Tilt cab latch

A tilt cab latch for securing a cab to a chassis of a tilt cab vehicle, comprising:

• a housing;
• a latch pin having a pin axis;
• a rotor having a hook surface for capturing said pin in a latched position of said rotor, a pin camming surface opposite from said hook surface for engaging said pin in a cocked position and camming on said pin to move said rotor toward the latched position;
• means for mounting said rotor to said housing to pivot relative to said housing about a rotor axis which is generally parallel to and spaced apart from the pin axis in the latched position;
• a locking piston mounted on said housing to be reciprocable along a piston axis;
• an engagement surface formed on said rotor for engaging said locking piston in the latched position, said engagement surface including a preloading surface for camming on said piston as said piston engages said preloading surface to rotate said rotor about the rotor axis in the angular direction from the cocked position to the latched position of the rotor;
• means for biasing said locking piston into engagement with said engagement surface;
• means for retracting said locking piston for disengaging said locking piston from said engagement surface;
• and
• means for mounting the pin and housing between a cab and a chassis of a vehicle to secure the cab and chassis;
• wherein rotating the rotor in the angular direction from the cocked position to the latched position by camming the piston on the preloading surface exerts a preload force on said pin.