Suspension Shock Absorbers
by Jake O'Hare on Jul.01, 2010, under Truck News
The shock absorbers on a vehicle are critical components for stopping movement of the car as well as movement of the suspension. If motor vehicles had not been fitted with shocks, it would travel unevenly. Due to the unevenness of the travel on the road, the tires would not touch the road and going around a corner or sudden braking will be treacherous.
To give you a notion of how shocks work, think of yourself driving down a road with speed humps. Should your vehicle only have springs and no shocks, once you go over the speed hump, the springs carry on moving to and fro until such time as they rid themselves of the momentum of compression. This causes the vehicle to sway and jump around as soon as it has crossed the speed hump.
In contrast, imagine a car with both springs and shocks going over the same speed bump. In the same way, the springs would absorb the bump. The only difference is that the shocks would dampen the springs’ swinging by changing the moving energy into heat, and thereby stabilizing the car’s movement.
A shock operates with two valves and that makes its effectiveness better. A valve is attached to a piston rod and that is attached to a piston. The piston is in a tube which is full of hydraulic fluid. As soon as the vehicle encounters a bump or any unevenness in the road, it causes the spring to open and close. This movement of the spring is sent to the shock absorber via the upper mount and down into the piston rod and then into the piston.
Holes in the piston allow fluids to leak through as the piston moves up and down in the tube. Because the holes are relatively tiny, only a small amount of fluid, under great pressure, passes through. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring. This causes the ultimate absorption of shock from the spring movement into the shock absorber system.
Modern cars are fitted with speed sensitive shocks, so the more rapidly the suspension moves, the greater the forbearance the shock absorber gives. This will allow the shocks to adapt to the road conditions and regulate all the dangerous movements which can happen with a moving car. For example, brake deterioration, oscillation and bounce.
When a vehicle starts becoming unsteady on bumpy roads or it has difficulty cornering, it is time to check the shocks. These are signs that the shock absorbers may need replacing.
Wondering where you can buy new shock absorbers for your vehicle? MY4BY.com has the largest selection of Rancho RS5000 shocks available online for virtually all Jeeps, trucks, and SUVs.
