JPH0725252B2 - Vehicle suspension - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a vehicle suspension provided with a connecting rod that connects a laterally placed leaf spring and a wheel supporting member.

(Prior Art) Recently, some vehicle suspensions are provided with a horizontal leaf spring that does not project to the floor surface side in order to flatten the vehicle body floor surface. A connecting rod having bushes at both ends has been known as a connecting rod for transmitting the reaction force of the lateral leaf spring to the axle, but if this is used as it is, the swing angle becomes excessive.
Therefore, it may be considered that both ends of the connecting rod have a ball joint structure. In this case, the axis of the ball stud fastened to the end of the leaf spring is perpendicular to the upper surface of the leaf spring, and the swing angle of the connecting rod body is designed to be small by swinging the connecting rod body and the ball stud. It

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in such a vehicle suspension, the axis of the ball stud of the connecting rod fastened to the end of the horizontal leaf spring is not perpendicular to the upper surface of the leaf spring. Since the ball stud swings greatly in two directions due to the vertical deflection of the leaf spring and the leaf spring can be sufficiently flexed, the ball portion of the ball stud can slide freely. It is necessary to make the ball portion of the ball stud have a large diameter in order to prevent the strength of the ball seat to be held at 1. For this reason, the connecting rod is increased in size, which is inconvenient in terms of size reduction, weight reduction, and flattening of the vehicle body floor surface.

Therefore, the present invention secures the ball studs of the connecting rods along the plate surface of the horizontally placed leaf springs in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body so that the leaf springs can be sufficiently bent by using the small and lightweight connecting rods. Is intended.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a horizontal leaf spring supported by a vehicle body side member so as to extend in the vehicle width direction, and a leaf spring of the leaf spring. In a vehicle suspension including a pair of connecting rods connecting both ends to left and right wheel support members, the connecting rod is fixed to an end of the leaf spring, and the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is an axial direction. It is characterized by having a ball joint structure including a ball stud.

(Operation) In the present invention, the swingable ball stud provided on the connecting rod is fixed to the end of the laterally placed leaf spring with the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body as the axial direction, and the leaf spring and the wheel support member are connected via the connecting rod. And are connected. Therefore, the ball joint including the ball stud slides around the axis with respect to the vertical deflection of the leaf spring, and it is not necessary to increase the swing angle of the ball stud. As a result, it is possible to sufficiently allow the leaf spring to flex by using the connecting rod having a small and light ball joint structure with a small swing angle.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 4 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the configuration will be described. 1 to 3, reference numeral 11 denotes a rear suspension. The rear suspension 11 includes a suspension member 12 and a spring member 13, which are members on the vehicle body side, and a well-known axle housing 14, which is a wheel supporting member (partly not shown). ), A lower arm 15 and an upper arm that displaceably support the axle housing 14.
16 and are provided. The suspension member 12 is elastically mounted on the vehicle body 17 at three points, a left and right front end portion 12a (only one is shown) and a rear end portion 12b, and a rear differential case 18 (hereinafter referred to as a differential case) at the center thereof. It is an inverted A shape that holds. The spring member 13 extends in the vehicle width direction on the rear end side of the suspension member 12, and the leaf spring horizontally placed inside the spring member 13 via a pair of left and right pivot rubbers 19.
Twenty are supported. The horizontal leaf springs 20 are connected to the axle housing 14 via connecting rods 21 at both left and right ends, and receive the vertical load from the rear wheels 22 with the pivot rubbers 19 separated by a predetermined distance from the center of the vehicle body as fulcrums. Therefore, the stabilizer effect can be exerted when the left and right rear wheels 22 move up and down in reverse phase while the vehicle is traveling.

Further, the lower arm 15 and the upper arm 16 are concealed from each other in the vertical direction, and are vertically swingably connected to the axle housing 14 at the two front and rear base ends, and a rubber bush or the like (not shown) provided at this connecting portion. With this, slight displacement is possible including the swing axis direction, and the swing end portions of the lower arm 15 and the upper arm 16 are swingably connected to the front side of the axle housing 14. Then, at the time of sudden braking or sudden acceleration in which a force in the front-rear direction acts on the rear wheel 22, the rubber bush is compressed at the connecting portion between the axle housing 14 and the lower arm 15 and the upper arm 16 to promote compliance steering in the toe-in direction. It is like this. In addition, the rear suspension 11
Comprises at least one lateral rod 23,
The lateral rod 23 is swingably connected to the knuckle arm 14a of the axle housing 14 at one end, and is connected to the bracket portion 13a of the spring member 13 at the other end via an elastic member (not shown). This lateral rod
23 is a suspension geometry is changed by deforming the elastic member when a lateral force or the like from the rear wheel 22 is applied,
Promotes so-called lateral force compliance steer.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the connecting rod 21 has a socket 24, a ball stud 25 and a ball seat 26 at both ends thereof.
The ball stud 25 has a ball portion 25a swingably (rotation about the axis) and swingably held in the socket 24 via the ball seat 26. A male screw is formed on the stud portion 25b of the ball stud 25, and the stud portion 25b is a fixing bracket fixed to the end of the leaf spring 20.
It is fastened and fixed to the nut 27 with a nut 25c, and the axial direction of the stud portion 25b faces the front-back direction of the vehicle body 17. When the leaf spring 20 bends in the vertical direction due to the relative displacement of the vehicle body 17 and the rear wheel 22 while the vehicle is traveling, the socket 24 rotates around the axis of the ball stud 25 and the connecting rod 21 swings. The axle housing 14 is slightly displaced in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body 17 as the lower arm 15, the upper arm 16, and the lateral rod 23 move vertically, but the swing angle of the ball stud 25 at this time is extremely small. small.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, 28 is the lower arm 15 and the vehicle body 17
Shock absorber interposed between, 29 is a differential case
A drive shaft is provided from 18 to the axle housing 14 to drive the rear wheel 22, and 31 is a bump rubber capable of stopping the upper portion of the axle housing 14.

Next, the operation will be described.

While the vehicle is traveling, longitudinal forces, lateral forces, vertical loads, etc. act on the left and right rear wheels 22 depending on the traveling state. Now, for example, if a longitudinal force or a lateral force acts on the rear wheel 22 due to sudden acceleration / deceleration or cornering, etc., the geometry of the lower arm 15, the upper arm 16, the lateral rod 23, etc. changes due to the deformation of the mount parts described above. Is prompted, the rear wheel
A compliance steer that directs 22 towards the toe-in is encouraged.

If a vertical load is applied to the rear wheel 22, the horizontal leaf spring 20 and the shock absorber 28 suppress the vibration transmission to the vehicle body 17, and if the vertical load is in the opposite phase, the horizontal leaf spring 20 The leaf spring 20 exerts a stabilizer effect and bends in the vertical direction if the left and right phases are the same. At this time, the ball stud 25 fixed to the end of the leaf spring 20 slightly rotates around its axis extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body 17, and the connecting rod 21 is further coaxial with the ball stud 25. Although it swings, the swing angle of the ball stud 25 with respect to the socket 24 is extremely small as described above. Therefore, the input load of the ball stud 25 also acts on the fixing bracket 27 as its side pressure, and a sufficient holding force is secured even if the ball portion 25a has a relatively small diameter. Therefore, it is possible to sufficiently allow the bending of the leaf spring 20 by using the connecting rod 21 which is smaller, lighter and lower in cost than the conventional one.

(Effects) According to the present invention, a swingable ball stud provided on a connecting rod is fixed to an end portion of a laterally placed leaf spring with the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body as an axial direction, and is connected to the leaf spring via the connecting rod. Since it is connected to the wheel support member, the ball joint can be slid around the axis of the ball stud against the vertical deflection of the leaf spring, and a small and lightweight connecting rod with a small swing angle is used. The leaf spring can be sufficiently flexed.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 are views showing an embodiment of a vehicle suspension according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof, FIG. 3 is a side view thereof, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3 showing the main structure of the connecting rod. 11 …… Rear suspension (vehicle suspension), 13 …… Spring member (vehicle side member), 14 …… Axle housing (wheel support member), 17 …… Vehicle, 20 …… Horizontal leaf spring, 21 …… Coupling Rod, 22 …… rear wheel (wheel), 25 …… ball stud.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A laterally-mounted leaf spring supported by a vehicle body side member so as to extend in the vehicle width direction, and a pair of connecting rods connecting both ends of the leaf spring to left and right wheel supporting members. In the vehicle suspension including the above, the connecting rod has a ball joint structure including a ball stud fixed to an end portion of the leaf spring and having a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body as an axial direction. .