Rough duty air-suspension system for trucks and the like

Claim 1

A rough duty air-suspension system for trucks and the like, including in combination: a main frame for said truck; an axle housing positioned under said frame and transversely thereto and having two axle ends each adapted to mount a wheel; an adjustable tracking rod pivotally mounted between said axle housing and the frame and aligned to maintain the lateral position of said axle housing relative to the frame; a spring support bracket for each axle end secured to and depending from said frame at a spaced distance in front of said end and having a wear pad in a middle portion and two sidearms extending downwardly from the ends of said wear pad to a lower end of said bracket; radius rod attachment means at the bottom of each said bracket; a safety rebound member bridging the sidearms of each said bracket and mounted generally between said wear pad and said lower end; a radius rod for each axle end having a forward end pivotally secured to said bracket at said radius rod attachment means and having a rear end; a spring seat secured on top of each said axle end and generally aligned under said frame and having a radius rod attachment member to which the rear end of a said radius rod is pivotally mounted; a tapered leaf spring for each said axle end having a front end portion extending through the sidearms of a said bracket with a top leaf engaging said wear pad and a bottom leaf adjacent to said safety rebound member, and having a back end extending to a said spring seat; a safety catch at the front end of each said tapered leaf spring adapted to engage the safety rebound member and wear pad of the bracket mounting said spring in the event that the radius rod secured to said bracket should break; a rigid air spring support member clamped to the back end of each said tapered leaf spring and to each said axle end by a said spring seat and extending axially therefrom away from said seat to form a unified suspension cantilever and providing an air spring rest; an air spring for each axle end having one end secured to the frame and another end on a said rest and pneumatically connected in parallel with each other air spring and to a source of air pressure; a height control valve means connected between said air pressure source and all said air springs for employing said air pressure to maintain a predetermined distance between the axle housing and main frame while the loading of said truck is varied; a shock absorber adjacent to each said air spring and pivotally mounted to the member supporting said air spring and to the frame and aligned to compress generally along the locus of movement of said cantilever.