Abstract: An axle assembly includes an upper and lower housing joined to form a chamber for a differential gear assembly. The upper and lower housings are fabricated by a method including the steps of forming the upper housing from a first sheet of material and forming the lower housing from a second sheet of material. The upper housing includes an opening for the differential gear assembly and the lower housing includes a bowl portion disposed opposite the opening. The upper and lower housings are joined by a weld to from the axle housing. The lower housing includes leg portions that form a single unified structure with the bowl portion to improve structural rigidity and simplify assembly.

Abstract: A variable damper assembly (10) includes a cylinder head (42) with multiple valves (50) selectively blocking corresponding flow paths (54) to provide multiple dampening rates. Hydraulic fluid passing through flow paths (54) within the cylinder head (42) are selectively opened and closed to provide a desired dampening rate. The cylinder head (42) includes an upper part (44) and a lower part (46). The valves (50) are mounted within the upper part (44) of the cylinder head (42). Each of the valves (50) includes a plunger (56) extending into flow passages (54) defined within the lower part (46) of the cylinder head (42). Actuation of the valves (50) within the cylinder head (42) selectively opens and closes specific flow paths (54) within the lower part (46) of the cylinder head (42) to control the flow of fluid between upper and lower portions (14,16) of a dampening chamber (12).