JPH08277849A - Hub lock for car - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To install a hub lock as a unit by providing a slidable spline fitting to the outer face spline of an outside drive gear in a clutch ring to connect the clutch ring to an axle. SOLUTION: A hub lock housing assembly is provided with a hub lock housing provided with an inner face spline or tooth 8, and a clutch ring 46 has an outer face spline 86, which slidably engages with the spline 88 of a housing, and inner teeth 90, which are spacedly arranged, or a spline 90. An outside drive gear 58 meshes with the teeth 90 and has spacedly arranged outer teeth 92 of spline 92. The clutch ring 46 is moved to a position in the axial direction in the outer side, and the teeth 90 and 92 are engaged with each other, and the line of the teeth 90 and 92 is removed and at a position in the axial direction in the inner side, and the teeth 90 and 92 are separated from each other. The clutch ring 46 is contained between the end section wall 74 and 76 of a cage 72. In the manner mentioned above, the hub lock housing assembly is assembled beforehand and can be installed in a shaft, spindle and wheel hub as a unit.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic hub lock having a manual override, which is designed to be easier to assemble and to assist the manual override. is there.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The disclosure of US patent application Ser. No. 08 / 234,681 is hereby incorporated by reference. In the device according to said application, an automatic hub lock with a manual override is provided with a spindle and a shaft. The shaft is inserted through a cylindrical spindle. The drive gear is a spline fitted with the shaft end protruding through the spindle, and the lock ring fixes the drive gear to the shaft end. The projection on the spindle of the drive gear limits the movement of the shaft back through the spindle. The drive gear has external teeth or splines for engagement by the clutch ring, and the splines mate with the wheel hub. Engagement of the drive gear and the wheel hub with the clutch ring meshes the wheel with the shaft in four-wheel drive.

[0003]

In order to assemble a clutch ring and a wheel hub, there must be a number of other parts, most of which are assembled continuously and in a time-consuming manner. . It is an object of the present invention to propose a hublock assembly which can be preassembled for the most part and which can be mounted as a unit on the axle, spindle and wheel hub of a vehicle.

The second part of the invention relates to manual override. If a manual lock is required, turn the dial manually. The dial is a spring biased cage with a clutch ring
Connected with. The spring forces the clutch ring into disengagement and turns the dial into engagement. In this state, therefore, strong resistance is exerted and it is difficult for the worker to carry out. Therefore, a second object of the present invention is to assist the operator in rotating the dial to the meshing position.

[0005]

Pre-assembly is accomplished primarily by separating the functions of the drive gears, thereby providing two drive gears (this term is not intended to be limiting. The parts refer to sleeves or spacers, and drive gears, rather than outer and inner drive gears as used throughout the present invention). An inner drive gear is provided at the end of the shaft and serves to limit or limit movement of the shaft. The inner drive gear has outer splines or teeth, and an outer drive gear having an inner spline that meshes therewith is attached to the inner drive gear. The inner drive gear has to be fixed to said shaft, while the outer drive gear is free to slide and rest relative to the inner drive gear.
A cam actuator component is further attached to the spindle, the other part of the component comprising an outer drive gear, clutch ring, cage, cam follower, spring and dial mechanism, all pre-assembled on the hublock and a shaft, It can be assembled as a single unit on the spindle and wheel hub. The provision of the outer drive gear is a major factor in enabling pre-assembly of these parts.

The dial comprises a threaded shaft. A nut-like member (nut) threadably engages this shaft to prevent rotation of the nut from moving inward and outward relative to the hublock housing by rotation of the dial. The nut engages the cage (on which the clutch ring is mounted) and outward movement of the nut (due to rotation of the dial) results in a locking engagement with the clutch ring. The movement of the nut is resisted by the strong spring. A second spring located between the hublock housing and the nut will force the nut to move to the outer position, thereby resisting the strong spring resistance. The inward movement of the nut requires the compressive load of the second spring, which is the weaker spring and has no other resistance to this inward movement. The operator gets a trade-off as a result. Rotation for removal is somewhat difficult, but the net effect is that rotation in either direction is less difficult for the operator.

[0007]

The present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated with reference to the following detailed description and drawings.

According to FIG. 1, the drive system of the vehicle is an engine 10
The engine 10 drives a rear propeller shaft 14, which is connected through a rear wheel shaft 18 and a rear differential 20 to drive a rear wheel 22. The transmission case 16 connects or disconnects the engine 10 and a front propeller shaft 24 that connects through a front wheel shaft 28 and a differential 30 to selectively drive the front wheels 32.
The control unit 26, which controls engagement with the front propeller shaft in the transmission case 16, is configured by an operator to operate the front propeller shaft.
Achieves selective power rotation of 24 and shaft 28.

When two-wheel drive is desired, the controller 26 operates to separate the propeller shaft 24 from the engine 10. In this case, it is desirable that the front wheel 32 be separated from the shaft 28. Otherwise, the front wheels coupled to shaft 28 cause shaft rotation, unnecessary wear and loss of power to propeller shaft 24 and related components. Hub locks 34 on each front wheel provide the desired separation when propeller shaft 24 separates from the engine for two-wheel drive and the desired connection when four-wheel drive is selected.

FIG. 1A illustrates a hublock 34 having an automatic front wheel connection / disconnection configuration according to the present invention. The figure is presented only to understand how the interlocking system works. The member 38 is a hub lock housing and is attached to the wheel hub (bolt hole
39) is designed to be bolted. Therefore, the wheel hub and the hub lock housing are fixed to each other. Member 36 is a fixed or dead spindle (dead spin
dle). The hublock housing 38 (and wheel hub) is rotated about the dead spindle 36 by bearings 44. The shaft 28 rotates inside the stationary spindle 36,
Bearings are not shown. The member 46 is a clutch ring and comprises external teeth that mesh with internal teeth 88 of the housing. The clutch ring is housed within the cage 72 and its function is described in detail below.

A drive gear 58 is provided on the shaft (rotatably mounted on the shaft), and the drive gear has spaced teeth 92 that engage or disengage from the inner teeth of the clutch ring 46. As shown, the teeth of clutch ring 46 are separated from teeth 92 protruding from the drive gear. Movement of the clutch ring 46 to the right as shown in FIG. 1A causes the teeth of the clutch ring 46 to engage the teeth 92 of the drive gear, causing the shaft and hublock housing 38 (and thereby the wheel hub and ) It comes to mesh.

Movement of the clutch ring can occur manually or automatically. The automatic movement is performed by a cam mechanism indicated by reference numeral 48. The cam surface fixed on the dead spindle 36 engages the cam surface (not shown) of the member 48.
The member 48 fits with the shaft and moves axially, but is rotatably fixed with respect to the shaft. Upon rotation of shaft 28 (triggered by control 26), the cam surface on stationary spindle 36 and rotating member 48 separate, thereby exerting a force on member 48 that moves axially against cage 72. Plus cage
72 compresses the spring 82 against the clutch ring 46, engaging the teeth of the clutch ring with the teeth 92 of the drive gear. At the end of the rotational drive of the shaft 28, the cam surface returns and the spring 84 allows the clutch ring to move to the disengaged position (note that spring 82 is stronger than spring 84).

Manual movement of the clutch ring is accomplished by rotary dial 50. The nut-like member 98 moves outward on the screw 96 of the dial 50. The end 80 of the cage 72 is shaped to engage the nut 98 and guides the cage 72 outward.

The above description is general in nature, and the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. As can be seen from the dashed lines in FIGS. 3 and 4, the shaft 28 has a diameter such that it can slide within the spindle 36. Usually the drive gear is attached to the protruding end of the shaft. In the present invention, the spacer gear or the inner drive gear 37 is attached to the protruding end of the shaft, and the lock washer 41 fixes the inner gear 37 to the shaft end. The inner gear is larger than the spindle opening and limits the retraction of the shaft 28.

The spindle nut 54 is screwed to the spindle 36 and fixed in its position by a lock ring 56. The lock ring 56 also acts as a thrust washer for the inner drive gear 37. The primary function of the spindle nut is to secure the bearing 44, around which the wheel hub rotates. The spindle nut is also formed with a circumferential braking surface 59 and a cam surface 60. The braking member 64 surrounding the braking surface 59 is
Rotate while resisting around the braking surface 59 of the spindle. The cam surface 60, described below, is part of the cam mechanism and causes the automatic engagement of the clutch ring.

The above-mentioned parts are easily assembled to the spindle and shaft of the vehicle as shown in FIG. A pre-assembled hublock housing assembly, shown separately in FIG. 3 from the spindle and shaft, is designated by the letter A.

The hublock housing assembly includes a hublock housing 38 provided with internal splines or teeth 88. Clutch ring 46 has an outer surface spline 86 that slidingly engages a housing spline 88. Clutch ring with spaced internal teeth or splines 90
Have. The outer drive gear 58 is a spaced apart outer tooth or spline that meshes with the teeth 90 of the clutch ring.
Has 92. The engagement of teeth 90 and 92 in FIG. 3 and the engagement of teeth 90 in FIG.
And the separation of 92. These teeth can be considered as a row of teeth, the shape of which will be better understood with reference to FIG. As the clutch ring is moved to the outer axial position, the teeth engage (see FIG. 3) and at the inner axial position the row of teeth disengages from the correct row, resulting in separation (see FIG. 4).

As can be seen in FIG. 4, the outer drive gear 58 has an inner surface spline 57, which meshes with the outer surface spline 43 of the inner drive gear 37. At the axially outer end, the outer drive gear is rotatably attached to the hub lock housing end 52 by a bearing member 61.

Clutch ring 46 is housed between end walls 74 and 76 of cage 72. The cage 72 has a plurality of bar members 78.
(See FIG. 2), some of which have a loop-shaped or hook-shaped extension 80 extending outwardly toward the dial 50, as shown. Inside the cage, a cam follower 68 having a cam surface 69 at the convex end 74.
There is. The cam follower 68 includes a spline 67 that slidably engages a spline 92 at the axially inner end of the outer drive gear 58. Inside the cage 72 between the clutch ring 46 and the cage end 74 is a strong spring 82. The weaker spring 84 is located on the cage end 76 and the housing end.
Located between 52 and. Outside the housing end 52, a dial 50 with threads 96 is arranged. The dial 50 rotates relative to the hublock housing (38, 52) and the thrust washer 94 facilitates its rotation. As previously mentioned, the nut member 98 engages the threads 96 and the extension 99 of the nut 98 projects through the looped end 80 of the cage 72.
Place the auxiliary spring 100 between the housing part 52 and the nut 98.

FIG. 4 shows spindle 36, wheel hub 40 and shaft 28 (these parts are assembled as described above).
2 shows a hublock housing assembly attached to the. As previously mentioned, the inner and outer drive gear splines are aligned and the cam surface of the spindle nut 54 and the brake member 64 are aligned with the cam surface of the cam follower 68 so that the hublock assembly slides into position. The hubblock housing bolt holes are aligned with the wheel hub, and bolts 102 secure the subassembly in position relative to the shaft, spindle and wheel hub.

Referring to US patent application Ser. No. 08 / 234,681,
You will notice that the structure is similar to this. The improvement according to the invention lies in the change in the shape of the drive gear. That is, the present invention includes inner and outer drive gears (37, 58),
It includes a manual engagement aid, namely a thrust washer 94 and a spring aid 100. Improvements to the manual override assistance are described in the operating procedure below.

Normally, the manual override will not operate and the dial will rotate to the counterclockwise position with the nut 98 located inward as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the looped shape of the end 80 allows the cage 72 to move freely in and out without obstruction by a nut extension 99 protruding through the loop.

With the control 26 disengaged (when in the two wheel drive mode position), the spring 84 pushes the cage end wall 76 and thereby the clutch ring 46 into its disengaged position (see FIG. 4). When the shaft 28 causes rotation for engagement during transmission by the control 26, the spindle nut 54
Due to its engagement with the cam surface 60 of the cam follower 68, a force is exerted axially outwardly on the cam follower 68, which forces spring 82 on the cage end wall 74.
And finally the clutch ring 46 and the outer drive gear 58 engage with each other as shown in FIG.

Manual override is accomplished by rotating dial 50 such that nut 98 is in the outer axial position shown in FIG. Consider the case where the automatic actuator is in the separated position. Movement of the nut to the outer position causes the extension 99 of the nut 98 to engage the apex or hook end of the extension 80 and guide the cage against the force of the spring 84. That is, the same operation as the operation of the cam generated by the cam follower described above is achieved. Especially in the case of splines, the drive gear and clutch ring are not aligned,
Therefore, such an action requires a strong spring to be crushed and a strong force to rotate the dial. It is difficult for the worker to apply this force, and the auxiliary spring 100 is provided to make this work easier. That is, moving the nut to its outer axial position is apparent by comparing the collapsed spring 100 of FIG. 4 with the extended spring 200 of FIG.

5A, 4B and 4C show a dial holding mechanism. There are respective stop lugs 104, 106 between the dial and the hublock housing. These lugs engage one side as the dial rotates so that the nut 98 is in the fully inward position ("AUTO") and the dial causes the nut 98 to be in the fully out position ("LOCK").
Engage on the other when rotating to position. Forming springs 108 are provided on each side of the lug 106. Rug 104 is rug 106
Approaching the lug 104, the lug 104 meets the spring bulge 110 as shown in FIG. 5A. FIG. 5B shows a state in which the bulge portion is flat, and FIG. 5C shows a state in which the lug 104 passes through the bulge portion 110 and is located in the recess 112. Rotation of the dial in the opposite direction is resisted by the bulge at each extreme position of the dial.

Many variations and modifications of the embodiments of the present invention will be possible to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention described in the claims.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a drive system of a vehicle.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing parts of a preferred embodiment of the hublock according to the present invention.

3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1 in a state where the hub lock shown in FIG. 2 is assembled.

4 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 in a state where the hub lock shown in FIG. 2 is assembled.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a dial attached to a hub lock according to the present invention.

6 is a cross-sectional view showing a holding state of the dial shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Engine 14 Rear Propeller Shaft 16 Transmission Case 18 Rear Wheel Shaft 20 Rear Differential 22 Rear Wheel 24 Front Propeller Shaft 26 Control 28 Front Wheel Shaft 30 Front Differential 32 Front Wheel 34 Havelock 36 Stop Spindle 37 Inner Drive Gear 38 Havelock Housing 40 Wheel hub 41 Lock washer 43 Outer spline 44 Bearing 46 Clutch ring 50 Rotating dial 52 Hub lock housing end 54 Spindle nut 56 Lock ring 57 Inner spline 58 Outer drive gear 59 Brake surface 60, 69 Cam surface 61 Bearing member 64 Brake member 67 , 90, 92 Spline 68 Cam follower 72 Cage 74, 76 Cage wall 78 Rod 80 Rod end 82 Strong spring 84 Weak spring 86 External tooth 88 Internal tooth 94 Thrust washer 96 Thread 98 Nut 99 Extension of nut 98 100 Auxiliary Spring 104, 106 lug 108 spring 110 spring 108 bulge 112 recess 200 extending spring of the spring 108

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A hub lock between a vehicle shaft and a wheel hub, the shaft having a shaft, a wheel hub, and first and second positions,
A movable clutch ring for fixing the wheel hub to the shaft in the first position and disengaging the wheel hub from the shaft in the second position, and an outer end portion, and an inner drive gear is attached to this end portion. And a cylindrical spindle that projects through the shaft and restricts the pulling of the shaft into the interior, and an outer drive gear that slidably fits the outer surface of the inner drive gear, the outer drive gear being the outer surface. A vehicle hub lock having a spline, wherein the clutch ring is provided with a slidable spline that fits with an outer surface spline of the outer drive gear in order to connect the clutch ring and the axle. 2. The hub lock according to claim 1, further comprising a hub lock housing, said hub lock housing being fixedly attachable to a wheel hub, said housing having a spline, said outer drive gear having an inner surface. And has an external spline,
The inner surface spline is fitted with an inner drive gear, and the outer surface spline is fitted with an inner wall of the housing, and the hub lock housing, the outer drive gear and the clutch ring are provided with a sub-assembly independent of the shaft. A hub lock for a vehicle, wherein the sub-assembly is mounted to a vehicle in a coordinated manner and the sub-assembly is attachable to the axle, the spindle and the wheel hub of the vehicle as a unit. 3. The hub lock according to claim 2, wherein the clutch ring is moved to the first position by a cam mechanism including a cam actuator fixedly mounted on a spindle nut preassembled on the spindle. A vehicle hub lock with a cam follower attached to the outer drive gear and part of the subassembly unit. 4. The hublock according to claim 3, further comprising a cage having an end portion and a connecting rod member, wherein the clutch ring is located between the end portion of the cage and the first spring. , The first spring between one end and the clutch ring presses the clutch ring against the other end, and the cam follower is attached to the first end corresponding to the cam mechanism. A second spring that acts against the first spring to move the end against the first spring to press the clutch ring into the first position, the second spring being weaker than the first spring; Spring presses the clutch ring between the hublock housing and the other end of the cage to the second position without the cam mechanism, and the cage and first cage formed as part of the subassembly. Vehicle with first and second springs Shaft, hub lock for a vehicle mounted as a unit to the spindle and the wheel hub. 5. The hublock according to claim 4, wherein a part of the rod-shaped member of the cage extends axially toward an outer end portion of the hublock housing, and a dial is attached to an end portion of the hublock housing. Rotatably mounted, a nut movably mounted on said dial axially movably between an inner and an outer position by rotating said dial, said extending rod-shaped member movably axially moving said cage outwardly and A vehicle hub lock capable of being engaged by the nut so as to press the clutch ring to the first position. 6. The hublock according to claim 5, wherein the extending rod-shaped member is formed into an elongated loop shape, and a finger portion of the nut extends through the loop, and the loop has the nut inside position. A hub lock for a vehicle, which is arranged axially at and provides movement of the cage relative to the nut. 7. The hub lock according to claim 6, wherein a third spring is engaged to assist the rotational movement of the dial to move the nut to the outer position, thereby moving the clutch ring to the first position. A hub lock for vehicles that is placed between the block housing and the nut. 8. The hub lock according to claim 7, wherein a thrust bearing is arranged between the dial and the hub lock housing to assist rotation of the dial relative to the housing. 9. A hublock between a vehicle shaft and a wheel hub, the shaft having a shaft, a wheel hub, and first and second positions.
A movable clutch ring for fixing the wheel hub to the shaft in the first position and disengaging the wheel hub from the shaft in the second position; a hublock housing for surrounding the clutch ring and fixing it to the wheel hub; Positioned between the dial and the clutch ring in the housing exposed to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise at, and one direction of the dial to move the clutch ring to the first and second positions. A first spring for moving the clutch ring to the other first and second positions, and a second spring for assisting rotation of the dial in one of the rotation directions. Equipped vehicle hub lock. 10. The hublock according to claim 9, wherein the protruding lug on the housing and the dependent lug on the dial are adjacent when the dial is rotated to the two extreme positions and adjacent to the one dial and lug. A forming spring is provided in the housing, the forming spring having a bulge portion and a recess portion, the bulge portion engaging and resisting by the other of the lugs, the other of the lugs being the recess portion of the forming spring. Hublock for vehicles that does not prevent movement to, where the dial is at the extreme end position on one side and the reverse rotation of the dial is resisted by the bulge.