Automotive and Commercial Vehicles

We cast transmission, transfer-case, differential and e-axle housings in aluminium to ±0.1–0.3 mm with Ra 1.6–6.3 µm, in EN AC-46000, EN AC-47100 or EN AC-43400 alloy, with tooling in H13 or P20 steel. The housing wall is cast in one shot together with the bearing bosses, oil galleries, shift-fork bosses, mounting ribs and bell-housing flange. Depending on part size, one cycle takes 30 seconds to 2 minutes. At about one-third the density of cast iron, an aluminium housing cuts vehicle weight, and on electrified platforms that adds range. Housings that need T6 strength are cast with vacuum assist, which keeps porosity low enough for solution treatment and ageing. We machine bearing bores to H7, test sealing faces on an air-decay or pressure-decay rig and X-ray the bearing bosses and sealing zones. A PPAP-style first-article package is available on request.

Typical applications

• Manual, automatic and DCT transmission housings and covers
• Transfer-case and differential housings machined to H7 on the bearing bores
• Reduction-gear housings for e-axles and e-drives on electrified powertrains
• Oil pans, sumps and valve-body covers

Our Schiess lathes take shafts and housings up to 2 m in diameter and 16 m long, and we hold ±0.05 mm and IT6–IT7 fits on transmission and driveline components. We cut and grind gears for transmission and drive-axle stages to ISO 1328. Grade 7 is the usual requirement for a loaded stage. We can machine a pinion and its shaft in one piece from a single billet, with no keyed joint between them. Carburised gears have a case depth of 1 to 3 mm and a case hardness of 56 to 62 HRC, with a core hardness of 240 to 300 HB, and the material certificate and inspection report go out with the batch. When the maker no longer supports a gearbox, we measure the worn gear on the Zeiss Contura and cut the replacement to those measurements.

Typical parts

• Gears for manual and DCT transmission stages, cut and ground to ISO 1328
• Pinion shafts and gear shafts machined from one billet
• Bearing and seal seats for driveline housings
• Replacement gears cut from a worn sample

Sintered gears for a vehicle drive are pressed and sintered to shape at a compaction pressure up to 800 MPa and a final density up to 97%. Tolerance is ±0.05 mm as sintered and ±0.02 mm for MIM parts. The residual porosity damps vibration, so sintered gears run quieter in automotive and appliance drives. The tooth profile is formed in the press, and most of the hobbing and deburring drops out of the routing. At thousands of gears and more, pressing costs less than cutting each gear from bar. Many drives combine sintered gears on the volume stages with a machined gear on the most heavily loaded output stage. For seat, window and lock actuators, MIM makes small steel gear trains, cams and levers under fifty grams in one shot, hardened and finished to print. We already run MIM gear trains and cams for lock and security hardware, and parts of the same size for vehicle actuators go through the same process.

Typical applications

• Sintered spur and helical gears for volume transmission stages
• Pump gears and gerotors for engine and transmission oil pumps
• MIM gear trains, cams and levers for seat, window and lock actuators
• Combination gears with an integrated cam or hub for actuator drives

Bore 20–1000 mm, working pressure up to 500 bar, stroke 6000 mm and beyond, total length up to 16000 mm, operating temperature from -50°C to +200°C; double-acting, single-acting, telescopic and plunger designs. A tipper cylinder waits between loads, then lifts the full body under shock and dirt, and its mounting has to follow the body through the stroke. We forge the rod-eye from the same bar as the rod, so there is no welded clevis. A forged joint has 3–5× higher fatigue resistance than a welded assembly, and both ends take standard clevis pins to ISO 8132. Rods are C45 or 42CrMo4 with 25–50 µm of hard chrome, ground and polished after plating. Every cylinder is pressure tested at 1.5× working pressure for at least five minutes before it leaves the workshop.

Typical parts

• Telescopic lift cylinders for tipper truck bodies
• Clevis-mounted cylinders with forged rod-eye ends for tipping trailers
• Cylinders for truck-mounted cranes
• Cylinders with integrated stroke and pressure sensors for body equipment

In automotive work carbide sits mostly in the tooling that makes the parts: cutting tool blanks for machining housings and gears, and precision molds and wire-drawing dies for forming and stamping. On a tipper, carbide seal faces and pump components go into the body hydraulics. We sinter tungsten carbide grades to ISO 513 in-house at 1350–1500°C, from K grades for abrasive wear to P and M grades for cutting duty. Guide bores and seal faces are diamond ground to ±0.01 mm and Ra 0.1–0.4 µm. We use HIP densification where a part has to be fully dense. Parts weigh from 0.001 to 300 kg and measure from Ø3 to 500 mm.

Typical applications

• Cutting tool blanks for machining housings and gears
• Precision molds for forming and stamping tooling
• Wire-drawing dies for wire and spring production
• Seal faces and pump components for tipper body hydraulics

Gear, planetary, axial-piston and radial-piston motors with displacement from 0.25 to 8000 cc/rev, working pressure up to 450 bar, speed from 0.5 to 12000 rpm and operating temperature from -40°C to +120°C. Tipper hydraulics usually run from a pump on the gearbox PTO, and a gear pump or motor at moderate speed suits that duty. Mounting flanges follow SAE and DIN, so a replacement unit fits the original mount without an adapter. Each unit gets a functional test and a pressure test against the catalogue values before dispatch.

Typical applications

• Pumps driven from a commercial vehicle gearbox PTO
• Drive motors for tipper body auxiliary equipment
• Gear pumps for hydraulic power units on vehicle bodies
• Replacement motors for equipment already in service