Valve stiffness adjustment

A damper valve with an adjustable effective stiffness of a shim, said damper valve comprising:

• a fluid path formed through a piston, said shim disposed proximate said fluid path;
• a stiffness adjustment feature coupled to said shim;
• said shim disposed between said piston and said stiffness adjustment feature, said stiffness adjustment feature configured to adjust said effective stiffness of said shim and correspondingly vary an amount of fluid pressure required to deflect said shim without requiring any alteration of an existing preload applied to the shim wherein said stiffness adjustment feature comprises:
• a rotatable stiffness adjustment plate;
• a spring component coupled to said stiffness adjustment plate;
• an adjuster coupled to said stiffness adjustment plate, said adjuster comprising:
• a first position which disposes said stiffness adjustment plate and said spring component in a first orientation with respect to each other, said first orientation of said stiffness adjustment plate and said spring component generating said effective stiffness of said shim;
• a second position which disposes said stiffness adjustment plate and said spring component in a second orientation with respect to each other, said second orientation of said stiffness adjustment plate and said spring component generating a second effective stiffness of said shim wherein said effective stiffness of said shim differs from said second effective stiffness of said shim;
• and
• at least one post configured to provide a limiting point for rotation of said spring component with respect to said stiffness adjustment plate.