Hey everybody,

I am pretty much ignorant about the workings of the suspension on our F-Bodies. Yesterday I took apart the whole rear suspension on my parts car and I pretty much figured out what all the parts do. Today I got started on the front and this one thing confused me. The front shocks said they were "replacment struts".

Is it that our cars have shocks in the back and struts in the front? and what is the difference between the shocks and struts?

Thanks and please help a beginner out,

-Max

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86 Trans Am LB9/700R4
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Do a search in the archive for a similar question but briefly.

Both are energy dampening devices. Shocks can be removed without affecting the suspension while struts are incorporated into the suspension.

In the third gen design the front struts replace the upper a-arm system by connecting the upper ball joint to the rest of the chassis.

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If you removed a shock and drove around with it off, your car would bobble around in a never ending up and down motion, therefore it would affect the suspension... But I see what you're trying to say. Anyway, if you pulled a shock off its mounts while the car is sitting still, you wouldnt tell. But if you were able to instantly pull a strut out of its mounts, the suspension would collapse at that corner. Struts are intergral parts in the suspensions structure that supports something of the suspension, which in our case on third-gen f-bodies the front spindles. Shocks however are just bolted along side a fully supported structure to provide dampening force when the suspension is moving. K.

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85 2.8L Sport Coupe 5-speed.
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Well, surprisingly, no.. the front spring will prevent that. I had my Firebird sitting on all four tires with the passenger side strut removed. Of course, I had to raise/lower the car by that control arm, otherwise the spring would've escaped... but the strut doesn't hold the car up. I thought the same too, and I was surprised to see the passenger side supporting itself with no strut.

Now, to align our front suspension, the upper strut mount is moved around... the position of the strut affects caster & camber. The strut's hooked to the top of the spindle (aka "steering knuckle"), and the bottom of the spindle pivots on the lower ball joint. The forward/backward and inside/outside adjustment of the spindle gives you caster & camber... to move the spindle you move the strut. ("Toe" is set using the adjusting sleeves on the tie-rod ends...)

I don't think the same is true for a car using front shocks... is it?

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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
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[This message has been edited by TomP (edited August 05, 2001).]

 

Thanks for the help,

Now I got two more questions. Do all cars have struts or just cars designed for good cornering? Are there struts on the back? (I dont think so since I took it all off and didnt' find anything resembling a strut)

-Max

 

It depends on how the manufacturer has designed the suspension. Chevettes also have front struts. I know some Volvos have front and rear struts. Some cars even have front struts with removable shocks inside them. You don't have to remove the strut to change the shock.

 

If you removed the strut while the car is sitting on its wheels, the wheel would buckle in because there wouldnt be anything holding the spindle up anymore since just like TomP said, it sets camber and caster. If you dont have a strut, then you dont have anything to set camber and caster, then your wheel will go all out of wack and probably break your lower ball joint.

 

Yes struts were designed for better handling. They showed up in front wheel drive cars to allow more room for drive axles. Soon after the benifit of less suspention parts allowed them to make cars cheaper. Struts are supposed to have better geometry with camber gain.