JPH0238860Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to an improvement of a rack guide support structure for a rack and pinion type steering gear device.

(Prior Art) As conventional rack guide support structures, those shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, for example, are known.

In general, there is an error in the shape or dimensions of the teeth between the pinion gear and the rack gear, as well as errors in the dimensions and assembly state of other parts. Move away from or approach. Therefore, in the conventional example, the vibration of the rack gear is absorbed through the rack guide by forming a minute gap. First, a general explanation will be given starting from what is shown in FIG. 4. Reference numeral 1 denotes a gear housing that rotatably supports a pinion gear 2. Inside this gear housing 1 is a rack guide that slidably supports a rack gear 3 that meshes with the pinion gear 2. (retainer) 4 is stored. A female thread is cut on the inner periphery of the opening of the gear housing 2 that opens toward the bottom in FIG. They are screwed together with a gap L between them. Further, a locking washer 6 is screwed into the adjusting bolt 5 to fix the adjusting bolt 5 to the gear housing 1. A spring 7 is installed between the lock washer 6 and the rack guide 4, and the lock guide 4 is connected to the rack gear 3.
It is biased so that it is pressed against the back of the

Next, the conventional example shown in FIG. 5 will be briefly explained.
A pair of bolts 8A and 8B are screwed into the gear housing 1 through a stopper plate 9.
The opening of the gear housing 1 is closed by this stopper plate 9. An O-ring 1 is attached to the inner peripheral surface of the opening so as to abut against the stopper plate 9.
A disc-shaped member 11 is interposed through the O-ring 10, and the gear housing 1 for lubricating oil is
Prevent leakage to the outside. A spring 7 is compressed between the disc-shaped member 11 and the rack guide 4, and a thrust shim 12 is interposed.
The predetermined minute gap L is adjusted by the thickness of the thrust shim 12.

Further, FIGS. 6 and 7 respectively show conventional examples in which a predetermined minute gap L is formed by an adjusting screw.

In FIG. 6, a female thread is cut on the inner periphery of the opening of the gear housing 1, and a presser plate 13 having a male thread screwed into the female thread is screwed onto the gear housing 1 so as to close the opening.
In addition, a female thread is cut in the center of the holding plate 13, and an adjusting screw 14 having a male thread is also provided.
is screwed onto the presser plate 13. Therefore, a predetermined minute gap L is formed between the rack guide 4 and the tip of the adjusting screw 14 by adjusting the screwing of the adjusting screw 14.

Moreover, to roughly explain the conventional example shown in FIG.
A pair of bolts 8A and 8B are screwed into the gear housing 1 via a stopper plate 9.
Therefore, the stopper plate 9 closes the opening of the gear housing 1. An adjuster screw 14 is screwed into the stopper plate 9 via a lock nut 15, and a predetermined position is provided between the tip of the adjuster screw 14 and the rack guide 4 by adjusting the adjuster screw 14. A minute gap L is formed.

(Problem to be solved by this invention) However, in the rack guide (retainer) support structure described above, a female thread is cut on the inner periphery of the opening of the gear housing, and an adjustment bolt with a male thread is attached to the gear housing. (see Figures 4 and 6), or cut a female thread in the opening of the gear housing and screw a pair of bolts with male threads into the gear housing to fix the stopper plate to the gear housing. Because of this (see FIGS. 5 and 7), there was a problem that not only the structure became complicated, but also the number of processing steps such as thread cutting increased, resulting in higher costs.

(Means for solving the problem) This invention was made to solve the above problem, and the pinion gear is slidably housed in a gear housing that rotatably supports the pinion gear. In the rack guide support structure of the rack and pinion steering gear device, the rack guide supporting the rear surface of the rack gear meshing with the pinion gear is supported by a stopper member with a predetermined minute gap through an elastic body. An annular groove is formed on the periphery, and the stopper member is supported on the gear housing by a snap ring fitted into the annular groove, and an adjusting means for adjusting the predetermined minute gap is interposed between the rack guide and the stopper. It is something.

(Function) In this device having such a configuration,
A stopper member is supported by the rack housing via a snap ring fitted into an annular groove in the rack housing. Therefore, there is no need to thread the opening of the rack housing and the outer periphery of the stopper member, and the overall structure is simplified, the number of processing steps is reduced, and costs can be significantly reduced.

In addition, the rack guide is elastically supported by the stopper member through the elastic body within a predetermined minute gap, and the adjusting means interposed between the rack guide and the stopper member allows the rack guide to be optimally cushioned by the elastic body. The minute gap is adjusted. Therefore,
The pressing force on the rear surface of the rack and the vibration absorption stroke (deflection) by the elastic body are optimized, and vibrations easily transmitted from steering wheels etc. while the vehicle is running are effectively absorbed, resulting in a good steering feel.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of this invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of this invention.

First, to explain the configuration, in Fig. 1, 2
1 is a gear housing, and this gear housing 21 has a pinion shaft 22 and bearings 23, 24.
It is rotatably supported via. This pinion shaft 22 is connected by a pin 27 to a torsion bar 25 housed in a stub shaft 26, and is also connected to a valve body 28 by a pin 29. The stub shaft 26 is connected to a steering wheel (not shown), and when a steering force is applied to the stub shaft 26 by operating the steering wheel, the torsion bar 2
5 is twisted. At this time, the stub shaft 26
A relative rotation occurs between the valve body 28 and the valve body 28 by the amount of twist. In addition, the pinion shaft 22
A pinion gear 22A is formed therein, and a rack gear 30 meshes with the pinion gear 22A. Both ends of the rack gear 30 protrude from the gear housing 21 in a direction perpendicular to the drawing, and are connected to an axle via other members such as side rods so as to steer wheels (not shown). 22B is an insertion hole (opening) formed in the gear housing 22, and a rack guide 31 is slidably inserted into the insertion hole 22B so as to come into contact with the back surface of the rack gear 30 at a recess 31A on the upper surface thereof. . Further, a stopper member 33 is inserted into the insertion hole 22B, and this stopper member 33 and the rack guide 31
A spring 34 is compressed between the lower surface 31B and the lower surface 31B. Therefore, the rack guide 31 is biased by the biasing force of the spring 34 so that its recess 31A comes into contact with the back surface of the rack gear 30. Further, an annular groove 21A is formed on the inner periphery of the opening end of the insertion hole 22B, and a snap ring 32 is fitted into the annular groove 21A. This snap spring 32 is slidably fitted into the opening of the gear housing 21 and can abut against a disc-shaped stopper member 33 that closes this opening.
The stopper member 33 is positioned by being urged against the snap ring 32 by a spring 34, and is supported by the gear housing 21. 35 is an annular thrust shim (adjusting means) provided on the upper surface of the stopper member 33, and a predetermined minute gap L is formed between the thrust shim 35 and the rack guide 31. This gap L can be adjusted, for example, by making the thickness of the thrust shim 35 variable.

Next, the effect will be explained.

While the vehicle is running, vibrations input to the steering wheels are transmitted to the rack gear 10, causing the rack gear 10 to vibrate. At this time, since the rack guide 31 is supported by the spring 34 with the predetermined minute gap L, the vibration of the rack gear 30 can be effectively absorbed through the rack guide 31.

In this embodiment, the snap ring 32 is fitted into the annular groove 21A formed in the gear housing 21 to hold the stopper member 33.
Since there is no need for a thread cutting process such as cutting a female thread on the bolt and a male thread on the adjuster bolt, the structure is simplified and processing costs can be significantly reduced.

In addition, a thrust shim 35 is interposed between the stopper member 33 and the rack guide 31, and with this thrust shim 35, the minute gap L can be adjusted to an optimal value for the buffering effect of the spring 34.
During this adjustment, the urging force applied to the rack gear 30 by the spring 34 does not change, so a stable steering feeling can be obtained.

Next, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of this invention. Also in this embodiment, the annular groove 21A is formed in the gear housing 21, and the annular groove 21A is formed in the gear housing 21.
A snap spring 32 is fitted into A to hold a stopper member 33. Further, an annular insertion groove 33A is formed in the outer peripheral portion of the stopper member 33, and one O-ring 36 is fitted into this insertion groove 33A. Therefore, this O-ring 36 can reliably prevent lubricating oil from leaking out of the gear housing 21. The other configurations and operations are the same as in the previous embodiment.

Next, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of this invention.

This embodiment is an example in which this invention is applied to a device in which a predetermined minute gap L is formed using an adjusting screw as an adjusting means. In FIG. 3, a stopper member 33 held by a snap ring 32 has a female thread, and an adjustment screw 37 having a male thread that is screwed into the female thread is screwed into the stopper member 33. Therefore, a predetermined minute gap L is formed between the lower surface 31B of the rack guide 31 and the tip of the adjusting screw 37. Further, a closing plate 38 that closes the open end of the gear housing 21 is fixed to the gear housing 21 via a lock nut 39 that is screwed into an adjusting screw 37. The adjustment screw 37 is eccentrically screwed into the stopper member 33 in order to prevent the stopper member 33 from rotating when screwed in. The other configurations and operations are the same as in the previous embodiment.

(Effects) As explained above, according to this invention,
Since the stopper member is supported by the gear housing via the snap ring fitted into the annular groove of the gear housing, there is no need to thread the inner periphery of the opening of the gear housing and the outer periphery of the stopper member. The structure can be simplified and processing costs can be reduced. In addition, since an adjustment means is provided between the rack guide and the stopper member to adjust the appropriate minute gap for buffering by the elastic body, the optimum gap can be adjusted without changing the biasing force applied to the rack gear by the elastic body. It is possible to exhibit stable vibration absorption performance and obtain a good steering feeling.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing a first embodiment of a rack guide support structure for a rack-and-pinion steering gear device according to this invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing a second embodiment of this invention. , 3rd
The figure is a partial cross-sectional view showing a third embodiment of the invention, and FIGS. 4 to 7 are cross-sectional views showing the rack guide support structure of a conventional rack-and-pinion steering gear device. 21... Gear housing, 21A... Annular groove,
22A...Pinion gear, 30...Rack gear,
31... Rack guide, 32... Snap spring, 33... Stopper member, 34... Elastic body, 3
5... Thrust shim (adjustment means), 37... Adjustment screw (adjustment means), L... Minute gap.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A rack guide, which is slidably housed in a gear housing that rotatably supports a pinion gear, and which holds the back surface of a rack gear that meshes with the pinion gear, is supported by a stopper member with a predetermined minute gap through an elastic body. In the rack guide support structure for a rack-and-pinion steering gear device, an annular groove is formed in the inner periphery of the open end of the gear housing, and the stopper member is supported on the gear housing by a snap ring fitted into the annular groove, and the stopper member is supported on the gear housing. A rack guide support structure for a rack and pinion type steering gear device, characterized in that an adjusting means for adjusting the predetermined minute gap is interposed between the rack guide and the stopper member.