A shock absorber testing apparatus comprising a ramp shaped to excite a particular wheel of the automobile at a frequency bandpass intermediate the fundamental frequency of the automobile spring-mass system and the fundamental frequency of unsprung elements of the suspension, strain gages disposed on the ramp for measuring the wheel loading as the wheel is passed thereover, switch means disposed to be tripped by the automobile wheel as the front wheel leaves the ramp and the rear wheel approaches the ramp for selecting alternate storage circuits receiving the respective strain gage reading associated with each passing of the wheel. In this manner the wheel is excited at a frequency above the response bandpass of the automobile fundamental and the loading measurements are indicative of the shock absorber performance.
A method is provided for individually measuring a damping force of a shock absorber provided in a suspension system of a motor vehicle. A body of the motor vehicle is vibrated in a vertical direction. A vibrating acceleration of the body, and a load transmitted to a wheel of the vehicle are detected. The vibrating acceleration is integrated to produce a speed. A displacement of the body is obtained by integrating the speed. A reaction force of the spring is calculated by multiplying the displacement and a spring constant of the spring. A damping force is calculated by subtracting the spring reaction force from the transmitted load.
A method for logging the performance of a vehicle suspension system including the steps of measuring the dynamic effect of an impulsive load with an electronic weighing system, wherein the electronic weighting system is mounted onboard the vehicle, and determining one or more parameters selected from the group consisting of the dampening ratio of the suspension, the oscillation frequency of the suspension and the impact loading of the vehicle.
A suspension testing or demonstrating apparatus includes a first section of track having a first undulation that displaces a wheel of the vehicle by a first predetermined amount when the wheel traverses at least a portion of the first undulation. A second section of track is positioned proximate to the first section of track such that the wheel traverses the second section of track after traversing the first section of track. The second section of track includes a second undulation that displaces the wheel of the vehicle by a second predetermined amount when the wheel traverses at least a portion of the second undulation.
