Fiber reinforced bearing for a ball socket assembly, ball socket assembly therewith and methods of construction thereof

A method of constructing a ball socket assembly, comprising:

• providing a housing with an inner bore extending along a central axis between a closed first end region and an open second end region;
• providing a bearing constructed entirely of a monolithic piece of fiber-reinforced material having a lower portion presenting a curved lower bearing surface having an unbiased first radius of curvature and an upper portion presenting a curved upper bearing surface having an unbiased second radius of curvature greater than the unbiased first radius of curvature, with the upper portion extending to an open upper end having an upper end diameter, and with the upper bearing surface and the lower bearing surface surrounding a ball cavity that is made of the fiber-reinforced material;
• providing the bearing with an outer shoulder and providing the upper portion with a plurality of slots that extend from the open upper end of the bearing to define a plurality of flexible fingers of the upper portion above the outer shoulder;
• providing a ball stud having a shank portion and a ball portion with a spherically contoured outer surface having a ball diameter that is greater than the upper end diameter of the bearing;
• snapping the ball portion through the open upper end of the bearing and into the ball cavity by causing the flexible fingers of the upper portion of the bearing to flex radially outwardly and then return resiliently radially inwardly;
• plastically deforming the second end region of the housing radially inwardly toward the central axis and imparting a bias on the upper portion of the bearing to fix the bearing within the inner bore of the housing and to fix the ball portion in the ball cavity of the bearing, with the bias on the upper portion of the bearing causing the unbiased second radius of curvature to constrict to a biased radius of curvature that is substantially equal to the unbiased first radius of curvature;
• further including disposing an elastic member between the lower portion of the bearing and the closed first region of the housing including at the central axis and imparting a bias directed toward the open second end region of the housing on the bearing with the elastic member, and wherein the lower portion is free of slots.