2009 TRD Sport Bedcage Shock Mounting

Hi, I'm an engineering student and am designing a bedcage in Solidworks for my 2009 Tacoma TRD Sport and was wondering if anyone knows the best angle from the vertical the shock be mounted at for optimal performance.

This angle would have the shock in a reasonable position while maximizing the shock travel and limiting the vertical "component" of the wheel forces that are transferred to the shock. Edit: I am still new to suspension design so this will be a learning process

The shock will pivot about a set location near the leaf spring so the mounting location of the top of the shock will determine this angle.

The shocks I'm planning to use are 16" triple bypass (King or Fox) with Deaver H70HD leaf springs, spring under kit, and King 2 x 2 bump stops all from DirtKing. My inspiration for the project were the bedcages offered by DirtKing and Camburg.

Would anyone with these specific cages be able to tell me this angle or could lend me some advice on this? This is the only parameter I need for my cage design and I plan to improve my design after I run simulations in Solidworks to find stress locations once I know what angle to place the shock force at. (I can do this by trial and error but this is my first post on this site and wanted to see if anyone has advice)

Thanks!

 

The springs are taking the majority of the load, the shock sees damping forces. What are you after here? The angle you're talking about comes down to design questions: what kind of damping ratio, range of motion, etc. do you want?

You are the "customer" here, what requirements do you want to set? Decide on the requirements, and then design to meet them.

You said you want the angle that "...would maximize the shock travel while also limiting the vertical "component" of the wheel forces that are transferred to the shock." If those are your only design constraints, then put your shock at exactly 90 degrees to the plane of motion of the axle, in other words, put the shock perfectly horizontal. You would then have negligible forces on the shock and you would absolutely maximize travel. That meets the requirements you've stated, but it would then also be completely useless at absorbing shock, so those aren't really the design requirements that you are after.

You should really be looking at the desired damping ratio and shock range of travel. You should look at the geometry for your suspension and then determine how the shock will dampen both jounce and rebound for given estimated loads. Any angle other than along the line of motion of the axle as it moves up and down will give you a non-linear damping ratio through the range of travel. If the shock is mounted at an angle, then shock absorbtion will be greatest at full droop and least at full compression (assuming the shocks themselves have a constant damping ratio). That being said, if the shock is mounted perfectly vertically, it can't effectively dampen front to back vibration.

You could do loads and loads of analysis to determine what is optimal for your desired damping ratios and travel. What I would suggest, is look at some examples, maybe do a little research, then try placing the shock mount in a reasonable position that gives you the articulation you want, and then calculate it's damping characteristics for a few simple cases and see if you're happy with it. There also other considerations like misalignment, packaging, and structural support, but those are largely secondary design concerns for something like this.

 

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah I admit I did not do enough research to understand the design requirements I was seeking with the project. Initially I was basing my design off of Camburg's but as a less modular and cheaper version.

These are great tips and I will definitely determine my desired values for damping ratio, shock and wheel travel, and any other constraints I find along the way before I conduct any in depth testing like simulations.