INFORMATION SHEET 1/9

Training Automotive
Course DITTE Code: 201-7
Subject Chassis
Prepared by
Title Suspension Sseguya Joseph
Date of
Detail Role and Types of suspension
Execution

Description
The suspension connects the body of the vehicle with the wheels, and carries out the following functions:-
• During running, it acts, together with the tires, to absorb and damp the various vibrations, oscillations,
and shocks received by the vehicle due to irregularities in the surface of the road, in order to protect the
passengers and cargo, and improve driving stability.
• It transmits the driving and braking forces, which are generated due to friction between the road surface
and the wheels, to the chassis and body.
• It supports the body on the axles and maintains the proper geometrical relationship between the body
and wheels .It consists of the following principal components
(1) Springs, Neutralize the shocks from the road surface.
(2) Shock absorbers (dampers) Acts to improve riding comfort by limiting the free oscillations of
the spring
(3) Stabilizer (sway bar or anti-roll bar) Prevents lateral swaying of the vehicle. (4) A linkage Acts
to hold the above components in place and to control the longitudinal and lateral movements
of the wheels.
(4) A linkage Acts to hold the above components in place and to control the longitudinal and lateral
movements of the wheels.

1. Sprung weight and unsprung weight

The body is supported by springs.
The weight of the body, etc., which is supported by springs is called the sprung weight. On the other
hand, the wheels and axles, and other parts of the automobile which are not supported by springs, make
up the unsprung weight. It is generally said that the greater the sprung weight of an automobile, the better
the riding comfort becomes, because, as the sprung weight is made larger, the tendency of the body to be
jolted decreases. Conversely, if the unsprung weight is large, it is easy for the body to be jolted.
Oscillation and jolting of the sprung parts of the vehicle -especially the body- have a particularly great
effect on riding comfort
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2. Oscillation of sprung weight

Oscillation of sprung weight can be classified as follows:

(1)Pitching
Pitching is the up-and-down oscillation, in relation to the vehicle's center of gravity, of the front and back
of the vehicle.
This happens especially when the vehicle goes over large ruts or bumps in the road or when driving over
an unpaved road which is rough and full of potholes. Also, pitching occurs more easily in vehicles with
softer (easily compressed) springs than in those with harder springs
(2) Rolling
When turning or when driving on a bumpy road, the springs on one side of the vehicle expand, while those
on the other side contract.
This results in body rolling in the lateral (side-to-side) direction.

(3) Bouncing;
Bouncing is the up-and-down movement of the auto body as a whole.
When a vehicle is running at high speeds on an undulating surface, bouncing is likely to
occur. Also, it occurs easily when the springs are soft

(4) Yawing
Yawing is the movement of the vehicle's longitudinal centerline to the right and left, in relation
to the vehicle's center of gravity.
On roads where pitching occurs, yawing is also likely to occur.
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3. Oscillation of unsprung weight

Oscillation of unsprung weight can be classified as follows

1) Hopping
Hopping is the up-and-down bouncing of the wheels which usually occurs on corrugated
roads while driving at medium and high speeds

(2) Tramping
Tramping is the up-and-down oscillation in opposite directions of the left and right
wheels, causing the wheels to skip over the road surface.
This occurs most easily in vehicles with rigid axle suspension

(3) Wind-up
Wind-up is the phenomenon in which acceleration or braking torque acting on the leaf springs
attempts to wind the leaf springs around the axle.
Wind-up vibration has an adverse influence on riding comfort.

Measures to prevent wind-up:

• Asymmetrical leaf springs
Wind-up is reduced by offsetting the rear axle so that it is located slightly forward of the center of the leaf
spring. This also serves to reduce the up-down motion of the body during acceleration and deceleration
.
• Shock absorber location
Wind-up can be reduced by mounting the shock absorbers away from the center of wind-up and by bias-
mounting them. That is, by mounting one in front of and one behind the axle
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Suspension Types and Characteristics

Suspension Types and Characteristics

Outline
Suspensions can be divided into the following two types
according to their structures

(1) Rigid axle suspensions

Both wheels are supported by an axle housing or axle
beam. There-fore, the left and right wheels move
together. The characteristics of rigid axle suspensions
are:

(1) Rigid axle suspensions

Both wheels are supported by an axle housing or axle beam. There-fore, the left and
right wheels move together. The characteristics of rigid axle suspensions are
:• The number of parts is small and the construction is simple. There-fore, maintenance
is easy
• It is durable enough for heavy-duty use.
• When turning, there is little tilting of the body
.• There is little change in the align-ment due to the up-and-down movements of the wheels.
There-fore, there is less tire wear
.• Since the unsprung weight is great, riding comfort is poor.
• Since the movement of the left and right wheels mutually influence one another,
vibration and oscillation occur rather easily

(2) Independent suspensions

2) Independent suspensions
Each wheel is supported by an independent arm,
which is mounted to the vehicle body. Therefore,
the left and right wheels move independently.
The characteristics of independent suspensions
are:
• The unsprung weight is low and riding comfort is
good.
• The springs have nothing to do with the positioning
of the wheels, so softer springs can be used.
• Since there is no axle connecting the left and right
wheels, the floor and engine
mounting position can be lowered. This means that the vehicle's center of gravity
will be lower.
• The construction is rather complex.
• Tread and alignment change with the up-and-down motions of the wheels.
• Numerous models are equipped with a stabilizer bar to reduce rolling during
cornering and improve the comfort ability to ride.
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TYPES OF RIGID SUSPENSION
This type is mainly used in the rear suspension of
front-engine front-wheel drive (FF) vehicles, and
employs a structure consisting of a suspension arm
and stabilizer bar welded to a twistable axle beam
(There are some models with no stabilizer bar.)
When rolling occurs such as during cornering and on
rough roads, the stabilizer bar twists with the axle
beam. As a result, rolling is reduced due to the action of the stabilizer bar, thereby maintaining
vehicle stability.
Adv, - Simple structure
- Compact size
- Reduced unsprung weight
NB; When jacking up the vehicle, do not lift the torsion beam section with a jack

2. Parallel leaf spring type. This type of suspension is

used for the front suspension of trucks and buses, etc.,
and for the rear suspension in commercial vehicles.

Characteristics:
• Construction of the suspension is simple but
comparatively strong. • Difficult to use a very soft spring,
therefore riding comfort is not very good

3. Leading/trailing arm type with lateral rod.

This type of suspension is used for the
suspensions of station wagons, or trucks, etc.
Characteristics:
• Riding comfort is good.
• Rigidity is high

4-link type
This type is used for the rear suspension.
It provides the best riding comfort of all the rigid-
axle suspensions.
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MacPherson strut type

This is widely used independent suspension
system for the front suspension of small and
medium sized cars.
This type is also used as the rear suspension of
FF cars.
Characteristics
:• The construction of the suspension is
relatively simple
.• Since there are a small number of parts, it is
light, so unsprung weight can be reduced.
• Since the space taken up by the suspension
is small, the usable space in the engine
compartment can be increased.
• Since the distance between suspension support
points is great, there is little disturbance of the
front wheel
. Therefore, except for toe-in, alignment adjustments are ordinarily unnecessary

Double wishbone type

This type is used widely for the front suspension of small trucks and for the front and
rear suspensions of passenger cars
Characteristics:
•In this type of suspension, wheels are mounted to the body via upper and lower arms.
Suspension geometry can be designed as desired according to the length of the upper
and lower arms and their mounting angles.
For example, if the upper and lower arms are parallel and have equal length, the tread
and the tire-to-ground camber of the tire will change. As a result, it is not possible to
obtain adequate cornering performance. In addition, the changes in the tread will cause
excessive tire wear.
To solve this, a design is normally employed in which the upper arm is made shorter
than the lower arm so that the tread and the tire-to-ground camber of the tire fluctuate
less
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Spring off set On the MacPherson strut type suspension, the shock absorbers act
as part of the suspension linkage, bearing the vertical load. However, because the shock
absorbers are subjected to the load from the tires, they bend very slightly.

This causes lateral stress (A and B, as shown in the illustration) to be generated,

creating friction between the piston rod and the rod guide, and between the piston and
the inner shell, causing abnormal noises and adversely affecting riding comfort.

These problems can be minimized by off-setting the springs from the centerline of
the strut or shock absorber so that reactive forces a and b are generated in opposition to
forces A and B
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Types of spring
1. Outline
In automotive suspension systems, the springs used are metallic springs and non-
metallic springs
Metallic springs
•Leaf springs
•Coil springs
•Torsion bar springs
Non-metallic springs
•Rubber springs
•Air springs
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2. Leaf springs
Leaf springs are made of a number of curved bands of spring steel, called "leaves",
stacked together in order from shortest to longest. This stack of leaves is fastened
together at the center with a center bolt or a rivet and to keep the leaves from slipping
out of place, they are held at several places with clips.
Both ends of the longest (main) leaf are bent to form spring eyes, used to attach the
spring to the frame or to a structural member such as a side member.
Generally, the longer a leaf spring, the softer it will be. Also, the more leaves in a leaf
spring, the greater the load they will withstand, but on the other hand, the spring will
become firmer and riding comfort will suffer.

Characteristics:
• Since the springs themselves have adequate rigidity to hold the axle in the proper
position, it is not necessary to use linkages for this
.• They function to control their own oscillation through inter-leaf friction
.• They have sufficient durability for heavy-duty use
.• Due to inter-leaf friction, it is difficult for them to absorb the minute vibrations from the
road surface. Therefore leaf springs are generally used for large commercial vehicles
which carry heavy loads and for which durability is highly regarded.