the top of the bracket.