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Old 2nd April 2024, 20:07   #23
rab60bit
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Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer

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Springs carry all the weight of the vehicle that is not considered 'unsprung weight'.
A static vehicle, sitting 'neutral' on the 4 wheels, will find it's natural 'balance' and sprung weight 'level' - this is how the designer intended and all the different spring combinations that MGR specified take into account the variations of weight (engines/gearbox, body style...etc.) of differing models. For all these variables the damper/hydraulic strut will have it's physical dimensions = so that the damper internal piston is sitting somewhere about mid-stroke of the damper barrel (and probably not a great deal of dimensional difference between struts of all the models); depending on model, springs will vary a bit more in terms of free length and 'strength' (usually a common O/D with slightly differing wire diameter, number of coils and stiffness of material).
With any given vehicle in motion moving over undulating road surface(s), internally the strut may move similar distances whether the spring is highly compressed (shorter) or lightly compressed (longer) than the neutral position but the speed at which the piston moves will vary with how the oil medium (viscosity of which could also be a model variable) squishes to and fro 'through' the piston - this is dampening the wilder oscillations of the bouncing springs - themselves a function of vehicle weight, speed, road surface and a little bit of direction change (sway/balance).
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