Importance

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Abstract

A motor vehicle front subframe includes a pair of main longitudinal beams each formed from an extrusion with a flange casting at the rear end and a suspension tower at the other end. Two lower longitudinal beams extend parallel to the main longitudinal beams and are connected by a cross member. Each lower longitudinal beam has a vertical rear flange and a generally horizontal front flange where it is attached to a corresponding flange face at the lower end of the adjacent suspension tower. Two intermediate longitudinal beams are attached to the suspension towers and to a main cross-member and forward of this are two crush cans to which is attached a bumper armature. The front subframe is part of a power train and chassis module which includes an engine, a longitudinally extending torque tube attached to the rear of the engine by a bell housing, a rear transmission and final drive assembly attached to a rearward end of the torque tube and a rear subframe mounted on the rear transmission and final drive assembly. The vehicle has a body with a passenger compartment and vertical pillars just forward of the passenger compartment. The body is assembled to the power train and chassis module by lowering the body with the of the vertical pillars just clear of the rear faces of the flanges and until various fixing holes in the flanges and align with those in the pillars. The body is then moved forward to close the gap between the flanges and the pillars. Suitable bolts or set screws are then inserted to secure the front subframe to the body and the rear subframe is attached to the body.

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First Claim