Suspension Shock Absorbers
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 get a basic idea of how a shock works, imagine driving down a road where there are speed bumps. If the car simply has springs, but no shocks, and goes over the speed bump, the springs will continue to move back and forth until they get rid of all the power they gained when they compressed. This will cause the car to sway and bounce, once it has gone over the speed bump.
Now, think of a vehicle that has springs as well as shocks going across the speed hump. The springs would still take in the hump, however, the difference between the two scenarios is that those shock absorbers would absorb the movement of the springs, changing the energy produced into heat and will stop the vehicle's swaying.
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.
Fluids leak through small holes in the piston as it moves down and up in the tube. As these holes are quite small, a little bit of fluid which is under great pressure due to the movement of the piston, passes through. It then slows the piston and this slows the spring. This process allows the dampening of shock by the spring's movement to enter the shock absorbers.
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.
The condition of your shock absorbers should be checked when you start losing control of the vehicle upon braking and trying to enter corners. You will also feel the unevenness when you travel on uneven road surfaces or go over bumps in the road.
Rancho RS9000 shocks were the first manually adjustable shock for the off-road market. They have been redesigned from the ground up and are now the Rancho RS9000XL and feature many enhancements over the parts they replaced.
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