JPH11222152A - Manufacture of automobile suspension member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacture of an automobile suspension member being lightweight and capable of inhibiting an increase in manufacturing costs. SOLUTION: An automobile suspension member has a pair of side members 1 for mounting a tire, cross members 2, 3 for connecting between the side members 1. In this manufacture of the suspension member, the cross member 2, is molded, using an extruding material of an aluminum or aluminum alloy material, the side member 1 is molded by casting aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and those members are joined by inserting both ends of the cross members 2, 3 in the casting.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a member constituting a vehicle suspension such as a strut and a multilink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A front suspension and a rear suspension of an automobile are conventionally manufactured by pressing a steel plate, and include a pair of side members on which tires are mounted and a cross member connecting the side members. Are formed by pressing a steel plate and then joined by welding to produce a suspension member.

[0003]

However, the conventional vehicle suspension is heavy, which is an obstacle to the recent reduction in vehicle weight. When reducing the weight of the suspension, it is conceivable to use aluminum or an aluminum alloy (hereinafter, referred to as aluminum material) as a material instead of steel material. However, when an aluminum material is used for the suspension, there is a problem that the manufacturing cost is extremely high because the welding connection is not easy.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a method of manufacturing an automobile suspension member which is lightweight and can prevent an increase in manufacturing cost.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A method of manufacturing a vehicle suspension member according to the present invention includes a method for mounting a tire on a vehicle.
In a method for manufacturing an automobile suspension member having a pair of side members and a cross member connecting the side members, the cross member is formed by extruding aluminum or an aluminum alloy material, and the side member is formed of aluminum or aluminum. It is characterized by being formed by casting of an alloy and, at the time of this casting, casting both ends of the cross member.

In this case, it is preferable that the cross member has a cylindrical cross section. Further, when forming the side member by casting, the cross member can be press-formed by utilizing the mold clamping force of the casting mold.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an automobile front suspension manufactured by the method of the embodiment of the present invention. Cross members 2 and 3 are connected between a pair of side members 1 on which front tires are mounted so as to be bridged between the side members 1.

The front suspension constructed as described above is manufactured as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the cross member 2 is formed by extruding an aluminum material into a rectangular tube shape, and the cross member 3 is formed by pressing a aluminum plate material into a cylindrical shape. . The cross member 2 of the extruded material has a rectangular cross section in cross section.

Next, a mold for molding a pair of side members 1 having a shape as shown in FIG. 1 is arranged, and both ends of the cross members 2 and 3 are placed at predetermined positions of the lower mold of the mold. Place. After that, place the upper mold on the lower mold,
Both ends of the cross members 2 and 3 are wrapped with a mold composed of an upper mold and a lower mold, respectively, and a molten aluminum material is poured into the mold. As a result, when the molten metal solidifies, a pair of side members 1 are cast in a shape in which both ends of the cross members 2 and 3 are cast as shown in FIG. Thus, the cross members 2 and 3 and the pair of side members 1 are connected. Since the joints of these members are connected by cast-in, the joining operation is easier and the production cost is lower than when joining the members by welding.

Further, since the cross member 2 has a rectangular cross section, the cross member 2 has high rigidity against bending stress. Therefore, the thickness of the cross member 2 can be reduced, and the weight can be further reduced. On the other hand, if the cross section of the member is partially open, for example, a U-shape, the rigidity is low and the thickness cannot be reduced.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the cross members 2 and 3 shown in FIG.
After placing both ends of the mold at predetermined positions of the lower mold, the ends of the cross members 2 and 3 are wrapped with the upper mold and the lower mold, respectively, and the molten aluminum material is injected between the molds. Next, the cross member 2 is press-formed using the clamping force of the upper die and the lower die to obtain a cross member 4 which is bent in the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. In this way, even if an extruded material is used, the cross member 4 can be curved in the longitudinal direction.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the members made of aluminum are joined by casting, a suspension made of aluminum can be easily assembled without welding work. Therefore, according to the present invention, a lightweight and low-cost aluminum automobile suspension can be manufactured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an automobile front suspension according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a cross member as an assembled part of the same.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an automobile front suspension according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Side member 2, 3, 4: Cross member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing an automobile suspension member having a pair of side members on which tires are mounted and a cross member connecting between the side members, wherein the cross member is formed by extruding aluminum or an aluminum alloy material. And forming the side member by casting aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and casting both ends of the cross member during the casting. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cross member has a cylindrical cross section. 3. The vehicle suspension member according to claim 1, wherein when the side member is formed by casting, the cross member is press-formed by utilizing a mold clamping force of a casting mold. Method.