JustinOlson Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 So I've been wondering how to go about designing a efficient solid rear axle linkage that would work well for both drag racing and road racing. has anyone here gone down this path? It seems that there have been some very effective road race cars with solid rear axles. I'm just not finding a ton of information just yet on what linkage design would work well for both road & drag racing. Any helps would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaNoZeta Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I'm quite partial to the torque arm suspension but other racers like the 3-link and triangulated 4-link as well. The new Camaro and Trans Ams have the torque arm suspension and they perform excellent on both road racing and drag racing, its also the design Maximum Motorsports has for Foxbody Mustangs and used successfully on road racing so you know its a could system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 The torque arm has a big drawback (same as the NASCAR truck arm) - braking. Its easy to get the rear axle hopping under braking. The way to reduce this is to lower the mounting points where the two lower arms meet the axle and make the lower arms as long as possible. Multi-links don't have the braking issue but you have to get the angles very right or you'll have other problems (bind, weird roll centers). Multi-links also limit your exhaust options to dumps in front of the rear axle. For either rear live axle design the main issue will be room for arms of the correct length and room above the rear axle center to the floor pan above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Thanks John! I've become very interested in a 3 or 4 link with a with a watt linkage to control lateral axle position. Here's a really good picture of a 3 link with watts lateral linkage: Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaNoZeta Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Herb Adams in his book Chassis Engineering talks about using a telescoping upper link to decouple the torque arm and eliminate the brake hop. What it does pretty much (as I understand) is act as a 3rd link while the torque arm isn't touching the chassis while braking. And for the centering devices, I always liked the design of the woblink but it does have a lower roll center than all the other devices so whether or not to use that one will be based on the rest of the car's design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardBlack Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I know the current model Mustang I owned (which had been upgraded to rod ended 3-link, struts and springs) handled very well. I bought a Watts Link for it as well but never got around to installing it before I sold it. The car was very controllable. I came from AWD, so I was poo-poo'ing the live axle until I drove one with a few reasonable upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Whichever design is the most adjustable would be my suggestion for a dual purpose car eg adjustable for anti squat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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