A ball socket assembly and method of construction thereof is provided. The ball socket assembly includes a housing having an inner surface surrounding an inner bore. The inner bore extends from an open first end to an open second end. A groove extends into the inner surface adjacent the second end. A ball stud having a ball portion is disposed in the inner bore with a shank portion of the ball stud extending through the open first end. A cover plate assembly is fixed to the housing. An outer piece of the cover plate assembly has an outer periphery and a through opening. The outer periphery is fixed in the groove. An inner piece of the cover plate assembly is fixed in the through opening. The inner piece includes an opening configured for receipt of a lubricant fitting.

A ball joint holder with limiting element includes a lower base, an upper base covered to the lower base, a ball shaft and a limiting element. The ball shaft has a rotation rod, and a ball body located around a lower end of the rotation rod. A lower end of the rotation rod protrudes outward to form a limiting block. Two opposite ends of the limiting element are pivotally connected with the lower base and the upper base. The limiting element opens a limiting groove. One of inner surfaces of a front wall and a rear wall of the limiting groove is defined as a limiting surface. The lower end of the rotation rod and the limiting block are received in the limiting groove. The limiting block is capable of abutting against the limiting surface.

A floating joint includes a driving side coupling portion and a driven side coupling portion serving as first and second connections. A pressure adjusting structure in the floating joint is provided between the bottom surface exposed region of the spherical portion for contact and the bottom surface facing region of a fixing ring without a gap, and has elasticity. Therefore, the floating joint relatively firmly maintains the one-side spherical contact relationship, in which the top region of the spherical portion for contact contacts a part of the bottom surface portion of the frame body by the elastic force of the pressure adjusting structure.

A ball socket structure is provided, which includes a ball portion and a socket portion, the ball portion and the socket portion being configured to slide against one another, in which the socket portion includes a sliding surface including a PVD coating layer, the sliding surface of the socket portion is a concave spherical surface, and a value (Ds/Rs) of a ratio between a depth Ds of the sliding surface and a radius of curvature Rs of the sliding surface is from 0.05 to 0.70.

[Selected Drawing] FIGS. 1A and 1B

A work vehicle includes a chassis defining a longitudinal axis, a prime mover configured to move the chassis in the direction of the longitudinal axis, and a steering assembly configured to pivot a wheel relative to the chassis. The steering assembly includes a knuckle coupled to the wheel, a tie rod coupled to the knuckle and having a ball portion, a steering cylinder, and a joint assembly. The steering cylinder is slidably coupled to the chassis and configured to translate relative to the chassis along a cylinder axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The steering cylinder includes a connection portion having an inner circumferential surface that partially defines a bearing pocket. The joint assembly couples the ball portion to the connection portion and includes a bearing race that is received into the bearing pocket in direct contact with the inner circumferential surface. The bearing race receives the ball portion.

A spherical joint couples an accessory to a support. The spherical joint enables the accessory to be leveled about one or more axes and panned about an axis, such that the accessory may be leveled and panned with respect to a viewing sphere. The spherical joint comprises a collar, a cup, and a ball head, wherein the collar is configured to house the ball head and the ball head is configured to couple to one of an accessory or a support via a mount interface. The ball head further comprises a ball configured to enable rotation of the ball head relative to the collar with respect to one or more axes. The cup is configured to resist rotation of the ball head relative to the collar, such that the spherical joint may be fixed at a suitable orientation.

The pivot joint assembly includes a housing with an opening which extends along an axis. A bearing is received in the opening and which has a cylindrical outer surface that is in slidable contact with another surface so that the bearing can slide in an axial direction relative to the housing. The bearing has a curved inner bearing surface. The pivot joint assembly also includes an inner ring with a curved outer surface that is in slidable contact with the curved inner bearing surface of the bearing so that the inner ring can rotate and articulate relative to the housing.

A studded ball joint has a housing defining an interior cavity. A slot is formed at a first end of the housing and defines first and second guide surfaces. The interior cavity includes a concave surface. The studded ball joint further includes an annular sleeve slidingly engaged with the slot. A ball stud includes a bearing portion disposed within the cavity and sized to be at least partially received by the concave surface. The ball stud further includes an elongate stud portion extending from the bearing portion through the annular sleeve to define a first axis.

A tolerance absorbing spacer for controlling manufacturing dimensional tolerance variation in products made with multiple internal components, each requiring unique dimensional tolerance allowance. This component adjusts and compensates for the resulting overall cumulative component height variation within an assembly of components, sometimes referred to as “stack height” by compensating for the maximum to minimum range of possible assembly heights, compressing and yielding under applied external force until all excess internal clearance is removed, except for a small, and desirable remaining clearance. This component yields and becomes essentially fully plastic, to provide the necessary tolerance adjustment feature only after reaching a predetermined, minimum force which exceeds all applied forces the component could reasonably encounter in service use and below which, the tolerance absorbing spacer remains fully rigid.

A joint assembly between a first component and a second component comprises a ball portion configured to be connected to the first component. A socket is configured to be connected to the second component or ground and comprises a socket base, a socket cover, and a spherical joint cavity within the assembled socket base and socket cover to receive the ball portion to form a spherical joint. At least one biasing member is in the joint assembly. A clamp clamps the socket base to the socket cover such that the at least one biasing member biases the socket base and the socket cover toward one another.