Adding shocks to a torsion axle

[angib]

In case anyone is thinking of adding shocks to their torsion axle, for the ultimate in ride, this article by a Casita owner might be useful:

Adding Shocks

Andrew

[Alphacarina]

I wonder how much those shocks will help . . . . if at all

Unlike most shock aplications where a 1 inch suspension deflection also causes the shock to move about an inch, his crafty configuration has the shock moving very little with the expected range of suspension deflection . . . . I'll bet he doesn't generate even an inch of shock travel from full droop to full compression

Seems like too little sugar for a nickel to me

Don

[brian_bp]

Don may be thinking that the inclined shock position means that it doesn't travel much, but that's not the case here.

In the black-backgrounded technical drawing, you can see that the shock is inclined 45 degrees back from vertical in the static position, but the line from the suspension arm pivot point to the lower shock mount is also about 45 degrees down from horizontal, so the movement of the lower shock mount translates quite directly into shock travel. Since that mounting point is about as far from the pivot as the hub, the shock action has roughly a 1:1 ratio with suspension travel. (In the stock Monroe setup, the ratio is even better - the shock travels more than the hub).

This is the point of the author's comment that "The stroke of the shock is not perfectly tangent to the arc of the dog bone/spindle but should be OK."