Friction free roller spring perch
AssigneeKuhl Ride Products LLC
InventorJohn Dinkel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for creating a roller spring perch has steps for making a steel frame bracket, procuring snap rings, procuring four bearings, machining a steel cylindrical bearing housing, machining a bearing shaft, assembling the bearing shaft to the bearing housing with the four bearings pressed onto each of two bearing lands, assembling the snap rings in snap ring grooves of the bearing shaft, placing the bearing housing with the bearing shaft and bearings centered through holes in sidewalls of the steel bracket; and spot welding the bearing housing to the sidewalls of the steel bracket.
Claims21
A roller spring perch assembly, comprising:
- (a) a steel bracket having two opposite sidewalls each with an aligned hole;
- (b) a cylindrical bearing housing extending through the aligned holes of the sidewalls, the bearing housing having a central bore and counterbored end portions defining internal shoulders;
- (c) four rotary bearings disposed in the bearing housing, with two of the bearings seated in each of the counterbored end portions against the internal shoulders;
- (d) an elongated bearing shaft extending through the central bore and all four bearings, the bearing shaft having a central region of reduced diameter and two end regions forming bearing lands dimensioned to engage the inner races of the bearings, each end region including a snap ring groove and a flattened end portion with a transverse through-hole;
- and
- (e) two snap rings respectively seated in the snap ring grooves of the bearing shaft end regions to retain the bearings on the bearing lands;
- wherein the bearing housing is fixedly secured to the sidewalls of the bracket by welds at two distinct, laterally-opposed locations on each sidewall.
A method of mounting a roller spring perch assembly to a vehicle suspension system, the method comprising:
- (a) providing a roller spring perch assembly comprising:
- (i) a steel bracket having two opposite sidewalls each with an aligned hole;
- (ii) a cylindrical bearing housing extending through the aligned holes of the sidewalls, the bearing housing having a central bore and counterbored end portions defining internal shoulders;
- (iii) four rotary bearings disposed in the bearing housing, with two of the bearings seated in each of the counterbored end portions against the internal shoulders;
- (iv) an elongated bearing shaft extending through the central bore and all four bearings, the bearing shaft having a central region of reduced diameter and two end regions forming bearing lands dimensioned to engage the inner races of the bearings, each end region including a snap ring groove and a flattened end portion with a transverse through-hole;
- (v) two snap rings respectively seated in the snap ring grooves of the bearing shaft end regions to retain the bearings on the bearing lands;
- and
- (vi) welds at two distinct, laterally-opposed locations on each sidewall securing the bearing housing to the sidewalls of the bracket;
- (b) aligning the roller spring perch assembly with a mounting location on an upper control arm of the vehicle suspension system;
- (c) inserting fasteners through the transverse through-holes of the bearing shaft end portions and corresponding mounting apertures in the upper control arm;
- and
- (d) securing the fasteners to affix the roller spring perch assembly to the upper control arm such that the bracket supports a coil spring and the bearing shaft rotates relative to the bracket via the rotary bearings during suspension movement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.