Front suspension with three ball joints for a vehicle

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In view of the foregoing, one object of the present invention is to exploit the design elements of a snowmobile that are easily and readily transferred to the design of a wheeled vehicle, such as an ATV, based on a basic frame structure.
To that end, one object of the present invention is to provide a front suspension that incorporates a double A-arm construction which does not require a heavy, front leg with a steering shaft disposed therein.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a front suspension for a snowmobile, wheeled vehicle, or ATV that does not require a trailing arm.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a front suspension with a light-weight leg that is rotatable about a vertical axis.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a suspension for a vehicle that includes an upper A-arm and a lower A-arm.
The suspension further includes a leg with a vertical axis that is rotatably connected to both the upper A-Arm and the lower A-arm.
A mechanical link is rotatably connected to the leg so that movement of the mechanical link applies rotational force to the leg to cause the leg to rotate about the vertical axis.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a suspension further including a first ball joint connecting the upper A-arm to the leg, a second ball joint connecting the lower A-arm to the leg, and a third ball joint connecting the mechanical link to the leg.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a suspension where the leg is an aluminum extrusion with the direction of the extrusion perpendicular to the vertical axis of the leg.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a suspension where the leg is squeeze-cast aluminum.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a snowmobile and a wheeled vehicle, such as an ATV, including such a suspension.
Still other objects of the present invention will be made apparent by the discussion that follows