IN THE BAY
» Suspensions follow a basic
principle: isolate the body of
the vehicle from the wheels
to provide a smoother ride.
Image courtesy of Hendrickson
26 Fleet Maintenance | July 2018
oadways are imperfect; they can be
uneven, bumpy and rough. So, in
order to provide comfort to drivers
and prevent damage to cargo and the
vehicle itself, manufacturers design
vehicles with suspensions.
Suspensions follow a basic principle:
isolate the body of the vehicle from the
wheels to provide a smoother ride. Modern
suspensions use some form of spring in order
to achieve this. Springs can fl ex, allowing the
wheels to move up and down over uneven surfaces
independently from the body, leaving the body
to travel relatively smoothly.
Th e stiff ness of a spring and how much it can
fl ex is known as the spring rate.
“Th e spring rate is fundamental to how soft or
how hard a suspension rides or feels to the driver,”
says Jason Heath, Neway truck suspension
and lift axle product manager at SAF-Holland.
“It is also fundamental to how a
vehicle handles.”
Keeping up with
commercial truck
air suspensions
R
Regular maintenance can
help keep drivers happy,
cargo intact and
trucks on the road.
By David Brierley, Managing Editor
» “An air spring is comprised
of three main elements,”
says Firestone’s Graham
Brookes: the bead plate,
the bellow and the piston.
Photo courtesy of Firestone
UNDER VEHICLE