Pivoting spring-mounted axle suspension

Abstract

An axle suspension suspends a rigid axle body from a frame of a vehicle. The suspension has a pivot bearing for pivotally supporting the axle body, a spring arrangement for resiliently coupling the axle body to the frame, a thrust arm extending in a longitudinal direction between the axle body and the frame, and a steering arm extending generally horizontally and transverse to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The steering arm has one end connected to the frame and a second end connected by the pivot bearing to the axle body. The axle body supports rotatable wheels. According to the present invention, the suspension includes a pivot stop between the axle body and the vehicle frame. The pivot stop is coupled to the axle at a first joint which is spaced apart from a pivot axis of the axle, and coupled to the frame at a second joint. The line connecting the two joints extends generally parallel to the main axis of the axle body. During pivoting of the axle body about the pivot axis, and during spring deflection, in which the distance between the axle body and the vehicle chassis varies, the joints move with respect to each other. The pivot stop primarily limits the axial distance between the two joints and thereby limits the pivoting angle range of the axle body. Preferably, a line connecting the two joints extends generally horizontally and transverse to the fore-and-aft axis of the vehicle.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.