The Automotive Chassis is the result of two decades of experience: On the one hand from the experience of teaching courses such as Vehicle Mechanics, Vehicle System Design, Chassis Design to engineering students; on the other hand from the design practice of vehicle and chassis components in a large automotive company.

This work is addressed primarily to students of automotive engineering and secondarily to all technicians and designers working in this field. It is also addressed to all enthusiasts who are looking for a technical guide.

The text is subdivided in two volumes. The first one deals with the automotive chassis componenst, such as

· a structure, usually a ladder framework, able to carry all the remaining components of the vehicle;

· the suspensions for the mechanical linkage of wheels with the framework;

· the wheels and their tires;

· the steering system for changing wheel angles according to vehicle path;

· the brake system for reducing speed or stopping the vehicle;

· the transmission for applying engine torque to the driving wheels.

The second volume deals with the automotive chassis as a system, studying how it influences vehicle performance and dealing in detail with mathematical models useful for the design and analysis of the vehicle.

The aim of the book is to be a reference book in automotive technology, as far as automotive chassis (i.e. everything that is inside a vehicle except the engine and the body) is concerned. The book is a result of a decade of work heavily sponsored by the FIAT group (who supplied material, together with other automotive companies, and sponsored the work). The first volume deals with the design of automotive components and the second volume treats the various aspects of the design of a vehicle as a system.

CONTENTS, ABOUT THE AUTHORS, FOREWORD, PREFACE, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, LIST OF SYMBOLS, I WHEELS, STRUCTURES AND MECHANTSMS, INTRODUCTION TO PART I, 1 HISTORICAL EVOLUTION,
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Rigid axle mechanical linkages
1.3 The independent suspension mechanical linkages
1.4 Wheels and tires
1.5 Brakes
1.6 Chassis frame 2 WHEELS AND TIRES
2.1 Description
2.2 Tire operation
2.3 Rolling radius
2.4 Rolling resistance
2.5 Static Forces
2.6 Longitudinal Force
2.7 Cornering forces
2.8 Interaction between longitudinal
2.9 Outline on dynamic behavior
2.10 Testing 3 SUSPENSIONS
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Independent suspensions
3.3 Semi-independent suspensions
3.4 Rigid axle suspensions
3.5 Industrial vehicle suspensions
3.6 Design and testing 4 STEERING SYSTEM
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Steering mechanism
4.3 Rack and pinion steering box
4.4 Screw and sector steering box
4.5 Steering column
4.6 Power steering
4.7 Design and testing 5 BRAKING SYSTEM
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Car brakes
5.3 Industrial vehicle brakes
5.4 Design and testing 6 CONTROL SYSTEMS
6.1 Steering control
6.2 Brake control
6.3 Suspension control 7 CHASSIS STRUCTURES
7.1 Underbody
7.2 Subframe
7.3 Industrial vehicle frames
7.4 Structural tasks and side forces
7.5 Structural design
7.6 Structural testing 8 TRANSMISSION DRIVELINE, INTRODUCTION TO PART H, HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
8.1 Manual gearbox
8.2 Friction clutches
8.3 Automatic gearboxes 9 MANUAL GEARBOXES
9.1 Manual gearbox classification
9.2 Mechanical efficiency
9.3 Manual automobile gearboxes
9.4 Manual gearboxes for industrial vehicles

10 SHIFTING MECHANISMS
10.1 Internal shifting mechanisms
10.2 External shifting mechanisms

11 START-UP DEVICES
11.1 Friction clutch
11.2 Start-up devices for automatic gearboxes. 12 SYNCHRONIZERS
12.1 Description
12.2 Design criteria 13 DIFFERENTIALS AND FINAL DRIVES
13.1 Differentials and final drives
13.2 All wheel drive transfer boxes
13.3 Outline of differential theory
13.4 Types of self-locking differentials
13.5 Differential effect on vehicle dynamics 14 SHAFTS AND JOINTS
14.1 Propeller shafts
14.2 Half shafts
14.3 Universal joints
14.4 Constant speed joints 15 AUTOMATIC GEARBOXES
15.1 General issues
15.2 Car gearboxes with fixed rotation axis
15.3 Epicycloidal car gearboxes
15.4 Car CVTs
15.5 Gearboxes for industrial vehicles
15.6 Control strategies 16 DESIGN AND TESTING
16.1 Transmission mission
16.2 Gears
16.3 Shafts
16.4 Bearings
16.5 Lubricants
16.6 Housings and seals
16.7 Outline of test technologies REFERENCES OF VOLUME I INDEX