American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc.

Dale K Benedict

Yevsey Gutman

Mohsen Kolivand

Curt Moehlau

Jeffrey Lee Kincaid

Thomas George Kaveney, Ii

Philip R Kellogg

A stabilizer bar assembly having a pair of bar members and a clutch assembly with a first and second couplers, which are fixedly coupled to the bar members, a coupling sleeve and a rotary lock. The coupling sleeve matingly engages the first coupler. The coupling sleeve is movable along an axis between a first position, in which the coupling sleeve is disengaged from the second coupler to permit relative rotation between the stabilizer bar members about the axis, and a second position in which the coupling sleeve is engaged to the first and second couplers. The rotary lock has lock members that are fixedly coupled to the coupling sleeve and the second coupler. The lock members engage one another when the coupling sleeve is in the second position to inhibit relative movement about the rotational axis between the coupling sleeve and the second coupler.

Disconnecting stabilizer bar assembly having disconnect mechanism with reduced backlash

A process for forming a finished spiral bevel gear includes forging a blank to form a forging having near net-shaped spiral bevel teeth, machining the forging, coining the forging to form a coined spiral bevel gear with net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth; heat treating the coined spiral bevel and finishing the heat treated, coined spiral bevel gear without machining the net-shaped spiral bevel gear teeth in a machining operation that forms chips.

Net forged spiral bevel gear

A method that includes: providing a blank; heating the blank; forging the heated blank to form a forged gear having a plurality of spiral bevel gear teeth; machining the forged gear to a predetermined thickness while locating off of the plurality of gear teeth to form a green machined forged gear; rotationally and axially engaging a die to the gear teeth of the green machined forged gear to induce plastic flow in the gear teeth to form an intermediate gear in which the plurality of gear teeth conform to a predetermined tooth form; heat-treating the intermediate gear to form a hardened intermediate gear; and lapping the plurality of gear teeth of the hardened intermediate gear with a spiral bevel pinion gear; wherein the plurality of gear teeth are not machined in a chip-producing machining operation before the plurality of gear teeth are lapped.

Mating bevel gears generally include a pinion gear having a body that rotates about an axis and a side gear having a body that rotates about an axis that intersects the axis of the pinion gear. Pinion gear teeth of the pinion gear have a side that defines a curvature with an involute section through which a pitch line extends and a parabolic shape between the pinion gear teeth. Side gear teeth of the side gear have a side that defines a curvature with an involute section through which a pitch line extends and a parabolic shape between the side gear teeth. The curvatures on the pinion and the side gear teeth cooperatively define a controlled relative radius of curvature section except where the involute sections are located. The controlled relative radius of curvature section defines a sum of values of radius of curvature at a point of contact between the curvatures of the pinion gear teeth and the side gear teeth. The sum has a constant or decreasing value.

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Commerce Township, MI, United States of America

Dale K Benedict