Vehicle with automatically leanable wheels

A work vehicle including:

• a chassis;
• a moldboard rotatably mounted to the chassis by way of a grader circle;
• a traction device supporting the chassis on the ground, the traction device operable to lean away from a neutral orientation relative to the chassis such that a wheel-lean angle is defined by the traction device;
• a wheel-lean angle sensor positioned to sense an indication of an actual wheel-lean angle;
• a sensor positioned to sense a force exerted upon the moldboard and transferred to the chassis;
• a wheel-lean actuator coupled to the traction device to lean the traction device relative to the neutral orientation;
• and
• a control unit configured to receive a signal transmitted from the sensor and determine a desired wheel-lean angle, determine a disparity between the desired wheel-lean angle and sensed actual wheel-lean angle, control the wheel-lean actuator to reduce the disparity when the disparity is above a threshold, and control a direction and magnitude of the wheel-lean angle based on a corresponding direction and magnitude of the rotational position of the grader circle with respect to a centered position, whereby the sensor indicates the draft load.

A method of operating a work vehicle, the work vehicle including a chassis and a traction device supporting the chassis on the ground, the traction device defining a wheel-lean angle, the method including the steps of:

• manually controlling a vehicle function comprising at least one of:
• vehicle speed, orientation and position of a moldboard, transmission gear, vehicle steering, or vehicle articulation;
• using a control unit to control the wheel-lean angle such that:
• the control unit measures of a draft load exerted upon the chassis or a transverse inclination of the chassis by receiving a first signal from a sensor;
• the control unit processes the first signal into a desired wheel-lean angle;
• the control unit controls a wheel-lean actuator such that the wheel-lean actuator changes the wheel-lean angle of the traction device to the desired wheel-lean angle;
• and
• the control unit controls a direction and magnitude of the wheel-lean angle based on a corresponding direction and magnitude of the rotational position of the grader circle with respect to a centered position, whereby the sensor indicates the draft load.

A method of controlling a wheel-lean angle of a traction device of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• sensing at least one of:
• a draft load exerted upon a chassis of the vehicle or a transverse inclination of the chassis, the step of sensing accomplished by transmitting a first signal to a control unit, the first signal emitted by a sensor indicative of the draft load;
• processing the first signal into a desired wheel-lean angle using the control unit;
• emitting an actuation signal from the control unit to actuate a wheel-lean actuator, such that the wheel-lean actuator changes the wheel-lean angle of the traction device to the desired wheel-lean angle;
• and
• controlling a direction and magnitude of the wheel-lean angle based on a corresponding direction and magnitude of the rotational position of the grader circle with respect to a centered position.