Thread: Knee action Indipendent suspension

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The way a knee action shock worked----the shock was a cylindrical housing, with a vane that moved around the inside on a central shaft similar to a vacuum windshield wiper. There was a fixed divider wall in the cylindrical housing that ran from the center of the housing out to the side opposite of the vane. There was a small hole in the divider, and the cylindrical housing was filled with oil. As the vane rotated about the shaft, it forced the oil thru the small hole to the other side of the "divider". The resistance of the shock was established by what viscosity the oil was. The shaft was mounted to the cars frame, and had a lever on it. The lever was connected by a "link" to the cars front or rear axle. As the cars axle moved up and down on the springs, the lever rotated the shaft, which moved the vane, which moved the oil thru the orifice. Different weights of oil gave different ammounts of "firmness" to the shocks.---- There was also a type of knee action shock absorber that had a piston which moved back and forth in a cast iron cylinder to displace the oil thru an "orifice" the piston was moved back and forth by means of a rack and pinion, where the pinion shaft connected to a lever wheich was connected by a link to the cars axle. (that type of shock also mounted to the cars frame). I had a knee action 34 Chev car. The axle was mounted solid to the frame. Instead of a rotary housing and vane, there was a linkage which moved a large piston back and forth in a cylinder which was full of oil, and the piston moved the oil back and forth thru an orifice-----same kind of deal, only with it there was a honking big spring in the cylinder, on one side of the piston, which actually was the spring for the front wheel on that side. Apparently this type of suspension was very smooth, but after about 2 or 3 years time the seals would go and the oil would escape. The spring would still work allright, but with no oil being moved to control the rebound, it was just like driving a car with no shocks at all.----The reason that these shocks "worked better in theory" was that they were attached to the frame, thus giving less "unsprung weight" to the cars axle. The less "unsprung" weight an axle has, the less inertia it has to overcome in order to move, thus making it more "responsive" to changes in the road surface.