What effect does the last (smallest) shim have on the stack? I know a smaller shim will soften the stack and a larger will stiffen it, but will the thickness have any effect? I think a thicker will make it softer, but I'm not sure. I think this may be called the clamping shim.
Shim effect
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endosports
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- Jan 10, 2002
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Thicker=stiffer
georgieboy
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- Jan 2, 2001
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the smallest shim is not the clamping shim, but belongs to the stack, so bigger is stiffer. The clamping shim is more often bigger and support the stack above it(or below) and is not allowed to bend. So here is smaller or bigger irrelevant.
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The last or smaller shim does not bend either. My thinking was the shims bent around it and a thicker shim would let the stack bend more before hitting the larger shim they bend into, thus opening more. If it opend more it would be softer. I'm asking because I'm not sure of this.
georgieboy
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- Jan 2, 2001
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You are right in thinking that way. When the clamping shim wld hinder the shims flexing because of them hitting it, increasing the gap wld allowing the shims to flex further. But it will be a the final part of flexing so big suspension speeds. Sometimes they use clamping shims to avoid overflexing of the shims, against breaking.
marcusgunby
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- Jan 9, 2000
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A thicker clamp will only affect it if the high speed stack bends over it, and touches the plate underneath(this shouldnt ever happen) so for the most part the clamp shim thickeness doesnt matter.The main problem i find is when i use a low lift setup on a fork midvalve-then i use a soft base valve-normally a 11.25 clamp is ok, but for my setups i double it to 11.5.
