Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This course is designed for students with no previous industry experience. Students will develop the skills, knowledge and abilities necessary to perform, with supervision, suspension, steering and alignment repairs on import and domestic vehicles. This course will prepare students for Advanced Suspension, Steering and Brakes (AM 142), where they will practice learned skills on vehicles until they can diagnose and repair these systems with limited supervision. This is the skill level necessary for employment at an apprentice level.

The broader purpose of this course is to provide students with authentic experience in basic industry skills and concepts, to help ensure their success in later courses, and on-the-job. These skills include precision tool use, finding service information and ASE style test taking. Concepts and abilities that they will put into practice include safety, craftsmanship, professionalism, communication of inspection results and responsible customer service.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

• Perform comprehensive suspension and steering system inspection, maintenance, diagnosis and repairs with limited supervision.
• Communicate professionally with employers, customers and co-workers using industry standard language and following industry standard protocols.
• Access and utilize repair information in a rapidly changing technology.
• Develop and implement strategies and processes to solve steering and suspension system repair problems.
• Perform steering and suspension system repair to professional and ethical standards. 
   

To reach these goals, students will demonstrate the course outcomes for Suspension and Steering by completing the following tasks:

1. Perform a complete Inspection of the steering & suspension system; and obtain accurate 4-wheel alignment measurements.

Preparation for this will be achieved by completing the following sub-tasks:
• Practice proper inspection procedures for all steering and suspension components
• Practice using industry standard 4-wheel alignment equipment
• Practice using tire mounting and balancing machines
• Removal and replacement of rack and pinion and conventional steering gears
• Removal and replacement of McPherson suspension components
• Removal and replacement of shock absorbers

2. Demonstrate professional skills and attitudes throughout AM141 by:

• Maintaining good attendance
• Using safe shop practices
• Demonstrating respect for others, and for property
• Participating in and completing all required activities

3. Demonstrate preparedness for ASE testing by achieving passing scores on all written exams
 

Critical to the effective diagnosis and repair of any automotive system is an understanding of how and why certain components work. On today's automobile, this is often more useful for the technician than the ability to perform a particular adjustment or replacement. A technician must have the ability to determine which repairs are in the customer's best interest, and understand how safe service procedures are in their own best interest. To develop this background understanding of automotive steering, suspension & alignment, students in AM141 will explore the following concepts:

Health and Safety
• Loaded suspension components
• Proper jacking & hoisting
• Identification, handling and disposal of lubricants

Professional business and personal conduct
• Customer safety
• Repeat repairs
• Communication with customers
• Customer satisfaction as business strategy
• Teamwork
• Cooperative problem solving

Physical Laws
• Measurements in degrees, inches, metric
• Hydraulic principles of pumps/pressure
• Static and dynamic imbalance (of tires)

Specific System and Component operation
• Vehicle construction
• Basic suspension types
• Function of suspension system components
• Spring types
• Electronic suspension types / operation
• Steering gear types / operation
• Power assisted steering

Skills developed in AM141:
In Suspension and Steering, students will build an inventory of the following repair skills to prepare for a career in Automotive Service & Repair. Further skills will be developed and practiced in AM 142.

Suspension Systems
• Remove and replace McPherson struts
• Inspect suspension ball-joints for wear
• Accurately identify major suspension system components
• Remove and replace shock absorbers
• Inspect suspension bushings for wear

Steering Systems
• Evaluate rack & pinion type steering gear
• Properly select power steering fluid
• Inspect steering linkage for wear

Tires
• Inspect tires for wear and overall condition
• Dismount & mount tires / wheels
• Use computerized equipment to balance tire/wheel assemblies
• Repair tire punctures