Ok, I think I am working my way up to a pile of crows toeat here and maybe
you all can whack me with a rubber chicken to boot! I have been doodling on
a scratch pad for the last few days and some eye opening conclusions are
beginning to form regards to rear steering. I sat down and dre up a car on
paper with a line through the rear axle is the commor point. Then I added a
typical front steer system and mirrored that for a rear steer system. My
first inclination was to say the forces and moments are the same, but they
ain't! The steering forces seem to be counter intuitive for rear steer than
front. By that I mean when you are in front steer and turn the steering
wheel the forces always keep needing the operator input to continue making
the turn. But at the back end the forces are such that it is more like power
steering gone haywire. It seems to assist the driver in making the turn and
maybe that's the problem. The driver corrects but then needs to add more
input then correct...and so on... sort of like sawing the steering wheel
back and forth until the forces are so large that the operator has no
control. Now I am basing this on my doodles so be kind. I have ordered the
Phd dissertation that Elon mentioned. MAybe a week and it will be here for
me to begin the search for the rubber chicken. Another thought is that when
the driver is sitting in a car with front steer and makes, say a right turn,
then he is thrown outward by cenrtifugal forces and he runs into the "door"
on the left side of the car: it is moving in the opposite direction. This is
our normal body forces and our the way we've all learned to drive ('cept
those that drive on the left side of the road). But if you sit in a rear
steer car and make that same right hand turn, both you and the car are
moving in the same direction which might be a little unsettling. Couple that
with the added over steering of the rear steer method and it probably is
hard to control.
I will be doing some math to validate my thinking on this but I wold like to
hear from John B. as to whether or not some of this fits his experience.
Maybe not, maybe so.
ANd I have been somewhat arrogant in previous messages regarding this as a
Mr. Know it all. BS...When will I learn..
find your rubber chickens..
mayf
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