Patent ID: 7131652

Claim:
A steerable axle/suspension system for a vehicle, said system including a pair of transversely-spaced suspension assemblies, each one of said assemblies including a longitudinally extending elongated beam, a first end of said beam being attached to said vehicle frame to enable generally pivotal movement of said beam, an air spring extending between and being attached to a second end of the beam and the frame, an axle of the system including a central tube portion having a pair of ends being captured by and disposed substantially between said beams, and a pair of steering assemblies mounted on said axle ends, each one of said steering assemblies extending outboardly from a respective one of the beams, and a pair of axle spindles mounted on the steering assemblies and extending outboardly from said steering assemblies, each one of said steering assemblies being operatively connected to a respective one of a pair of ends of a transversely extending tie rod, wherein the improvement comprises: a pair of steering dampers, each one of said dampers having an outboard end and an inboard end, wherein an outboard end of each one of the steering dampers is operatively connected to a respective one of said steering assemblies and an inboard end of said damper is mounted on a respective one of a pair of beam brackets, said beam brackets each being mounted directly on said beams.