The Effects of Misplaced Rubber Pads on Leaf Spring
Durability 2023-36-0351
Vehicle suspension systems that adopt Hotchkiss layout are commonly based on leaf
springs. For better comfort for passengers, some features such as rubber pads
are used on the springs to reduce noise from metallic contact between leaves,
but those pads can compromise the durability of the spring if not well designed
or located in the spring assembly, as we will demonstrate on this paper. To do
so, it will be presented comparisons using CAE methodology and physical parts
test results from vehicle and bench testing which were loaded in different
conditions to demonstrate how the rubber pad position can influence the
durability of the spring, especially near the eyelet region for some specific
load conditions. The case studies presented here are focused on the impact of
the rubber pads on durability life of springs, but not defined as root cause of
failures.