摘要 |
An air suspension assembly for a heavy duty truck or over-the-road vehicle includes a first beam pivotally mounted at its forward end to a hanger assembly depending from the vehicle chassis, a second beam connected to the first beam by a pair of bushings having resilient members therein, and an air spring extending between the second beam and the vehicle chassis. An upper torque arm extends between the axle housing and another chassis member to complete the substantial shape of a parallelogram to stabilize the axle as it deflects vertically with respect to the chassis. The vehicle axle is rigidly pivotally connected to the second beam so that the second beam moves with the axle about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle but the axle freely pivots in the fore and aft direction as required for parallelogram stabilization. Any longitudinal oscillation between the combination of the second beam and axle, and the chassis of the truck is absorbed and dampened by the resilient members in the pair of bushings connecting the first torque beam to the second torque beam. As the suspension substantially defines the shape of a parallelogram to control and stabilize the axle, the pitch of the axle remains virtually constant as the axle moves vertically with respect to the chassis.
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