Independent Front Suspension on trucks in the future?

i would not say this, buses here usually have about 7-7.5t on front axle , zf independent axle is 8t , volvo 8.5t capacity

 

Local made big buses are made of steel, heavy, about 16-25 ton. They have engines from trucks, I saw bus with MB V8 engine.

But usually Ukrainian bus makers use Cummins ISL and ISM, sometimes ISC and ISB, MB OM 906 and 926.

Yep, OM457 (a bit smaller than MBE 4000 OM 460) is also used.

 

Buses here a lot lighter than that. Still steel, but closer to 10-15 tons, iirc

 

I was looking at buses last night and 16k front ends seem pretty standard. The main issue I see as far as strength is the angles of the arms vs force angles. The springs under a standard front end are inline with with the main stress while braking, keeping the metal in it's strongest state, tension. The sections of the beam outside the springs are a short lever, working against the middle both fore and aft along with vertically. Being an H beam, the metal is also under tension in a given direction, makeing it strong. There are some shear loads, but usually only in the case of an impact, and the only impact related failure I have seen was actually the u-bolts. The side to side location is maintained by the springs being captured parallel to each other at either end, and sideways stresses are against the larger dimension of the spring. This system allows for fairly accurate locating along with only a few components and relatively light weight.
The independent system has links at an angle to stresses, typically being placed in a weaker compression state. Metal is more prone to deflection and then a rapid failure when operated in the state. Those systems also have either four bushings and two ball joints or six bushings and one or two kingpins per side, versus the six total bushings for the leaf setup.
Then you have, what, five main components for a leaf and beam (two springs, two knuckles, and the beam) versus a minimum of nine pieces for the independent.
Being newer and more complex doesn't make it better, but I do know the straight axle is far from perfect. I'd be thrilled to see a solid swing arm style front suspension, but the change in caster angle is a problem.

 

I think you're confusing legal weights and axle rating. Most 3 axle tractors are rated to 56,000lbs+, but bridge laws and tire ratings keep them shy of that, and the same laws and ratings apply to busses.

 

They're CMVs, so bridge law applies to them just the same.

I've never seen tires rated at 20k per axle outside dual configuration, and last I checked, buses still used single tire steers and tag axles, so the only axle with a 20k limit would be the driven axle, assuming the tag is up and it is rated for 20k with dual tires installed.

 

Didn't Freightliner offered it in Cascadia?