JPH0577170A - Tool for removing steering rod end fitting member of vehicular steering gear - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A tool can be easily inserted even when the tool insertion space is small when removing a mounted member screwed to the shaft end of a steering rod of a vehicle steering system. A tool 24 having a head portion 34 having a spanner-shaped two-face width portion engageable with a pair of flat surface portions 25 formed in parallel with each other at the shaft end portion of the steering rod 13 A taper surface 35 is provided on one end surface of the pair of claws 33 forming the surface width portion, the taper surface 35 gradually thinning from the intermediate portion to the tip. Even if the tool insertion space between the flat washer 28 fixed to the shaft end of the steering rod 13 and the opening end surface 6a of the casing 6 is small, the thinned tip of the pawl 33 can be easily inserted into the space. You can Tool 2
4 by pushing in the flat surface portion 2 of the steering rod 13.
5 can be engaged with the thick part of the two-face width part of the claw 33, and the steering rod 13 can be rotated when the ball joint 14 is turned to be removed.
Can be surely stopped.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool for removing a steering rod end mounting member of a vehicle steering system, and in particular, it is screwed to the shaft end of the steering rod in an actuator of the vehicle steering system. The present invention relates to a tool for removing a steering rod end mounting member of a vehicle steering device that is used to prevent a rod from rotating when a mounted member is rotated and removed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a linear displacement type actuator for steering wheels according to a steering angle of a steering wheel is axially displaced in a substantially cylindrical casing fixed to a vehicle body and extending in a vehicle width direction. Known is one configured to receive a steering rod as possible, to coaxially mount an electric motor on the steering rod, and to convert the rotational movement of the electric motor into a linear movement of the steering rod through a known ball screw mechanism. (See Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-33774, etc.).

In the above steering actuator, a ball joint is used to connect a tie rod for connecting a wheel to a shaft end of the steering rod, and a threaded portion of the ball stud is connected to a shaft of the steering rod. It is screwed to the end.
When exchanging these tie rods / ball joints and disassembling / assembling the actuator as described above, it is necessary to remove the ball joints from the steering rod. At this time, it is necessary to prevent the steering rod from turning, and a pair of flat surface portions for applying a spanner as a tool is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft end portion of the steering rod. By applying a spanner to this flat surface portion, the steering rod can be stopped and held down, and in that state, by applying a spanner to the flat surface portion on the ball stud side and rotating it, the tie rod can be removed together with the ball joint.

By the way, in order to quickly return the steering rod to the neutral position when the engine is stopped or the input to the electric motor is interrupted, a neutral position returning mechanism composed of spring means is provided between the casing and the steering rod. Is common. The removal work is performed at such a neutral position, but a spanner for holding the steering rod is inserted between the end surface of the casing of the actuator and the ball joint, and the above-described steering rod of the steering rod located between them is inserted. When hanging on a flat surface, if the space between the casing and the ball joint is small in order to increase the length of the tie rod, the restoring force to the neutral position acts and it is difficult to insert the wrench. Occurs.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised to solve the problems of the prior art as described above.
Its main purpose is to remove the attached member screwed to the shaft end of the steering rod when replacing the tie rod or ball joint attached to the steering rod of the vehicle steering device or disassembling the actuator. An object of the present invention is to provide a tool for removing a steering rod end mounting member of a vehicle steering device, which can easily perform a work even if a space for inserting a tool such as a wrench to prevent the steering rod from rotating is small.

[0006]

According to the present invention, such an object is provided when a mounted member screwed to the shaft end of a steering rod axially displaceable in a casing is removed. A vehicle having a head at the tip of a handle, which is provided with a two-face width portion capable of engaging so as to sandwich a pair of parallel flat surface portions formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rod so as to prevent the steering rod from rotating. A tool for removing a steering rod end mounting member of a steering device for vehicle, wherein the head portion is gradually thinned from an intermediate portion of the two-width portion toward a tip thereof. This is accomplished by providing a steering rod end attachment removal tool.

[0007]

With this structure, since the tip of the tool head is formed thin, the tip of the tool head can be easily inserted even if the insertion space of the tool head is small. By further pushing in, the steering rod can be pulled out against the restoring force of the neutral position returning mechanism, and the thick portion of the width across flats of the head can be securely engaged with the flat surface portion to prevent rotation. it can.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The construction of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an actuator of a vehicle steering apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The actuator 1 is used for a rear wheel steering device in a front and rear wheel steering vehicle, and includes a ball screw portion 2, an electric motor portion 3, a power feeding portion 4, and a neutral position returning portion 5. Is contained in a casing 6 having a substantially hollow cylindrical shape.

The rotor 7 of the electric motor is integrally connected to the ball nut 8 and is rotatably supported by the casing 6 by bearings 9 and 10. Then, a DC motor capable of directly driving the ball nut 8 in forward and reverse rotations is configured by the power supply from the terminal bolt 11 provided in the power feeding unit 4.

The rotor 7 is hollow so as to coaxially communicate with the hollow portion 12 of the ball nut 8, and the steering rod 13 is inserted through the hollow portion. Each shaft end of the steering rod 13 projects from each axial opening end 6a of the casing 6, and a ball joint 14 as a mounted member is screwed to each of these projecting shaft ends. Left and right tie rods (not shown) are connected via a ball joint 14.

In the portions of the ball nut 8 and the steering rod 13 which correspond to each other, there are thread grooves each having a semicircular cross section, and a large number of steel balls 15 which can circulate and roll in both thread grooves. A so-called ball screw consisting of Further, the steering rod 13 is made non-rotatable by an anti-rotation member 16 which is integrally provided at the end portion on the neutral return portion 5 side, and is rotated only in the axial direction with respect to the casing 6 by the rotation of the ball nut 8. I am supposed to get it. The wheels are steered by the axial movement of the steering rod 13.

An inner peripheral recess 17 having an appropriate length in the axial direction is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the casing in the neutral return portion 5 over the entire circumference. The outer peripheral portion of the rotation preventing member 16, the sleeve 18 extending from the rotation preventing member 16 toward the power supply unit 4 side, and the outward flange 19 formed at the free end portion of the sleeve 18 An outer peripheral recess 20 corresponding to the peripheral recess 17 is formed so as to surround the steering rod 13. The spring receiving portion 21 formed between the inner peripheral recess 17 formed on the inner peripheral surface of the casing and the outer peripheral recess 20 formed on the outer peripheral side of the steering rod 13 is provided with a compression coil via a ring-shaped spring seat 22. Spring 23
Is installed.

When disassembling and assembling the actuator 1 thus constructed, the steering rod 13 is stopped by a wrench-shaped tool 24, and the ball joint 14 is turned in a direction to loosen the screw and removed. Therefore, a pair of flat surface portions 25 that are parallel to each other are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft end portion of the steering rod 13 so that the spanner portion of the tool 24 can be hooked. By using the tool 24 to prevent rotation, the rotation preventing member 16 of the steering device can be protected.

As shown in the enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of FIG. 2, the axial end portion of the steering rod 13 is coaxially formed with an internal threaded portion 26 that opens to the axial end surface, and at the same time, in the axial direction. Radial groove 2 that is open at diagonal positions on the end surface and the outer peripheral surface
7 are formed. At the shaft end of the steering rod 13, a thick flat washer 28 and a lock washer 29 that form an outward flange portion are sandwiched in this order so as to regulate the stroke amount of the steering rod 13 by contact with the casing 6. As described above, the ball joint 14 to which the screw portion 30 of the ball stud is screwed is attached to the inner screw portion 26. Further, in order to prevent the ball joint 14 from loosening, the extending piece 29a bent in the axial direction of the inner peripheral edge portion of the lock washer 29 is received in the radial groove 27, and
After the screw portion 30 of the ball joint 14 is screwed, a part of the outer peripheral edge portion of the lock washer 29 is bent so as to be engaged with the flat surface portion 31 of the ball stud of the ball joint 14 for the spanner engagement.

The disassembly / assembly tool 24 described above is shown in FIG.
And a handle 32 for gripping by hand, as shown in FIG.
And a head portion 34 having a bifurcated claw 33 that forms a two-face width portion similar to a spanner at the tip of the handle 32. On one end surface of both the claws 33 of the head portion 34, the thickness of the claws 33 is gradually reduced from the base end side to the front end from the intermediate portion to the front end in order to thin the tip end of the claws 33. A tapered surface 35 is formed. In addition, a small angle is provided from the middle portion of the facing inner surface of both the claws 33 to the tip so that it can be easily guided when the parallel facing surface portion 33a of the claw 33 as the two-face width portion is engaged with the flat surface portion 25. Is formed so as to gradually expand in the left-right direction. The ribs 3 for increasing the thickness of the head 34 by α are provided on the left and right edges of the other end surface of the head 34 from the base end of the head 34 to the tips of the claws 33.
6 is provided.

When the tie rod / ball joint 14 is replaced or the actuator 1 is disassembled, the claw 33 of the tool 24 is used.
Of the flat end of the casing 6 and the flat washer 28
Insert it in the gap between. According to the present invention, since the tip of the pawl 33 is thinned, the steering rod 13 in the neutral state is
Thus, even if the tool insertion space between the open end 6a of the casing 6 and the flat washer 28 is relatively small, the tip of the tool 24 can be easily inserted into that space. In the present actuator 1, the compression coil spring 23
The tool 24 can flex as the tool 24 is pushed in, so that the tool 24 can be pushed in completely as shown in FIG. At this time, since the rib 36 is provided, the amount of drawing can be increased. Then, the parallel facing surface portion 33a of the base end portion formed to have a thick wall of the claw 33 can be reliably engaged with the flat surface portion 25 of the steering rod 13.

With the tool 24 hooked on the steering rod 13, the bent portion 29b of the lock washer 29 engaged with the flat surface portion 31 of the ball joint 14 is raised by a tool (not shown). Then, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, a general-purpose spanner 37 is hung on the flat surface portion 31 of the ball joint 14 to hold the tool 24 in a fixed state so that the steering rod 13
The ball joint 14 can be loosened and removed by turning the spanner 37 while stopping the rotation.

By the way, when the bent portion 29b of the lock washer 29 is raised, it may be hit with a tool. According to the tool 24 of the present invention, the open end 6a of the casing 6 and the flat washer are inserted in the inserted state. Since the claw 33 of the tool 24 is sandwiched between the claw 33 and the tool 28 by receiving the elastic urging force, the impact force when raising or hitting the bent portion 29b is
Since it is preferably transmitted to the casing 6 via the ribs 36 of the tool 24, it is possible to prevent impact force or the like from being transmitted to the internal mechanism of the actuator 1.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the vehicle steering system, the tip of the tool head is made thin even if the space for inserting the tool at the shaft end of the steering rod is removed. Therefore, the tip of the tool head can be easily inserted into the tool insertion space, and the flat surface portion of the steering rod can be reliably engaged with the flat width portion of the tool head to prevent rotation. The attached member screwed to the shaft end of the steering rod can be easily removed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an overall configuration of an actuator of a steering apparatus for a vehicle to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of an essential part of an actuator to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the entire tool of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view for explaining a usage state of the tool of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Actuator 2 Ball Screw Part 3 Electric Motor Part 4 Power Supply Part 5 Neutral Position Return Part 6 Casing 6a Opening End 7 Rotor 8 Ball Nut 9/10 Bearing 11 Terminal Bolt 12 Hollow Part 13 Steering Rod 14 Ball Joint 15 Steel Ball 16 Anti-rotation Member 17 Inner peripheral depression 18 Sleeve 19 Outward flange 20 Outer peripheral depression 21 Spring receiving portion 22 Spring seat 23 Compression coil spring 24 Tool 25 Flat surface portion 26 Inner screw portion 27 Radial groove 28 Flat washer 29 Lock washer 29a Extension piece 29b Bending portion 30 screw part 31 flat surface part 32 handle 33 claw 33a parallel facing surface part 34 head part 35 taper surface 36 rib 37 spanner

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Ryozo Yoshizawa 1-4-1 Chuo, Wako City, Saitama Stock Company Honda R & D Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rod for stopping rotation of a steering rod, which is screwed to an axial end of a steering rod provided in a casing of a vehicle steering system so as to be displaceable in an axial direction, when the rod is stopped. For removing a steering rod end mounting member of a vehicle steering device having a head with a head provided with a two-face width portion capable of engaging so as to sandwich a pair of parallel flat surfaces formed on the outer peripheral surface of the vehicle A tool for removing a steering rod end mounting member of a vehicle steering system, wherein the head part is gradually thinned from an intermediate part of the two-face width part toward a tip.