Land vehicles – Wheeled – Running gear
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-02
2001-02-13
Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Running gear
C280S124125
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186525
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wheel suspension for a non-driven steerable vehicle wheel, comprising an axle member, which at each end has a conical through-bore, which holds a conical central portion of a kingpin, which is provided with kingpin ends extending outside the bore into the member, and a spindle unit, having, firstly, spaced upper and lower spindle ears holding bearings into which the kingpin ends extend and of which the upper bearing is a roller bearing and the lower bearing is a journal bearing, and, secondly, an axle end on which a wheel hub is intended to be mounted.
The most common type of steering knuckle arrangement for trucks has the spindle unit mounted in a taper roller bearing at the upper end of the kingpin and a journal bearing at its lower end. The upper bearing takes up both axial and radial forces while the lower bearing only takes up radial forces. In such a spindle bearing, the axial force on the upper bearing is load-dependent, i.e. the axial load on the bearing varies with the total weight of the vehicle. When taking a curve, the radial forces on the lower bearing from the kingpin will be such that they strive to tip the lower bearing bushing in its seat in the lower spindle ear. Since the bushing is forced into its seat and the kingpin is mounted with the minimum possible play in the bushing, the bushing cannot even out the force couples which apply an asymmetric load. This results in the upper and lower areas of the bearing race being subjected to radial forces and greater wear than the middle portion, and this in turn can lead to gaps occurring after a relatively short time when driving with heavy loads on winding roads.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the present invention is to achieve a wheel suspension of the type described by way of introduction with a lower kingpin bearing which has a longer life than previously known bearings of the type in question.
This is achieved according to the invention by virtue of the fact that the journal bearing comprises an outer sleeve of an elastically deformable material, which is non-rotatably fixed in a bearing seat in the lower spindle ear, and an inner bearing sleeve of a bearing metal, which is non-rotatably fixed in the outer sleeve.
The elastic sleeve allows the bearing sleeve, when obliquely loaded from the kingpin when the truck takes a curve when heavily loaded, to be tipped somewhat in the bearing seat so that the center axis of the bearing sleeve will intersect the center axis of the bearing seat approximately at their midpoints, resulting in a reduction of the forces acting on the end portions of the bearing sleeve. The result will be a reduction of wear at the end portions and an extension of the total life of the lower kingpin bearing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3441288 (1969-04-01), Boughner
patent: 3477771 (1969-11-01), Herbenar
patent: 4635952 (1987-01-01), Smith
patent: 4915530 (1990-04-01), Tomlinson
patent: 6029986 (2000-02-01), Bodin et al.
patent: 25 48 227 (1976-05-01), None
patent: 28 47 035 (1980-04-01), None
Dickson Paul N.
Volvo Lastvagnar AB
Young & Thompson
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