Patent ID: 7318595

Claim:
A skid steer vehicle with variable ride control system comprising: a chassis; four drive wheels pivotally coupled to the chassis by four control arms, located at the front and the rear of both the left and the right sides of the vehicle, wherein said left side wheels are configured to be driven independently from said right side wheels to skid steer the vehicle; four hydraulic damping cylinders coupled to the chassis, wherein each cylinder is disposed to damp the movement of a corresponding one of the four drive wheels; an electronic controller configured to automatically control the flow of fluid in the four hydraulic damping cylinders in a first automatic mode of operation and to permit the manual control of the flow of fluid on the four hydraulic damping cylinders in a second manual mode of operation; a vehicle load sensor, a vehicle speed sensor and a vehicle suspension position sensor coupled to the electronic controller, wherein the electronic controller is configured to read the load, speed and position sensors and to generate a signal indicative of a desired degree of suspension damping therefrom; and four variable orifices coupled to the four hydraulic damping cylinders to throttle cylinder hydraulic fluid flow, and further wherein the electronic controller is configured to compare reference data stored in the electronic controller with the signals received from the load, speed, and position sensors in order to determine how much to close the orifice closure.