Fluid damper assembly with gas cup lubrication chamber

A gas cup (36) is slidably disposed in the main chamber (34) of a housing (20) and a piston (50) is disposed spaced apart from the gas cup (36). The gas cup (36) includes a volume reducing device (110) for forcing a lubricant from a closed lubricant chamber (112) through a lubricant passage (108) to a lubricant reservoir (106) in response to a sliding movement of the piston (50). A flexible diaphragm (116) flexes into the closed lubricant chamber (112) in response to the sliding movement of the piston (50). A seal cap (118) sandwiches the flexible diaphragm (116) between the seal cap (118) and an annular projection (114) and the seal cap (118) includes a plurality of seal ports (120) for forcing the lubricant to flow from the closed lubricant chamber (112) through the lubricant passage (108) to the lubricant reservoir (106). The seal cap (118) includes a skirt (122) retained on the annular projection (114). A fluid seal (104) is disposed about the skirt (122) and spaced apart from the gas cup (36) to define the lubricant reservoir (106).