Suspension system for a steerable vehicle axle

Claim 1

A suspension system for a steerable axle of a motor vehicle comprising, in combination: a. an axle; b. a vehicle wheel mounted on said axle; c. a spring member extending approximately vertically between said axle and the frame of the vehicle, said spring member having a longitudinal axis forming an angle α F with respect to the vertical, and said spring member including a shock absorber having a piston arranged within a cylinder and a piston rod extending between said piston and one end of said shock absorber; and d. a control arm extending approximately horizontally between said spring member and the frame of the vehicle, the point of articulation between the control arm and the spring member being a vertical distance h above the point of wheel contact with the ground and a vertical distance l below the point of articulation between the spring member and the vehicle frame, said control arm having a longitudinal axis forming an angle α L with respect to the horizontal; the transverse rigidity of the vehicle wheel at the point of contact with the ground being c Ry , and the transverse rigidity at the point of articulation between the spring member and the vehicle frame, as determined essentially by the flexural rigidity of the piston rod, being c By ; wherein the parameters α F , α L , h, l, c Ry and c By are so chosen that the following factor, called the "wheelfight factor", is approximately zero: ##EQU9## whereby, in operation, the steering system will not be susceptible to wheelfight.