Moog Automotive, Inc.

Herby O Pearson

Lawrence H Fitch

Louis P Fister

A joint device comprising a housing having a bearing for a headed stud, a concave element engaged on the stud head in close fitted position with the internal surface of the housing, and a spun over lip of the housing deforming the concave element on the stud head to exert a desired preload on that stud head while forming its own stop groove in the housing internal surface to prevent lock-up of the headed stud in the housing.

Preloaded joint device

The assembling of a ball joint to obtain a consistent torque reaction value of a desired level is accomplished by applying a torque responsive probe to the shank of a headed stud such that the rotation of the headed stud will develop a signal proportional to the torque reaction of the headed stud on the bearings in the ball joint, closing the housing upon the headed stud while sensing the torque reaction to be able to stop the closing of the housing when the torque reaction of the headed stud in the housing has reached a desired value, and applying the assembling technique to a run of similar ball joints to produce consistency of results.

Method of and apparatus for closing joint devices to obtain consistent

A front wheel drive vehicle having a frame and an engine set transversely across the width of the frame, and an engine torque strut between the engine and the frame for resisting the torque reactions during engine acceleration and during vehicle forward and reverse operation, and for retaining the engine in a known position. The torque strut comprises a housing having one end pivotally attached to the engine, a piston rod at the opposite end pivotally attached to the vehicle frame, resilient means in the housing on opposite sides of a piston under a pre-load, hydraulic fluid in the housing on opposite sides of the piston, and flow control means in the strut for regulating the transfer of hydraulic fluid to opposite sides of the piston upon piston displacement in the housing, the flow control means and the resilient means damping the engine torque reactions.

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Chesterfield, MO, United States of America

Herby O Pearson