Suspension for light duty trucks

Abstract

A conventional form of vehicle axle suspension comprises on each side of a vehicle a leaf spring pack and a shock absorber system. According to this invention the leaf spring pack of a conventional suspension is replaced by a single-leaf leaf spring and an air spring. The opposite ends of the single-leaf leaf spring are shackled to the existing shackle attachments and their vehicle frame mounts. Midway between its ends the single-leaf leaf spring is connected to the adjacent axle end by the existing spring-to-axle attachment components. In order to compensate for the difference in thicknesses of a leaf spring pack and a single-leaf leaf spring at their mid-points, a spacer having an effective vertical thickness equal to the difference in the thicknesses is mounted on top of the single thickness spring at the axle. An air spring support bracket is mounted on the chassis frame member over the middle of a single-leaf leaf spring. The upper end of an air spring is attached to a support bracket and the lower end of the air spring is attached to the spacer. Except for the single-leaf leaf spring and the spacer, the other components may be of the type used in conventional leaf spring pack suspensions.