Long travel suspension for tracked vehicle

摘要

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.