Method of manufacturing a modular damper

Abstract

A piston valve assembly for a damper comprises a piston having a central hole and a fluid passageway spaced from the hole. A deflection disc having a central aperture is aligned with the hole. A hub, common across different dampers, includes a neck that is arranged in the hole and the aperture of the deflection disc. A retainer abuts an unthreaded outer surface of the hub. During assembly, the retainer is received on the cylindrical outer surface in a slip fit relation and secured to the hub under a predetermined clamp load. Throughout the manufacturing process, components of the piston valve assembly are marked with identifying information that may be compared to other identifying information on the piston assembly throughout the manufacturing process to ensure integrity of the piston valve assembly. The piston valve assembly and other assemblies can be sent to another OEM facility near the customer to manufacture dampers that satisfy build requests for low volume dampers.

1 . A method of manufacturing a vehicle damper assembly comprising the steps of: 
 a) receiving damper assembly components at a first OEM facility from multiple supplier facilities;    b) assembling the damper assembly components at the first OEM facility to produce subassemblies;    c) sending the subassemblies to a second OEM facility;    d) receiving a build request from a vehicle assembly facility and selecting from the subassemblies at the second OEM facility to produce a vehicle damper assembly complying with the build request; and    e) sending the vehicle damper assembly to the vehicle assembly facility from the second OEM facility to fulfill the build request.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the subassemblies is a valve assembly, the steps of assembling the valve assembly comprising the step of: 
 b1) installing a valve and valve body onto a longitudinal member;    b2) axially sliding a retainer onto the longitudinal member;    b3) loading the valve to a predetermined clamp load; and    b4) securing the retainer to the longitudinal member with the valve under the predetermined clamp load to provide a valve assembly.    
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the valve assembly is a base valve assembly.  
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the valve assembly is a piston valve assembly.  
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the longitudinal member is a hub and the vehicle damper assembly includes a rod secured to the hub.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , comprising the step of selecting one of a hollow rod and a solid rod and securing the selected rod to the hub.  
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 2 , comprising the step of marking the hub with set-up identifying information subsequent to performing step a).  
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising the step of testing the subassembly subsequent to performing step b).  
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , comprising the step of marking the subassembly with subassembly identifying information subsequent to the step of testing the subassembly if the subassembly passed the testing step.  
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , comprising step d1) installing the subassembly into a cylinder to provide the vehicle damper assembly.  
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , comprising step d2) testing the vehicle damper assembly and marking the vehicle damper assembly with final assembly identifying information.  
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , comprising step d3) correlating the subassembly identifying information with the final assembly identifying information.  
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the first and second OEM facilities are remote from one another.  
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the second OEM facility is in closer proximity to the vehicle assembly facility than the first OEM facility.