Air-Ride vs. U-bolt and many other pre-trip questions.

Well saying a suspension is "u-bolt" is incorrect since a lot of air ride suspensions use u-bolts to mount them to the axle. Air ride will have a big, cylinderical "bag" typically behind the axle on each side.

Unless the truck you're driving is 50 years old it will most certainly be gear driven. If its bolted to the engine gear train its gear driven.

 

I won't have a chance to post anything more for a few hours. I would suggest Googling Hendrickson suspension and check out their website. They make a lot of heavy truck suspensions.

 

The suspension with a leaf spring is, leaf spring suspension, rather than air ride.

Edit to add: most truck front suspensions are leaf spring suspension.

 

If your compressor isn't gear driven it will be belt driven and you'll see the drive belt external to the compressor.

 

I get what you are asking, here is an air ride suspension illustration that may help.



This is the most common way the rear suspension is configured.

The spring beam is where the axle mounts to and you can see the u-bolts.

The following is a typical leaf spring suspension illustration.


the u-bolts are used to mount the axle to the springs.

For your pre-trip, you will need to know about the major parts of the engine on the outside, fan and alternator belt, oil dip stick and so on, you will also need to know how to spot leakage.

 

The biggest difference between the two is at the end of a long day with Rear leaf springs you will feel like someone beat the he** out of you.

 

A lot of repetition is a good way to learn the pretrip.

I made flashcards, they were very helpful, too. I made one for each area, such as one card for "as I approach the vehicle", then another for exhaust, then under the hood left side, under the hood right side, etc.

On the front of the card wad just the major area, on the rear were the details, such as, check for leaning, this could be caused by tire or suspension problems, or could indicate a shifted load.

And then a LOT of repetition and practice.

Luck to you.