A wheel suspension system for vehicles, particularly relatively light-weight low-speed vehicles such as golf carts, industrial utility vehicles, and the like. The suspension system includes a suspension arm for each wheel extending longitudinally of and pivotally mounted at one end on the vehicle frame for vertical swinging movement of the wheel and arm about a transverse axis of the frame, and a spring for yieldably resisting upward and downward rotation of the arm relative to the frame. A primary feature of the invention resides in a restraining device which acts between the frame and each wheel suspension arm to yieldably resist, cushion, and damp deflection of the arm laterally of the frame during cornering and under other driving conditions that impose a lateral deflection load on the arm. In the disclosed inventive embodiment, each wheel suspension arm is furnished by a one-piece metal rod whose ends are bent laterally to form a wheel support and a torsion spring bar on the arm.
A ball joint suspension for a motor vehicle is disclosed. A torsion bar spring has laterally extending left and right wheel positioning portions of generally Y-shape. The outer ends of these portions each comprise parallel bars that are interconnected by a small loop. A ball joint has its socket press-fitted into the small loop and its ball stud secured to a wheel support member.
