Mobility Solutions

Horstman Hydrostrut®

The hydro-pneumatic suspension uses high-pressure nitrogen gas and an integral oil damper and provides for an easy path to ride height and wheel station load adjustment . Compact and providing excellent ride this is a superior selection for 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 vehicles compared to coil or leaf spring, conventional shocks or air bag technology.

Developed by Horstman in the late 1980s for tracked vehicle and wheeled applications, Hydrostrut® was designed from the outset to eliminate the need for a separate spring by combining the gas spring into the damping unit. This allows the vehicle designer to overcome internal packaging constraints in the case of torsion bars or external packaging constraints in the case of coil springs.

The hydropneumatic suspension uses high-pressure nitrogen gas and an integral oil damper. Robust environmental seals make the Hydrostrut® a sealed module suitable for robust environments. The rising spring rate of compressed gas provides a natural progressive end stop to travel and reduce shock loads into the chassis and crew. Separate bump stops can be eliminated or significantly reduced in size and cost.

Benefits

For wheeled or tracked vehicle with ride height and semi-active options.

In the demanding world of high-speed and high-torque applications, ensuring the integrity and performance of wheeled or tracked vehicles is paramount. Our cutting-edge suspension system redefines efficiency and reliability by integrating both spring and damper functionalities into a single, compact unit. This revolutionary design supports both wheeled and tracked vehicle suspensions, providing a versatile solution for a broad range of applications.

Horstman has upgraded our Hydrostruts® with the latest in ride height control and semi-active damping technology.

Low weight and size compared to separate shock+coil or air bag+compressor
The rising spring rate of compressed gas provide a natural progressive end stop to travel and reduce shock loads into the chassis and crew
Separate bump stops can be eliminated or significantly reduced in size and cost

Efficient packaging space of Hydrostrut® allows the use with road arms, MacPherson struts or short / long arm suspensions.

Simplified installation & repair
Damaged units can be replaced more easily than bent or seized torsion bars

Ability to lower the turret basket and reduce the height of the vehicle gives improved survivability (lower silhouette)
The saving of the hull side armour is typically 100-500kg (or) ability to increase ground clearance for IED blast reduction or extra floor armour

Hydrostrut® allows different spring rates at each wheel station using a single part number allowing different vehicle variants in a fleet to have optimized ride quality
Simpler than a torsion bar system which needs separate road arms, bump stops, dampers, torsion bar attachments and protective tubes
Upgrade path to ride height, lockout and semi active damping

Charging kit – Hydrobooster™

Usage & References

Rotary dampers from Horstman - empowering multiple vehicles.

Horstman provides the world’s widest range of Hydrostruts®, together with ride height and semi-active options. Proven in Spz Puma, M-777 howitzers, and a wide variety of 4×4, 6×6 and 8×8 wheeled combat vehicles such as the AMV, PARS and Terrex.