A stabilizer link includes a support bar, and ball joints. The ball joint includes a ball stud including a ball portion and a stud portion, and a housing that turnably supports the ball portion of the ball stud. The stabilizer is formed of a rod-shaped member made of metal. Mounting portions to which the stabilizer links are to be joined are respectively provided at both ends of the stabilizer. Through-holes through which the stud portions of the ball studs are to be inserted are respectively provided in the mounting portions. The stabilizer link is joined to the stabilizer by press-fitting the stud portion of the ball stud into the through-hole of the mounting portion.

A joint (10) with first and second joint components (12, 26; 19) are movably connected to one another. The first joint component (12, 26) has a spherical joint body (14, 28) and the second joint component (19) rotatably and pivotably holds the joint body (14, 28). A sensor device, for determining the position of the first and second joint components (12, 26; 19) relative to one another, is arranged on the joint (10). The sensor device has at least one sensor element (21, 31) which can be integrated in a housing (18) that is produced by an assembly overmolding process. The joint housing (18) forms the second joint component (19) in which the joint body (14, 28) is directly supported.

The present disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a vehicular hybrid suspension arm and a hybrid suspension arm manufactured using the same. The method of manufacturing a hybrid suspension arm includes preparing an assembly of a ball stud and a bearing; preparing a suspension arm body; attaching a ball joint pipe and bush pipes to the suspension arm body; manufacturing a suspension arm main body by inserting the assembly of the ball stud and the bearing into the ball joint pipe; inserting the suspension arm main body into a mold in which a plurality of fixing pins are formed; injecting an insert molding into a ball joint portion comprising the ball joint pipe and the ball stud in a direction of an upper surface of the ball joint pipe through the mold; and inserting and assembling bushes into the bush pipes.

A universal axle-hub assembly is provided for an off-road vehicle. The universal axle-hub assembly comprises a wheel hub that receives a constant velocity (CV) axle snout into an opening extending through an axle support of the wheel hub. An outboard-most portion of the opening is a splined portion that engages with similar splines disposed on an outboard-most portion of the CV axle snout. An inboard-most portion of the opening is a smooth portion that receives a smooth portion of the CV axle snout. The axle support extends through an entirety of the width of a bearing that supports the wheel hub, such that the bearing supports the smooth portion of the CV axle snout and substantially eliminates shear forces acting on the splined portion of the CV axle snout. A bearing carrier supports the bearing and may be fastened onto a trailing arm or a spindle of the off-road vehicle.

A low suspension arm strut coupling is provided for a suspension of an off-road vehicle. The suspension comprises a lower suspension arm that is hingedly coupled between a chassis of the off-road vehicle and a spindle assembly that is coupled with a front wheel. An upper suspension arm is hingedly coupled between the chassis and the spindle assembly. A strut is coupled between the lower suspension arm and the chassis. A lower pivot couples the strut to the lower suspension, and an upper pivot couples the strut to the chassis. The upper and lower pivots provide a lower center of gravity of the off-road vehicle and a relatively smaller shock angle. The lower suspension arm is reinforced to withstand forces due to movement of the front wheel and operation of the strut in response to travel over terrain.

An axial ball joint includes a ball stud including a stud portion and a ball portion; a metal housing configured to rotatably support the ball portion of the ball stud; a resin ball sheet provided in an interposed manner between the ball portion and the housing. The housing is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape by press work. The housing has a bottom wall and a peripheral side wall which are set respectively to thicknesses substantially equal to each other. The bottom wall and the peripheral side wall of the housing have therebetween a boundary portion formed with multiple rib portions which project in a brace shape from outside to inside of the housing.

The present invention provides an independent rear suspension system for low-floor bus for reducing the distance between the floor and ground, offering easy access for passengers and offering a wide space between the wheel arches.

A control arm includes a wheel side end, a body side end, a first connecting member extending between the wheel side end and the body side end, a second connecting member extending between the wheel side end and the body side end, and having a reduced section portion, and a fracture zone extending through the first and second connecting members in a substantially fore-aft direction of the vehicle, the reduced section portion being within the fracture zone. A thickness of the reduced section portion is tunable to establish a controlled fracturing during a small overlap rigid barrier impact event where: (i) an initial fracture of the first connecting member occurs within the fracture zone, and (ii) a secondary fracture of the second connecting member occurs within the fracture zone at the reduced section portion, to thereby provide a desired rearward trajectory of the wheel assembly during the impact event.

The present invention provides embodiments of modified upper and lower control arms for attachment to the steering knuckle that came with the vehicle, or for attachment to a modified steering knuckle of an embodiment of the invention, such that the steering knuckle, and in particular the wheel hub opening of the steering knuckle, are located at positions that are closer to the front of the vehicle than the positions provided by the control arms that came with the vehicle. The forward position of the wheel hub relative to the position provided by the factory or stock control arms moves the wheel and tire forward by the same distance, thereby allowing much larger wheels and tires to be mounted on the vehicle which do not rub against or interfere with the wheel well, fender or body mount, thereby increasing the approach angle of the vehicle for use in off-road climbing.

A front lower arm is tiltably supported, in a cantilever manner, by an outer surface of each of side-rails provided in right and left vehicle regions and extending in a vehicle front-rear direction. The front lower arm includes: a lower arm body; an inner pivot provided at an inner end of the lower arm body in a vehicle right-left direction and supported by the side-rail; and an attachment portion to which a lower end of a shock absorber is attached, and which is joined to an intermediate section of a front upper corner portion of the lower arm body. The intermediate section is an intermediate section of the front upper corner portion in the vehicle right-left direction. A ball joint to which a knuckle is connected is attached to an outer end of the front lower arm in the vehicle right-left direction.