Truck maintenance: The suspension system

The suspension system of your truck goes a long way in keeping the vehicle in proper functional conditions. However, drivers habitually ignore maintaining this component until small issues aggravate to expensive problems. With a properly operating suspension system, you can handle your truck better. It also ensures the safety of the driver and other pedestrians. The suspension system of your truck protects other automotive components too, including the axles, tires, wheels, and brakes. Reputed professionals at the leading truck centers recommend timely maintenance for your vehicle to ensure that all these components work in perfect sync.

Keeping the vital components of your truck, including its suspension system in good health prolongs the vehicle’s lifeline. In this post, we have explained how you need to take care of the suspension system of your truck.

What does the suspension system of your truck involve?

A few vital components of your truck constitute the suspension system. These include the coil springs, shock absorbers, tires, leaf springs, and struts.

• Shock absorbers: These pistons are long and look like tubes. They are filled with gas or liquids and support the springs. Shock absorbers are capable of extending and compressing themselves, so as to mitigate the effect of dips and bumps on the road.
• Coil springs: Coil springs are present close to the shock absorbers. They, too, absorb a significant impact of the dips and bumps of the road.
• Struts: In one assembly, structs have a spring and a shock absorber. They are responsible to lend your truck greater structural stability. In general, trucks have one strut on their axles.
• Leaf springs: There are multiple plates on leaf springs. These are made of metal and are slightly curved. The plates remain clamped together. The function of leaf springs is to reduce vertical vibration. Trucks with solid rear axles generally have leaf springs.
• Tires: This is the only part of the truck’s suspension system that comes in contact with the ground. Quality tires are capable of absorbing a significant part of the dips and bumps. It transfers the rest to the struts and shock absorbers.

How to maintain the suspension system of your truck?

Established trucking companies take care of the suspension systems of your vehicles when you schedule a maintenance with them. Here are some of the maintenance tips to keep the suspension system of your truck in perfect operational conditions.

1. Monitor tire pressure

It’s essential to inflate the tires of your truck to the recommended PSI level, as per the respective manufacturer. Typically, you would find this recommended level on the side door jab beside the driver on a sticker. So, you need to find this level and use a reliable tire gauge to ensure that all the tires have the right pressure. In case any tire has low pressure, you need to inflate it to achieve the prescribed PSI level. In case you overinflate any tire, wait for around 3 hours before you deflate it.

2. Inspect the tread depth

In healthy tires for trucks, the tread depth should be adequate. Firstly, you need to check for bare or low spots on the tread. In case there’s uneven tread on your tire, it points to an issue with the suspension system. Besides, it might also indicate that you need to check the wheel alignment of your truck. A professional diagnosis at an established truck center would help you sort the issue out.

Reach out to a reputed truck center for professional maintenance

In case you detect any of these symptoms in your truck, make sure to seek professional support.

• The rocking of the vehicle back and forth
• Bumpy rides
• You feel that the truck is lower to the ground
• Rough braking
• Uneven wearing of tires
• Leaking oil from struts

It would be wise to get your truck serviced at a reputed truck center, where the experts would take care of its suspension system.