Front suspension arm mounting arrangement

Abstract

An arrangement for swingably supporting a lower suspension control arm on a vehicle frame member includes a front clevis fitting pivot bolt for the arm front pivot bushing assembly and a rear upstanding housing formed with a cavity for receiving a generally oval sectioned elastomer rear pivot bushing. The housing defines an undersurface having a cavity access opening from which its opposed side faces extend upward ending in a half-circle shaped ceiling. An aft projecting arm portion terminates in an integral stem, which extends through an elliptical sectioned axial passage in the rear bushing, wherein the bushing is retained on the stem after being stretched-over an integral nub on the stem's distal end. The bushing is configured for reception in the cavity, after which side flanges of a bushing retainer are attached by threaded fasteners to the housing undersurface. Upon the fasteners being tightened, the retainer, which has a body portion conforming to the remaining lower portion of the bushing, pre-compresses the bushing into the cavity such that the bushing resiliently absorbs stem loads transmitted from the arm. The one-piece cast arm has a lateral arm portion front loop close machined bore, into which an outer steel sleeve of the front bushing assembly is press-fit in a forward direction to a specified distance relative to a cast rear face of the stem collar. This arrangement allows the ends of the front arm portion to remain 'as cast' while achieving close tolerance positioning of the front bushing assembly relative to the vehicle frame.