Latching system for a truck cab

Abstract

A mounting and latching system for a cab-over-engine type truck, wherein the cab is pivotal about an axis at the front of the cab and frame, includes mounting devices at the left and right, at the rear of the cab. Each frame-attached mount has two angled surfaces for receiving complementarily shaped cab-attached mounts and centering the cab's rear on the frame, in normal operation. When the truck frame twists due to unevenness of the surface over which the truck is moving, the cab above remains substantially undeformed with one rear mount continuing to bear against the frame surface and the other separated from the frame. The latching system maintains the cab's rear latch at both mounts even during such movement, by means of a spring biased pivoted hook which is permitted considerable movement. Latching and unlatching, for tilting of the cab, are accomplished via a hydraulic arrangement by which the latching hook is automatically articulated in several directions to cause unlatching and swinging away of the hook so that the cab rear can be lifted. The hydraulics of the latch are preferably tied into a hydraulic cab tilt system, so that when hydraulic pressure is applied by the operator, the latches first disengage, then the cab lifts, and the reverse when the cab is lowered back to the frame.