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On a vehicle, a gaiter or boot is a protective flexible sleeve covering a moving part, intended to keep the part clean.
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On a vehicle, a gaiter or boot is a protective flexible sleeve covering a moving part, intended to keep the part clean.
Gaiters are pleated rubber tubes enclosing the front suspension tubes of some motorcycles and mountain bikes with telescopic front forks. Gaiters protect the sliding parts of the front suspension from dirt and water.
Similar gaiters to those described above find multiple uses on most vehicles. They are used at both ends of driveshafts, protecting constant-velocity joints from the ingress of dirt, and retaining the grease. They also prevent the ingress of dirt where one component slides within another, for example, on suspension struts or the ends of steering racks. Finally, they are also usually used to perform the same function on ball joints, which appear on suspension wishbones and steering tie rod ends. The gear stick gaiter is to resist dirt entering the ball joint at the bottom of the stick and to not have oil or grease from the joint exposed to passengers. They are commonly leather, faux leather, rubber or a waterproof cloth.
The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles. The name comes from American automotive engineer Earle S. MacPherson, who invented and developed the design.
The kingpin is the main pivot in the steering mechanism of a car or other vehicle.
A multi-link suspension is a type of independent vehicle suspension having three or more control links per wheel. These arms do not have to be of equal length, and may be angled away from their "obvious" direction. It was first introduced in the late 1960s on the Mercedes-Benz C111 and later on their W201 and W124 series.
Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems must support both road holding/handling and ride quality, which are at odds with each other. The tuning of suspensions involves finding the right compromise. It is important for the suspension to keep the road wheel in contact with the road surface as much as possible, because all the road or ground forces acting on the vehicle do so through the contact patches of the tires. The suspension also protects the vehicle itself and any cargo or luggage from damage and wear. The design of front and rear suspension of a car may be different.
A bushing or rubber bushing is a type of vibration isolator. It provides an interface between two parts, damping the energy transmitted through the bushing. A common application is in vehicle suspension systems, where a bushing made of rubber separates the faces of two metal objects while allowing a certain amount of movement. This movement allows the suspension parts to move freely, for example, when traveling over a large bump, while minimizing transmission of noise and small vibrations through to the chassis of the vehicle. A rubber bushing may also be described as a flexible mounting or antivibration mounting.
In automotive design, a front-engine, front-wheel-drive (FWD) layout, or FF layout, places both the internal combustion engine and driven roadwheels at the front of the vehicle.
A constant-velocity joint is a mechanical coupling which allows the shafts to rotate freely and compensates for the angle between the two shafts, within a certain range, to maintain the same velocity.
A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckle. The shock absorber and coil spring mount to the wishbones to control vertical movement. Double wishbone designs allow the engineer to carefully control the motion of the wheel throughout suspension travel, controlling such parameters as camber angle, caster angle, toe pattern, roll center height, scrub radius, scuff, and more.
The Chapman strut is a design of independent rear suspension used for light cars, particularly sports and racing cars. It takes its name from, and is best known for its use by, Colin Chapman of Lotus.
Paddle tires are mainly used on off-road vehicles, specifically designed for use in sand and mud. They consist of a smooth tire core which has a series of large rubber cups attached to it. The volume inside of a paddle is much larger than the void of a knobby tire, so it is unlikely to clog up with sand/mud. A street legal mud tire is a more or less normal tire, but with extra large gaps or "voids" between each tread block to allow centrifugal force to "self-clean" or fling the mud out of the gap. Smaller gaps trap the mud in between the tire lugs, which turns the tire into something resembling a "slick" with no tread at all, which will have no traction in mud.
The Hotchkiss drive is a shaft drive form of power transmission. It was the dominant means for front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout cars in the 20th century. The name comes from the French automobile manufacturer Hotchkiss, although other makers, such as Peerless, used similar systems before Hotchkiss.
In automotive suspension, a control arm, also known as an A-arm, is a hinged suspension link between the chassis and the suspension upright or hub that carries the wheel. In simple terms, it governs a wheel's vertical travel, allowing it to move up or down when driving over bumps, into potholes, or otherwise reacting to the irregularities of a road surface. Most control arms form the lower link of a suspension. Control arms play a crucial role in the suspension system of a vehicle. They help to keep the wheels aligned and maintain proper tire contact with the road, which is essential for safety and stability.
In an automobile, ball joints are spherical bearings that connect the control arms to the steering knuckles, and are used on virtually every automobile made. They bionically resemble the ball-and-socket joints found in most tetrapod animals.
A motorcycle's suspension serves a dual purpose: contributing to the vehicle's handling and braking, and providing safety and comfort by keeping the vehicle's passengers comfortably isolated from road noise, bumps and vibrations.
A rag joint refers to certain flexible joints found on automobiles and other machines. They are typically found on steering column shafts that connect the steering wheel to the steering gear input shaft, usually at the steering gear end. They provide a small amount of flex for a steering shaft within a few degrees of the same plane as the steering gear input shaft. It also provides some damping of vibration coming from the steering system, providing some isolation for the steering wheel.
A motorcycle fork connects a motorcycle's front wheel and axle to its frame, typically via a yoke, also known as a triple clamp, which consists of an upper yoke joined to a lower yoke via a steering stem, a shaft that runs through the steering head, creating the steering axis. Most forks incorporate the front suspension and front brake, and allow the front wheel to rotate about the steering axis so that the bike may be steered. Most handlebars attach to the top clamp in various ways, while clip-on handlebars clamp to the fork tubes, either just above or just below the upper triple clamp.
Motorcycle components and systems for a motorcycle are engineered, manufactured, and assembled in order to produce motorcycle models with the desired performance, aesthetics, and cost. The key components of modern motorcycles are presented below.
A mechanical joint is a section of a machine which is used to connect one or more mechanical parts to another. Mechanical joints may be temporary or permanent; most types are designed to be disassembled. Most mechanical joints are designed to allow relative movement of these mechanical parts of the machine in one degree of freedom, and restrict movement in one or more others.
A telescopic fork is a form of motorcycle front suspension whose use is so common that it is virtually universal. The telescopic fork uses fork tubes and sliders which contain the springs and dampers.