Warwick,
You are right, the welds are stressed in the stock Panhard as well as the
Traction Matsers. Everybody re-inforces the Panhard frame support area (after
the first break), and the forward Traction Master Mounting is reinforced way
beyond the original design, by anyone who knows. They wont break till you hit
that bump in the road too high to clear the lowered bottom clearance.
Realize, we are talking about a bad original design, incorrectly mounted Panhard
rod, and over 30 year old technology. There are lot's of better suspension
designs on the market (but not specifically for Tiger). But the design concepts
are there. You are correct about the Panhard rod offering "lateral" location,
which has nothing to do with spring wind-up and wheel hop that the Traction
masters are supposed to control. Removing the Panhard rod, because one has
installed Traction Masters, does not make a lot of sense. One is spring
wind-up, the other is sideways axle movement, and the Traction masters aren't
meant to resist lateral shifts (that's one way to break some welds.
The problem with a live rear axle, with semi-elliptical springs, is that too
many forces are being applied, in large quantities, to a system ill-prepared to
handle it. All the "add-on" devices are band-aids for a bloody big wound. Most
keep this for sake of "period originality" or class racing requirements. An
independent rear suspension, with fixed-mount differential, and 4 link
suspension, with appropriate locating arms is a better alternative, but not very
period. So would road sensing, adaptive suspension be superior. The new
"limited slip" designs, on stock cars, are really a very clever use of the
existing Anti-Lock Braking Sytstems (ABS). They use the same electronics to
detect differntial wheel motion, and modulate the individual wheels brakes to
achieve traction control. Most of these systems ware designed for icy, or wet
roads, not 300 horsepower, and cut out at about 30 mph. Tried it in a rental
car in icy Utah roads. Worked very nicely.
--
Steve Laifman < One first kiss, >
B9472289 < one first love, and >
< one first win, is all >
< you get in this life. >
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