Strutmasters Driver Timothy Peters Riding Momentum with New Team

ROXBORO, NC – You might think Strutmasters.com driver Timothy Peters would be ready for a break after five straight weekends of hard racing in NASCAR’s truck series. Instead, he can’t wait for the series to resume July 18th at Kentucky Speedway.

“I’m ready to get back behind the wheel of the Strutmasters.com Toyota right now,” said Peters, fresh off a seventh-place run at Memphis Motorsport Park on June 27. “There is nothing like momentum and Red Horse Racing has it right now. We’re running a little better every week and I really feel like I’m starting to gel with the team.”

It was the fourth top 10 run of the season for Providence, NC, native Peters, one of NASCAR’s biggest Cinderella stories of the season. “Last Christmas, I was wondering just how merry things would be for me,” Peters recalled. “Things were not coming together the way I wanted. I thought I might be done racing at this level.”

A few close friends and business owners in his adopted hometown of Danville, Va. pulled together and formed Premier Racing in January with a four-race sponsorship from Strutmasters, the leading experts in Lincoln air suspension parts and conversion kits. Peters made the most of the chance and was ninth in standings when Strutmasters.com extended sponsorship for the remainder of the season.

“It was a pretty incredible story if things stopped right there,” said Peters, a multi-time champion in NASCAR weekly Late Model competition. “But the story got even better.” Red Horse Racing owner Tom DeLoach parted ways with truck series champion Johnny Benson on June 8 due to lack of sponsorship. Strutmasters owner Chip Lofton agreed to allow Peters to carry the Strutmasters.com banner to Red Horse Racing a couple of days later.

“I feel so good about the move over to Red Horse Racing,” said Peters. “Tom DeLoach and Chip Lofton have given me an awesome opportunity. I went from stressing about whether I was going to even get to the race to driving for a championship caliber team. I feel so incredibly blessed.”

Peters said he has made one sacrifice with the move to Red Horse Racing. “The race shop of Premier Racing was five minutes from my house in Danville,” Peters said. “Now, I get up about 4:30 every morning and drive two hours to Mooresville, NC, where Red Horse Racing is based. My guys at the shop work so hard. I am willing to do whatever it takes to be right there with them. Besides, I’d go nuts just sitting at the house. Racing is my life. I want to be there.

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How Shock Absorber Works In A Car!

Shock absorbers don’t really absorb shock, they dampen it. Why is this important for you to know? To improve ride quality, or in the case of a tow-able RV, the “white knuckle” factor induced by trailer bounce and sway, it is necessary to understand a little regarding the dynamics a shock absorber attempts to manage. This mod discusses both ride dynamics and issues related with the item, in addition to to know how to mod your RV to drastically develop your driving and/or towing understanding.

Basically put, a shock absorbers sole purpose is to dampen the compression and rebound of any suspension system by controlling the speed at which a suspension cycles. Without them, your RV would continue to bounce up and down until the kinetic energy is finally dissipated from the suspension’s springs (e.g. leaf springs, coil springs, torsion bar, etc.). Now let’s think about the law of conservation of energy. With this law in mind, shocks will perform two functions. The first function is to slow the suspension’s cycling of compressing or rebounding. Secondly, since energy can’t be destroyed, the shock transforms the kinetic energy into heat as it dampens the “bouncing” of the springs. That’s it. That’s what a shock does.

So why is this important? The the greater part of tow-able RVs don’t are available from the factory with shock absorbers! And while class A, B, and C motor homes do have shocks, they are often times barely adequate to control the suspension, causing wandering and excessive side-to-side motion on uneven surfaces.

To install shock absorbers on a tow-able RV, a retrofit kit is generally needed, although some tow-able currently have the state of mind and shackle tabs necessary. A retrofit kit contains bracketry and hardware necessary to easily install the shocks. These kits use a plate that mounts to the bottom of the leaf spring shackles and has a tab for the bottom of the shock to mount to. The top mount for the shock attaches to the frame. It is often essential to drill a hole in the frame in order to bolt the top shock mount to. This sounds scary to do but there is generally enough frame material that the hole drilled won’t weaken the frame any significant amount.

For torsion type axles, like the Dexter brand, the retrofit kits are a little different. Since there are no shackles, you must either replace the torsion arm link (from the axle housing to the spindle) with one that has a lower shock mount, or have a tab welded to the torsion arm link. The upper mount can either be drilled through the frame or an additional mounting tab will need to be welded to the frame. Much depends on your particular axle arrangement, though most torsion axle setups are generally the same.

Motor homes are a little different. Since they already come equipped with shock absorbers, replacing them is all that is important. It’s much mod you possibly can commonly fix by yourself as all that is generally involved is, using basic hand tools, to unbolt the shocks from their mounts and replace them using the reverse order used during removal. There may be some bolt corrosion to deal with but a little penetrating fluid sprayed on a half hour or so before bolt removal will make things much easier. If you have a motor home that has struts (like a Sprinter) instead of independent springs and shocks, you should have a qualified suspension professional do the job. Special tools are needed to compress the strut assembly if you want to remove and replace the shock cartridge.

Tip: When fitting a tow-able RV with shocks using a retrofit kit, you will have to ensure you know how long of a shock you need beforehand as the upper mount point can vary from trailer to trailer. A close guesstimate is to measure from the lower shackle plate to the middle of the frame rail. If you opt for the kit which includes shocks, make certain this measurement is within the working range of the shocks supplied with the kit.

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How A Suspension Lift Kit Increase The Performance Of A Vehicle!

Suspension lift kits are a system of springs used to raise a vehicle by suspending the frame, body, engine and power train above the wheels. It is a modification, often done by Jeep, truck, suv and off-road enthusiasts to raise the ride height of their vehicle. Suspension lift kits have become tremendously popular among people who wish to give their automobiles

You can spend a few bucks on some performance shocks and simple brackets to completely change your rig’s height and look. You can also opt to ditch the stock springs and shocks altogether for a set of adjustable air bags. Or, if so inclined, you can go with something like a 15″ body and suspension lift kit that requires an air-traffic controller to pull into your driveway.

Though some people install a suspension lift for aesthetic purpose, others purchase it for its principal purpose– to lessen the jarring of the automobile that is caused by irregularities in the roads traveled. Since the wheels of an automobile accelerate, stop, and steer it, the suspension lift kit must also serve to keep the wheels in close contact with the road surface at all times. Suspension lifts (also referred to as lift kits or leveling kits) enable steeper ascent, descent and breakover angles, higher ground clearance, and helps accommodate larger rims and tires

Whether you wanna lift your rig for a cool look, better performance or towing big loads, the market has every option covered. It is just up to you to choose a trusted online lift kit shop for the perfect product for your beloved vehicle.

In order to get a smooth road ride and improved handling for off-road use, you’ll need to get a quality lift kit. All kits will give you more ground clearance, of course, with the increased wheel travel helping to smooth the trails. A quality kit will include performance shocks that not only rebuff bumps and ruts; they can do wonders for your on-road handling as well.

Whether you use your rig for work or play, a high-quality suspension lift kit lends a major change to your rig’s altitude and attitude. Looks and performance are both seriously altered, hopefully for the better. There are a lot of kits and styles available, so careful consideration must be taken to meet your lift needs and stay within your budget. Luckily, an eager suspension industry is waiting to serve you.

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Guide To Lifting Your Truck’s Suspension!

A Suspension lift can be distinguished according to its size and the purpose for its use. There are also two ways to install a Suspension lift kit to your vehicle. In terms of sizes, as with almost everything in this world, there are three varieties of suspension lift size: small, medium and large. Small suspension lift kits usually comprises of 1.5 inches or fewer.

It will grant some clearance and room for vehicles with somewhat larger tires. Commonly, the proper way in gaining a small suspension lift can be done by means of coil spacers in front and long shackles on the rear. They are relatively inexpensive as well as very easy to install because less complications is involve in attaching them to the car. Small lifts are great for those who need to watch their budget and it is also the easiest to install. Users of this size also have little to complain regarding complications.

As for the medium suspension lifts, it is capable of almost 2 inches of lift. This size is the best choice for vehicle owners who are looking to gain tire clearance but are not exactly planning to do any off-road riding. Spacer and add-a-leaf lifts is commonly used for this size. Sometimes, their package may also come with the latest shocks.

Most users of medium suspension front lift kits may notice several changes in the performance and handling of their vehicles upon its installation. Some changes would be good and some could be bad. Users must have strong, even new and tough rear springs. For those planning later modifications on their vehicle, more lift could become difficult to achieve especially if an add-a-leaf kit is preferred since this kind is designed for lifting stock springs.

Now, for large sized suspension lifts, which consists of about 3 – 4 inches of ground clearance, for a much more aggressive vehicle and assurance of great off-road adventures? Commonly, large suspension lift setup comprises of new add-a-leafs, placed in the rear, front coils and even additional new rear springs and front coils. A set of shocks to match are also included in this large kit package.

Obviously, this setup is quite pricey and users have to expect more complications with their vehicles than those with the smaller sizes of lifts. There may also be a dramatic effect on the performance of the vehicle on on-road rides. For off road riding enthusiasts, this size is the best as it transforms their rigs into intimidating machines to take to the wilds and still stand out. How will you control the speed and movement of the vehicle if it is big?

You know how a big truck or an SUV looks like and how heavy it is, compared to the mainstream cars. Because of the suspension system adapted in vehicles, it makes it possible to get pass bumpy roads without damaging it. That is also, why most of them adapt modification by installing Suspensions on them to enhance the suspension system on their big vehicles.You can feel certain in your suspension purchase today.

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Discover How Shock Absorbers Work In A Car!

Unless a dampening structure is present, a car spring will extend and release the energy it absorbs from a bump at an uncontrolled rate. The spring will continue to bounce at its natural frequency until all of the energy originally put into it is used up. A suspension built on springs alone would make for an extremely bouncy ride and, depending on the terrain, an uncontrollable car.

Enter the shock absorber, or snubber, a device that controls unwanted spring motion through a process known as dampening. Shock absorbers slow down and reduce the magnitude of vibratory motions by turning the kinetic energy of suspension movement into heat energy that can be dissipated through hydraulic fluid. To understand how this works, it’s best to look inside a shock absorber to see its structure and function.

A shock absorber is basically an oil pump placed between the frame of the car and the wheels. The upper mount of the shock connects to the frame (i.e., the sprung weight), while the lower mount connects to the axle, near the wheel (i.e., the unsprung weight). In a twin-tube design, one of the most common types of shock absorbers, the upper mount is connected to a piston rod, which in turn is connected to a piston, which in turn sits in a tube filled with hydraulic fluid. The inner tube is known as the pressure tube, and the outer tube is known as the reserve tube. The reserve tube stores excess hydraulic fluid.

When the car wheel encounters a bump in the road and causes the spring to coil and uncoil, the energy of the spring is transferred to the shock absorber through the upper mount, down through the piston rod and into the piston. Orifices perforate the piston and allow fluid to leak through as the piston moves up and down in the pressure tube. Because the orifices are relatively tiny, only a small amount of fluid, under great pressure, passes through. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring.

Shock absorbers work in two cycles – the compression cycle and the extension cycle. The compression cycle occurs as the piston moves downward, compressing the hydraulic fluid in the chamber below the piston. The extension cycle occurs as the piston moves toward the top of the pressure tube, compressing the fluid in the chamber above the piston. A typical car or light truck will have more resistance during its extension cycle than its compression cycle. With that in mind, the compression cycle controls the motion of the vehicle’s unsprung weight, while extension controls the heavier, sprung weight.

All modern shock absorbers are velocity-sensitive – the faster the suspension moves, the more resistance the shock absorber provides. This enables shocks to adjust to road conditions and to control all of the unwanted motions that can occur in a moving vehicle, including bounce, sway, brake dive and acceleration squat.

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