The following article must be divided between posts as there's a 1000 character limit to each blog. This article was written on Helium.com by Jerry Hastings and appears on Digg.com. We wanted to present it here for those who don't read Helium or Digg or missed it on those two sites. It may spark questions, ask away.
Article: Written by Jerry Hastings for www.helium.com & also appears on http://hastprotruckscom.blogspot.com, www.diggs.com & www.del.icio.us.com
Realizing that most people will likely be confused by the content of this article, what's real and what's not are two completely different things. First, I'll make an attempt to define the words "vehicle suspension", then I'll go through some of the particulars associated with how to diagnose suspension problems.
There are many different designs or versions of a particular design relating to suspensions that require more specific discussion and I (and I hope readers will) realize that fact. The following is a more or less generalized summary.
Vehicular suspensions are generally the components that your vehicle weight sets on, excluding wheel bearings, hubs and wheels (they are sort of in a class or classes by themselves). Such things as springs and spring hangers, struts, A-frames, kingpins and steering knuckles (or spindles & kingpins on straight front axles) and axles (where applicable) make up a vehicle's suspension.
Components such as ball joints, steering knuckles (or spindles & kingpins)and straight front axles play a dual role in that they are one of the links between the steering and the suspension. They pivot or allow pivoting making them part of the steering and support the vehicles weight making them part of the suspension.
Steering knuckles or spindles with kingpins and straight axles play a different part in steering in that wheel alignment angles are manufactured into these components along with the fact previously noted that they pivot or allow pivoting to turn the front wheels. Plus the wheel bearings, hubs and wheels are attached to these components making yet another link (or links). The additional unadjustable wheel alignment angles provided by these components, enhance steering quality and performance. Continued....
