Shock absorbers are a very important component for preventing excess movement of the automobile and the suspension. If vehicles did not have shocks, they would bounce down the road uncontrollably. Because of the bouncing of the vehicle, tires would not make contact with the road and trying to negotiate a corner, or braking will be extremely dangerous.
Just to give you an example of how shocks work, think about driving down a street with speed humps. When you go over the speed hump and should the car only be fitted with springs and no shocks, the springs would carry on moving up and down until they rid themselves of all the kinetic energy they built up during compression. This action will make the car bounce and sway when it has gone over 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.
The way the shock works is that it makes use of two valves which increases the effectiveness of it. One of the valves is connected to a piston rod, which is connected to a piston. This piston sits in a tube filled with hydraulic oil. When the car wheel hits a bump in the road, this causes the spring to coil and uncoil. The energy of the spring is transferred to the shock absorber through the upper mount, down through the piston rod and into the piston.
Little holes situated in the piston lets fluids through when the piston goes down and up inside the cylinder. As the holes are so small, it only allows a limited amount of oil to pass through. This fluid is placed under pressure because of the amount it lets through. This will slow down the action of the piston and thus slow down the spring. It will then allow the assimilation of the shock from the spring’s movement to go into the shock absorber.
All modern shocks are speed sensitive, meaning that the faster the suspension moves, the more resistance the shock absorber provides. This allows shocks to adjust to the conditions of the road and to inhibit all of the dangerous actions that take place in a vehicle, like swaying from side to side and creating problems when braking.
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.
The world’s largest selection of Rancho RS 5000 shocks is available at MY4BY OFF ROAD. Rancho RS5118 is a popular choice for many GM, Ford, and Jeep vehicles and is also great for custom-built applications.
.jpg)
