John:
I should have know you'd have it all "down-pat". Thanks for making it easy!
Russ, #1226B (which only has 2 wheels, but hopefully is not last ride I'll
have!)
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of John Burk
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2003 2:39 PM
To: land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: rear suspention
Most cars with sprung rears have one or both of these problems . (1) Too
much
rear roll stiffness (to overcome the effects of drive shaft torque) or (2)
unequal rear wheel loading under acceleration (due to drive shaft torque) .
Both problems make a car more spin prone . Normally the remedy for oversteer
is add front roll stiffness or reduce it in the rear , not easy when rear
roll
needs to be high . Independent rear suspension is one solution . A simpler
fix
; use a single torque arm a little to the right of the drive shaft .The
offset
needs to be the torque arm length divided by the ring & pinion ratio . With
this design the torque arm exactly cancels the undesirable effects of drive
shaft torque , wheel loading stays equal under acceleration or deceleration
and roll stiffness can be as desired . The only drawback is wheel loading
is
unequal under braking . Only the torque arm should resist axel torque
(single
link on each side) and only the single links should locate the rear front to
rear . The front of the torque arm needs to be free front to rear (slot or
vertical link) so there is no torque arm arc to fight with the side link
arcs
. Hope my description is clear enough . John
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