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Date:         Fri, 19 Jun 1998 12:31:34 -0700
Reply-To:     "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Subject:      Re: Pre-loading Rear Springs re Syncro Suspension (long)
Comments: To: Derek Drew <drew@interport.net>,
          vanagon List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Derek Drew wrote:

> <> what do the spacers do that firms up the > > suspension if they do not change spring rate?

> I believe there is a possibility the spacers may not actually firm anything

> up at all. >

Well, if that's the case, then the placebo effect is remarkable and well worth the effort in any event. :~0

I think I see where theory departs from reality. Your theory assumes that the spring length remains identical with and without the spacer, and that all the spacer does is increase the height of the van by the distance of the thickness of the spacer.

I think that the spacer lifts the van some, but I also think it compresses the spring a little too. The result is that with the spacer, the spring is slightly more compressed ... it is pre-loaded... over what it would be without a spacer ... with the same weight in the van, etc. Assume this to be true, and that the distance of additional compression is 1 cm....i,e, the spring is 1 cm. shorter with the spacer than without when installed in the van with the van sitting on a flat surface. Doesn't it take more pressure to compress the spring the next 1 cm. than it did to compress it that first 1 cm. accomplished by inserting the spacer?

When you compress a spring, the force required to compress the spring is not the same all the way to the point where the coils bind, is it...even in a progressive rate spring? So, if you shorten the spring by compressing it a little, aren't you making it a little stiffer since it requires more force to compress it further than it would have required to compress it the same distance had you started with a completely un-loaded spring?

steve


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