Axle housing assembly

Abstract

An axle housing assembly including a cup-shaped center housing having flattened portions which are diametrically opposed from each other. Tubular housing members, each having an end face which is circular in cross section, are connected to the flattened portions of the cup-shaped center housing by a friction weld. The tubular housing members include a connecting portion extending axially from the end face, a first frustroconical portion interconnecting an intermediate portion to the connecting portion and a second frustroconical portion extends axially from the intermediate portion. The cross-sectional area of the connecting portion is thicker than the first frustroconical portion which gradually decreases in thickness toward the intermediate portion. The cup-shaped center housing defines a cavity having an opening thereto and includes a flange portion extending inwardly about the periphery of the opening and a cover plate is mounted on the inwardly extending flange portion. A spring seat member having a configuration providing first and second contact areas is welded to the tubular housing member. Additionally, there is disclosed a method of making the above-described axle housing assembly comprising the steps of forming the cup-shaped center housing from a flat plate and forming the flattened portions, forming the tubular housing members, forming openings in the flattened portions and connecting the tubular housing members to the flattened portions so that the tubular members are disposed over the openings.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.