Shocks/springs/ride height
Todd Phenneger
tquattroguy at yahoo.com
Sat May 19 12:59:27 EDT 2001
John,
Read below.
> But it can only ride as high as the upper limit of shock
> extension.
OF course, that should be obvious. Hence limiting straps on
rally cars so your not always slamming the shock fully extended
when running long rally springs. Or in the case of very lowered
car runnign short springs, spacer springs that fill the gap
betweent the extended short spring and the long extended shock.
> The spring cannot exceed the physical limits of the travel of
> the shock. I
> maintain that, regardless of the pressure (or lack thereof) in
> the shock,
> the car can only go as low as the fully compressed spring, and
> only as high
> as the limits placed upon it by the nut on the top of the
> shock. The spring
> determines the height at the bottom, and the shock at the
> top.
OF course, again, I have never said anythign contrary. In an
Improperly designed system you COULD bottom the shock before the
spring though and this can cause proplems with shock lengevity.
People who cut springs and then remove the bump stops on factory
shocks have this problem often. :-)
> As you said,
> the shock is there only to provide damping. I don't see the
> shock making
> more than the barest difference in the ride height other than
> controlling
> the upper limit. John
THats the point, it wont make a large difference. I said
earlier 1/4 to maybe 1/2". But a High pressure gas shock can
exert enoguh upwards force on the car to lift it a bit. These
shocks will at rest extend all the way out. Compress them and
the resist you at the NEutral position (middle of shock travel).
If they push out with 100lbs force, then thats 200lbs total
upward force ont he front of your car. Go lift up on your
bumper (not fair as you have leverage from the long overhang
but) go lift up with 200lbs force. YOur car now sits higher.
Thats what the shock is doing. Essentially.
> > may not work well, since its "rest" position is not the one
> it was
> > designed for, and, yes, it may bottom or top out too soon
> for the
> > "intended" range of motion of the different spring.
HUW has hit on the mother egg here. The "Intended range of
motion". That is, for a shock to operate effectively it needs
to be in the middle of its travel range when the car is at rest.
THat gives it the best response to controlling the oscilations
of the spring. Go outside of the range and the shock can not do
its job as well.
Ex...If I raise my car 1" upwards from where it currently sits
(takes about 15 minutes to jack it up and turn the sprign perch
up) then I get a car that bounces around. REason is the shock
is to close to its extended length and isn't working well. So
for MY application I need a longer shock. Which I am getting
soon.
Anyhow, Gotta run. Job hunting calls.
l8r
TOdd
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