| US 7,588,258 B2 | ||
| Steering apparatus | ||
| Masaaki Hashimoto, Toyota (Japan); Masahiko Hirose, Osaka (Japan); Yoshihide Ohara, Okazaki (Japan); and Takahiro Tanaka, Toyota (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to JTEKT Corporation, Osaka-shi (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Nov. 27, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/945,683. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2006-320480 (JP), filed on Nov. 28, 2006. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0121457 A1, May 29, 2008 | ||
| Int. Cl. B62D 3/12 (2006.01); B62D 5/06 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 280—93.514 [280/93.515; 180/428; 180/444; 74/109; 74/422] | 5 Claims |
| 1. A steering apparatus, which converts a rotation movement of a pinion rotating cooperating with a steering member into a
linear movement of a rack shaft extending in a right and left direction of a vehicle body, and on which a pair of tie rods
for steering a pair of wheels in response to the linear movement is provided at a central position in the right and left direction
of the vehicle body, comprising:
an attaching bracket connecting end portions of the pair of tie rods to the rack shaft;
the attaching bracket including:
a base which is fixed to the rack shaft and includes at least one fixing member inserting hole through which a fixing member
fixing the attaching bracket to the rack shaft is provided; and
a supporting stay supporting the end portions of the pair of tie rods via ball joints respectively, the supporting stay extending
from an intermediate portion of the base in an axial direction of the rack shaft;
wherein a center of the ball joint supporting the end portion of each of the tie rods is positioned offset from an axial line
of the longitudinal axis of the fixing member by a predetermined distance when viewed from the axial direction of the length
of the rack shaft,
wherein when viewed from a direction vertical to an axial direction of the fixing member and vertical to the axial direction
of the rack shaft, each of the ball joints and the fixing member are arranged so that at least a portion of the ball joint
and at least a portion of the fixing member overlap each other.
|