A trailer slider suspension including a tubes and wires support system. The slider includes a frame slideably coupled to and supporting a trailer. Axles are pivotally secured to the frame. Air springs are provided between the axles and stop plates on the frame. The air springs include bearing plates abutting the stop plates. The bearing plates include fasteners which extend through corresponding holes in the stop plates. Supporting brackets are secured to the frame with the bearing plates fasteners extending through corresponding securement holes in the brackets and nuts threadingly received thereon, thereby clamping the brackets between the nuts and stop plates. The brackets include support holes wherethrough the tubes and wires are received and supported. A main brace is secured between the stop plates and the frame and side braces are secured between the stop plates and the main brace. The brackets include walls or slots engaging the braces.

A wear pad for a guide rail of a trailer with a slider suspension assembly, including at least one leg configured to be positioned between the guide rail and a frame member of the slider suspension assembly. The wear pad permits the passage of lock pins through the wear pad. A wear pad includes two legs that provide the wear pad with an L-shaped profile. One of the legs of a wear pad includes different portions with different thickness.

In a truck vehicle, a controller controls a mechanism to apportion the sum total of weight borne by a tandem axle between a drive axle and a tag axle.

An air supply control arrangement for a heavy-duty vehicle including a lift axle which includes a brake chamber. The air supply control arrangement includes a valve configured to be arranged in an air supply passage that enables pressurized air to be supplied from a pressurized air source to a brake chamber of a lift axle of a heavy-duty vehicle; a processing circuitry configured to receive measurement values of the pressure inside a tire of the lift axle, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, based on the received measurement values, determine whether the lift axle is in its raised lift condition or in its lowered ride condition, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the valve to move to a closed state upon determination that the lift axle has been raised from its ride condition to its lift condition, thereby preventing pressurized air from reaching the brake chamber.

A suspension for vans or semi-trailers has a sliding (or slider) frame that can be slid longitudinally between spaced, left and right trailer stringers. The sliding frame is coupled within the stringers for longitudinal sliding between forward and rearward extremes. The sliding frame is formed by a pair of left and right rails spaced by two or three or more cross members. The sliding frame has an even number of independent air-spring support towers. The support towers are welded to the rails, but the cross members are bolted. The air-spring support towers can take semi-funnel shapes to having a lower narrower end forming an air-spring seat, and flaring upwardly from there to upper ends connected high on the rails to funnel the weight of the van or trailer from over a wider area to more of a pinpoint distribution on the air-spring seat.

A vehicle mounted storage device for the ball mount and spring/torsion bar component of a trailer weight distribution system when the equipment is not in use. The storage device is comprised of a horizontal channel where the spring bars can be inserted, a vertical channel, where the ball mount can be inserted, and a horizontal tongue separating the two channels. When the spring bars are inserted into the horizontal channel with the heads of the spring bars resting on the tongue area and the ball mount is inserted into the vertical channel with the hitch ball directly above the spring bar heads, the spring bars are securely confined to the device. Once a locking device has been affixed to the ball mount, the device deters theft of the spring bars and ball mount.

A variety of types of sensors may be placed in or on an interior or exterior surface of a vehicle. The sensors may capture various kinds of data such as time-of-flight data, weight data, image data, and so forth. The sensor data may be transmitted via one or more network connections to a device configured to process the sensor data to generate load characteristic information. The load characteristic information may be indicative of one or more characteristics of a vehicle load of the vehicle such as a space utilization characteristic.

A portable apparatus for remotely actuating a button for tandem axle adjustment on a semitrailer is disclosed. The portable apparatus comprises a shaft configured to have a first end and a second end to define an elongated tube-like structure, wherein the first end comprises a V-shaped attachment to actuate the button to discharge the locking mechanism of the sliding tandem when a user maneuvers the shaft into a frame of the semitrailer by a gripping member attached to the second end of the shaft. A mounting member is removably attached to the shaft at a predefined position to support an illuminating device to light up the button for tandem axle adjustment in a low visibility condition.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and apparatus for reducing drag. An exemplary apparatus includes a semitrailer having a main frame extending along a longitudinal axis and a subframe movably connected to the main frame between a first position along the longitudinal axis and a second position along the longitudinal axis. The apparatus further includes an axle assembly attached to the subframe, the axle assembly including an axle, a left wheel set, a right wheel set, and a suspension, and a first recapture device located under the main frame behind and separated from the left wheel set along the longitudinal axis by a given spacing. The apparatus still further includes a second recapture device located under the main frame behind and separated from the right wheel set along the longitudinal axis by a second spacing.

One variation of a system includes a bogie including: a chassis; a first set of latches configured to transiently engage a first subset of engagement features, in a first array of engagement features on a left rail and in a second array of engagement features on a right rail of the trailer, to retain the bogie below a floor of the trailer; a driven axle suspended from the chassis; and a motor coupled to the driven axle and configured to output torque to the driven axle and regeneratively brake the driven axle. The system further includes a battery assembly: including a second set of latches configured to transiently engage a second subset of engagement features, in the first array of engagement features and in the second array of engagement features, to retain the battery assembly adjacent the bogie; and configured to receive electrical energy from the motor.