The present invention relates to a spring strut for a motor vehicle and, more particularly, to a spring strut having a separate support on the vehicle body for a coil spring and a shock absorber, with the coil spring supported on a spring pocket held on the vehicle body side, and the shock absorber supported on a vehicle-body-side bearing element having an elasticity.
In supports of spring struts for motor vehicles on the vehicle body, as shown, for example, from German Patent No. DE-A 30 14 869, it is very difficult to carry out an adaptation of the elastic support bearing or of the spring pocket to other wheel loads in a simple manner because of the intimate connection of the spring pocket and the support bearing. In such a construction, the entire support bearing with the spring pocket must then be exchanged for the purpose of an adaptation which results in high expenditures.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a spring strut for a motor vehicle, on which the upper vehicle-body-side support can be adapted partially or entirely in a simple manner to the vehicle loads. Another object of the invention is to make it possible to exchange parts of the support for repair purposes without any problems.
These objects have been achieved in accordance with the present invention by providing a spring pocket connected with a stop element via an elastic decoupling member forming a constructional unit and with a bearing element can be exchangeably fastened on a dome of the vehicle body by screws.
Among the principal advantages achieved by the present invention is the fact that the elastic bearing element connected with the piston rod as well as the spring pocket with the stop element can now be exchanged as a unit. Thus, the elastic bearing element may, for example, be a hydraulic unit or an elastic bearing element, and may have different elasticities adaptable to the required loads.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the stop element of the spring pocket, by way of screws, is fixed with the bearing element on the dome so that either the stop element and the bearing element together or only the stop element or the bearing element is exchangeable. Furthermore, another spring pocket can be connected with the spring pocket which results in the ability to provide coil springs of different diameters. The additional spring pocket comprises a sleeve-shaped element which has a shape corresponding to the spring pocket of the constructional unit and for accommodating the coil spring, for example, of a larger diameter, comprises an angular ring element.
The connection of the bearing element with the piston rod takes place via a sleeve element which, on the one side, is fixedly connected with the bearing element and, on the other side, is screwed onto the piston rod. Disks are connected with the sleeve which interact with fixed stops of the spring pocket during compression and rebounding movements. In order to simplify the mounting, the fastening screws are held on the spring pocket in a pressed-in manner so that, after the loosening of the nuts, an easy exchange becomes possible.