A vibration damper is provided for a vehicle, preferably for a motor vehicle, having a wheel carrier made of metal for rotatably receiving a wheel, a damper tube arrangement at least partly made of a fiber-reinforced plastic for forming a damper fluid volume, a piston which is guided in the damper tube arrangement and includes a piston rod. The damper tube arrangement is rigidly connected to the wheel carrier and the piston rod can be connected to a body of the vehicle. A wheel carrier fluid volume is formed in the wheel carrier and which is connected to the damper fluid volume. The fluid in the wheel carrier fluid volume is in direct contact with the metal of the wheel carrier in order to transfer heat.

Steering suspension module including a shock absorber strut, a suspension upright, an outer ring of a wheel hub unit attached integrally to a front face of the suspension upright, and a ball joint for articulation with a control arm; wherein the suspension strut consists of a cup-shaped body made entirely of continuous, sheared and bent metal sheet, and the outer ring is provided integral in one piece with, and radially cantilevered from, a steering arm extending transversely cantilevered from the cup-shaped body, on the side of the cup-shaped body; the shock absorber strut is constrained within a first seat of the cup-shaped body and the ball joint is made as an independent unit constrained integrally with a second seat of the cup-shaped body in a position facing the first seat, the ball joint projecting inferiorly cantilevered from the cup-shaped body.

A device for adjusting the height of a vehicle body, containing a movement thread, which is arranged between the vehicle body and a wheel carrier. The movement thread has two threaded parts that can be rotated in relation to each other, which are formed by a spindle and a spindle nut, and a locking apparatus, which bridges the movement thread at at least two axial positions in a positive-locking manner and which has a locking sleeve having locking stops arranged over the periphery at different axial positions. The device is characterized in that the locking sleeve is modularly formed of a stack of at least one locking element containing locking stops and groove sections and at least one intermediate element containing only groove sections.

A strut assembly including a first cylinder, a second cylinder configured to reciprocally move within the first cylinder, and a damper assembly positioned within the first cylinder. The damper assembly includes a housing having opposing first and second ends, a floating piston in the housing and a damper piston positioned between the floating piston and the first end of the housing. The damper piston divides the housing into first and second chambers, where the first and second chambers include a hydraulic fluid that provides resistance to the movement of the damper piston in the housing. The strut assembly also includes a gas spring in the first and second cylinders, where the gas spring includes a pressurized gas contained within the first and second cylinders.

The invention provides an axle for wheels of a two-track motor vehicle. The axle has, on each vehicle side, a wheel carrier, a damper strut, a transverse link and a transverse leaf spring which controls the wheel at least partially laterally and/or in the vehicle longitudinal direction. The damper strut has a damper tube and a damper piston which can be moved in the damper tube along a damper longitudinal axis. The damper strut is attached by the damper tube to the wheel carrier. The transverse link is attached by a wheel-carrier-side end region to the wheel carrier. The transverse leaf spring extends substantially in the vehicle transverse direction and has at least one wheel-carrier-side end region. The transverse leaf spring is attached by the wheel-carrier-side end region thereof to the damper strut and is supported on the damper strut.

The disclosed method checks the state of degradation of the suspension of a vehicle without having to carry out tests that immobilize the vehicle or to use non-objective expertise. The method processes data provided by at least one front camera in an on-board visual system. The checking method includes steps for periodically acquiring images provided by the camera or cameras, followed by storage of the positional data of the three-dimensional road in relation to a flat road and basic positional parameter data for the path of the vehicle. The error between the ideal values of the suspension parameters of a chosen suspension model and the values of these parameters corresponding to the stored path data from the positional data is then minimized. By iteration, the accuracy of the error reaches a predetermined value sufficient to diagnose a state of the suspension.

The invention relates to a device for adjusting the height of a vehicle body, having two components, which can be moved longitudinally relative to each other, and a movement thread, which is arranged between these components. The movement thread includes a partial thread which is designed as a spindle paired with a first component and a partial thread which is designed as a spindle nut paired with the other component. The partial threads are designed to be axially movable relative to each other by a rotational drive. The device also includes a locking device which bridges the movement thread in at least three longitudinal positions and which comprises an axially fixed locking ring that is arranged on the spindle in a rotatable manner and has locking cams distributed over the circumference and a shifting gate that is rigidly connected to the spindle nut in an axial manner, receives the locking cams, and includes locking stops, which are arranged at end positions of the at least three longitudinal positions and are distributed over the circumference, and switching ramps, which lie axially opposite the locking stops, are provided with slopes that decrease in the circumferential direction, and are arranged over the circumference. A movement of the locking cams towards the locking stops and towards the switching ramps in the shifting gate is provided by an axial movement of the spindle relative to the spindle nut, this displacement depending on a rotational direction of the rotational drive, and a selection of the locking stops is carried out by rotating the locking ring by the rotated locking cams resting against switching stops provided between the switching ramps. In order to shorten the switching paths and the switching times of the locking device, at least one switching ramp arranged between two locking stops is expanded relative to the remaining switching ramps in a direction of the locking stops.

A shock absorber according to the present embodiment includes a shock absorber main body having a cylindrical outer shell and a rod movably inserted into the outer shell, and a knuckle bracket attached to an outer periphery of a lower end of the outer shell, in which the knuckle bracket includes a pair of clamping pieces that are curved along an outer periphery of the outer shell and clamp the outer shell, a pair of attachment pieces that extend in a radial direction of the outer shell from the ends in a circumferential direction of the respective clamping pieces and face each other, and a connecting piece that connects ends of the attachment pieces, a width between the tip ends in the circumferential direction of the inner peripheral surfaces of the respective clamping pieces is larger than the outer diameter of the outer shell, and the proximal end side than the tip ends in the circumferential direction of the inner peripheral surfaces of the respective clamping pieces abuts on the outer periphery of the outer shell.

A shock absorber according to the present embodiment includes a shock absorber main body having a cylindrical outer shell and a rod movably inserted into the outer shell, and a knuckle bracket attached to an outer periphery of a lower end of the outer shell, in which the knuckle bracket is formed by bending a single metal plate as a base material and includes a pair of clamping pieces that are curved along the outer periphery of the outer shell and clamp the outer shell, a pair of attachment pieces that extend in a radial direction of the outer shell from ends in a circumferential direction of the respective clamping pieces and face each other, a connecting piece that connects ends of the attachment pieces, and a pair of notches that cut off the three-plane intersection point where the clamping pieces, the attachment pieces, and the connecting piece intersect.

Embodiments of the present invention describe a recreational vehicle spindle, including a spindle body having one or more sockets in the spindle body, and an upper attachment mechanism in contact with the spindle body and adapted to attach to a steering component. The spindle also includes a lower attachment mechanism in contact with the spindle body and adapted to attach to a ski or wheel. The one or more sockets are adapted to each receive a ball and stud forming one or more ball joints.