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US 5,667,031 AGranted
Long travel suspension for tracked vehicle
AssigneePolaris Industries Partners L.P.
InventorGerard John Karpik
Life of this patent
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AssigneePolaris Industries Partners L.P.
InventorGerard John Karpik
Estimating the term…
A snowmobile construction comprising a body frame and having slide rails suspended from the body frame through a front and rear suspension arm, and an endless track which runs under tension upon a drive and a plurality of driven wheels rotatably borne on the slide rails. The rear suspension has front and rear suspension arms which connect the body frame and the slide rails in parallelogram linkage fashion. Compression coil springs and shock absorbers are operatively mounted between the slide rails and the front and rear suspension arms. An inclined slide block and slot coupling interconnects the rear suspension arm and each slide rail to automatically react both front and rear suspension arms upon initial encounter of the slide rails with a snow bump at either end of the slide rail. This coupling also urges the snowmobile into an upwardly pitched condition upon acceleration with the forward ends of the slide rails digging into the ground surface for enhanced traction. The range of rearward and forward movment of the lower rear arm pivot in relationship to the slide rail is regulated to control the variations in track tension.
A suspension assembly for suspending an endless track beneath a tracked vehicle chassis and for maintaining the track at a substantially uniform tension while the vehicle accelerates or traverses bumpy terrain, the assembly comprising an elongated slide rail having a forward end and a rearward end and a bottom track engaging portion extending rearwardly from the forward end, a front suspension arm having an upper end adapted for pivotal connection to the vehicle chassis and a lower end pivotally connected to the slide rail proximate the forward end, a rear suspension arm having an upper end for pivotal connection to the vehicle chassis and a lower end pivotally connected to the slide rail proximate the rearward end, biasing means for urging the slide rail away from the vehicle chassis, and a rear suspension arm regulating means for regulating the movement of the lower end of the rear suspension arm relative to the vehicle chassis and the lower end of the front suspension arm.
A suspension assembly for suspending an endless track beneath a tracked vehicle chassis and for maintaining the track at a substantially uniform tension while the vehicle accelerates or traverses bumpy terrain, the assembly comprising an elongated slide rail having a forward end and a rearward end and a bottom track engaging portion extending rearwardly from the forward end, a front suspension arm having an upper end adapted for pivotal connection to the vehicle chassis and a lower end pivotally connected to the slide rail proximate the forward end, a rear suspension arm having an upper end for pivotal connection to the vehicle chassis and a lower end pivotally connected to the slide rail proximate the rearward end, biasing means for urging the slide rail away from the vehicle chassis, and a rear suspension arm regulating means for regulating forward and rearward movement of the upper end of the rear suspension arm relative to the upper end of the front suspension arm.
A suspension assembly for suspending an endless track beneath a tracked vehicle chassis and for maintaining the track at a substantially uniform tension while the vehicle accelerates or traverses bumpy terrain, the assembly comprising an elongated slide rail having a forward end and a rearward end and a bottom track engaging portion extending rearwardly from the forward end, a front suspension arm having an upper end adapted for pivotal connection to the vehicle chassis and a lower end pivotally connected to the slide rail proximate the forward end, a rear suspension arm having an upper end for pivotal connection to the vehicle chassis and a lower end pivotally connected to the slide rail proximate the rearward end, biasing means for urging the slide rail away from the vehicle chassis, and a rear suspension arm regulating means for regulating pivotal movement of the rear suspension arm relative to pivotal movement of the front suspension arm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.