Coilover damper help

[Jingers]

Currently i have this setup on my car which runs the torsion beam rear design. Due to the lightness of the rear the car is experiencing alot of sea-sawing effect.

The question i want to ask is. On the damper body the bracket down the bottom is able to be adjusted up-down. Whilst this does not raise or lower the ride height *spacers under the springs do that job* what is the effects and results of me lowering the damper bracket?



Would it make the damper have a longer stroke and hence making it less bumpy overall? If this is not the effect it would give what would lowering/raising that bracket do overall?

[tinkerbell]

hmmm, adjusting the damper body is how i change ride height without affecting spring rate?

wouldnt spacers under the springs affect the spring rate?

thus "pre-loadign the spring" making it bouncy?

[Jingers]

yeah generally waht i was thinking, except i think spacers under the springs are just supposed to raise the car. Im going to have a play around tonight and thought maybe someone would know this saving me the hassle.

[tinkerbell]

1. dont preload the spring - the spring should be "captive", not pre-loaded.
2. use the damper base height to change car ride height.

[tinkerbell]

changing damper base hight wont affect 'stroke' will it?

[Jingers]

well the reason why i think this is more of an leverage effect?

For eg my front coilovers are like so, you can see that i can swing the bottom bracket around to change ride height without effecting ride quality. However upon raising the car up 2cm or so i definitly noticed it was alot softer.

I would like to think becuase the bracket has moved down the force passed through the wheels to the suspension now has more leverage hence making the shocks work harder. Overall to the damper it would be like them dampning a heavier car? I was trying to achieve the same results by lowering the bracket on the rear to create a bigger leverage kinda thing?

[fueltank]

In a coil over strut setup. Lowering/raising the bottom strut mount will change your ride height.

I can't see the struts as determining ride height on a beam axle setup. If I can compress struts a bit without springs then IMO they can't hold up the rear of car.

Stand to be proved wrong though.

[Jingers]

1. dont preload the spring - the spring should be "captive", not pre-loaded.
2. use the damper base height to change car ride height.

good point, i was thinking how to determine where i should have the rings locking the springs in. So it has to be firm but not compressed. one more thing to check tonight

[Jingers]

welll i adjusted the bracket and the car is sitting slightly lower although it does not seem to be in direct colleration with how much i have shifted the bracket.

The ride is ALOT more softer and compliant and generally smooth.

[tinkerbell]

the non-direct corellation is attributed to "wheel rate"...

[tinkerbell]

but i dont know much about torsion beams so it could be wrong...

[Jingers]

Mmmmmm i see your concept however i raised the dampers 1.5 cm and saw an actual rise of .5 cm on the car itself. Forgot to mention as a result of what i did although it is softer it is generally pogoing alot more.

The only problem now i have is that i need to find out if i have 30mm of sleeve on the damper body left as 30mm is the minimum deemed to be safe*area circled in red*. I might have to take it off complelty and measure it which means dropping the wheel hub Hmmmmm.

[Jingers]

another tinkerbell drawing to add to the archive