Patent ID: 7980368

Claim:
A damping force variable shock absorber comprising: a damping force variable valve controlled in a pilot control manner by operating a solenoid, the damping force variable valve including: a housing; a retainer being disposed in the housing, the retainer being formed with a communication passage communicating with a high-pressure chamber and a bypass passage communicating with a low-pressure chamber; a disc valve being provided in the rear of retainer, the communication passage being covered with the disc valve; and a pilot chamber being provided in the rear of the disc valve to have back-pressure against the disc valve, wherein the disc valve comprises: a main disc directly covering the communication passage and firstly resisting the fluid flowing through the communication passage, a pilot disc-S provided adjacent the main disc in the rear thereof to cooperate with the main disc and to resist the fluid flowing through the communication passage; a ring disc having an outer periphery supported on a supporting portion of the housing and being provided in the rear of the pilot disc-S and in contact with the pilot disc-S; and a spacer disc inserted between the main disc and the pilot disc-S, the spacer disc having a smaller outer diameter smaller than that of an arc-shaped slot of the ring disc in order to allow the pilot disc-S to be bent forward when the pressure in the pilot chamber is increased, wherein an outer end of the pilot disc-S is separated from the main disc.