Upper support and method of manufacturing upper support
View Patent ↗An upper support including a bracket to be attached to a vehicle body side, and a support main body attached to a center portion of the bracket to receive a suspension component. The bracket includes upper and lower metal brackets having respective flanged parts overlapped with each other, and their overlapped surfaces are welded and fixed at multiple locations in a circumferential direction. Fixing bolts for attaching the bracket to the vehicle body side are provided to an overlapped portion of the flanged parts and are spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction. An adhesive is applied to an outer peripheral edge of the overlapped portion of the flanged parts, and the adhesive provides sealing at an outer peripheral end between the overlapped surfaces of the flanged parts in outer peripheral regions of the corresponding fixing bolts.
1 . An upper support comprising:
a bracket configured to be attached to a vehicle body side; and
a support main body configured to receive a suspension component while being attached to a center portion of the bracket, wherein
the bracket comprises an upper metal bracket and a lower metal bracket, the upper and lower metal brackets including respective flanged parts overlapped with each other,
overlapped surfaces of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets are welded and fixed at a plurality of locations in a circumferential direction,
a plurality of fixing bolts configured to attach the bracket to the vehicle body side are provided to an overlapped portion of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets, the fixing bolts being spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction, and
an adhesive is applied to an outer peripheral edge of the overlapped portion of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets, and the adhesive provides sealing at an outer peripheral end between the overlapped surfaces of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets in outer peripheral regions of the corresponding fixing bolts.
2 . The upper support according to claim 1 , wherein the adhesive is continuously applied over an entire circumference at the outer peripheral edge of the overlapped portion of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets, and the adhesive provides sealing at the outer peripheral end between the overlapped surfaces of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets over the entire circumference.
3 . The upper support according to claim 1 , wherein the flanged part of the upper metal bracket includes lowered regions that are lowered and spread in a plurality of regions in the circumferential direction, and the overlapped surfaces of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets are welded and fixed to each other at the lowered regions.
4 . The upper support according to claim 3 , wherein the flanged part of the upper metal bracket includes attachment regions that spread above the lowered regions in portions that are circumferentially off the lowered regions, and the fixing bolts are provided to the corresponding attachment regions.
5 . The upper support according to claim 1 , wherein the overlapped portion of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets is welded and fixed by projection welding.
6 . A method of manufacturing an upper support including a bracket configured to be attached to a vehicle body side, and a support main body configured to receive a suspension component while being attached to a center portion of the bracket, the method comprising:
preparing the support main body;
preparing an upper metal bracket and a lower metal bracket including respective flanged parts configured to be overlapped with each other to constitute the bracket;
sandwiching the support main body between the upper metal bracket and the lower metal bracket from both upper and lower sides to attach the support main body into a tubular support housing formed in the center portion between the upper and lower metal brackets, and aligning the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets with each other in an overlapped state;
welding and fixing the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets to each other at a plurality of locations in a circumferential direction, the upper and lower metal brackets having been aligned with each other in the overlapped state;
performing a painting treatment on outer surfaces of the upper and lower metal brackets that have been welded and fixed to each other at the respective flanged parts;
fastening fixing bolts for attachment to the vehicle body side by swaging to the respective flanged parts in the upper and lower metal brackets that have been aligned with each other in the overlapped state; and
applying an adhesive to an outer peripheral edge of an overlapped portion of the respective flanged parts in the upper and lower metal brackets that have been aligned with each other in the overlapped state, and providing sealing at an outer peripheral end between overlapped surfaces of the respective flanged parts of the upper and lower metal brackets with the adhesive.