MacPherson Strut

MacPherson Struts

 Do you guys know that idea of  strut came from nature itself. Birds have a bone called furcula somewhere around their neck which act as a strurt between their shoulder and neck isn't it amazing.

Now lets come to business and talk about MacPherson strut. This strut is very common in use because of the cost factor as we all know cost determine any thing. It is employed in a wide range of car right from simple cars to Porsche 911 Turbo. This strut also comes handy because of the fact that it eliminates the upper control arm and ball joints. 

It comprises of a simple damper and spring combo thats the strut which is directly connected to the body of the car hence eliminating the upper control arm. A steering link is provided in the lower outer portion of the strut. By using this there is a very large space is left so that the axle can be easily inserted into the tire so you see its great for a front wheel drive.

There is another version of MacPherson strut available called Pseudo MacPherson strut which uses a wishbone instead of a lower control arm.

It has certain advantages like it is really cheap and efficiently simple in design yet meeting up with almost all the good suspension requirements. Its great for front wheel drive as it gives a large space for the drive shaft to be inserted into the wheel hub. Its light and narrow. It gives large engine room and bay room.

If anything has pros it must have cons, its the law of nature and MacPherson strut has also some disadvantages. It is taller so it requires some vertical space. It also lacks camber gain with body roll but it can be compensated by setting the static camber excessive. And it has to be a unibody to handle the stress and the forces. Another drawback is that it transmit noises directly to the car body.

This is all about MacPherson strut. Hope you guys have enjoyed reading it. Feel free to comment.

Cheers.