still you haven’t addressed :
-the massive AS and it’s impact on vehicle handling and dynamics
- over traveling what the uniballs allow during articulation
- bypass piston speed and handling quirks
- massive about of suspension geometry deviation from static thru travel
Maybe it was better off when the rear was “classified”.
Have you thought about a cantilever setup?
Alright, so lets get into it. Lets assume the blue line is where my instant center travels. A little background information for those who don't know. The instant center is the imaginary point from the side view where the upper and lower rear links connect towards the front of the vehicle. The instant center is where the force is applied to the car, from the rear end pushing the car forward. The idea is to push through the heavy weight of the vehicle. Now, at the moment we are all getting the first glimpse of what the fuel cell may look like. Right now, it's 45 gallons. The volume could go up or down. Forgive me if I get a little bit elementary with some of this, but that's how I like to do things. The number one thing I'd like to point out is this is not a trophy truck. It is an Ultra 4 car. A trophy truck, and an ultra 4 car are completely different animals. One crawls over rocks, and the other one doesn't, I think you can make the assumption. Alright, so now, we immediately run into having to design around crawling over, and half way around huge boulders. Articulation, and wheel travel is what you need to accomplish this successfully. The more of both you have, the better chance you have of completing a rock trail without help. To accomplish this at speed is going to take a good car, and a good driver.
Alright, so lets answer some of these questions. One of the questions that was asked was about the massive anti-squat, and it's impact on the vehicle handling and dynamics. In my opinion, anti-squat is one of those things few people even talk about, or know anything about. The reason behind this is they never get far enough into the design of their car to actually give a shit about it. It's just one of those things that most will look at like 'Eh yeah, I don't know what that is, and I don't care. <----- This particular thought is what is what I see when I examine most rock bouncers. Because, there again. No body know's, or give a shit. What you actually run into is a mixing problem that occurs when these guys try to make a go fast vehicle basing is it off what they see originating from desert racers. You can click on google photo of a trophy truck right now, and bask in the glory they behold carrying those big ass parallel lower trailing arms. What those big ass parallel lower trailer arms actually do is substantially raise the roll axis to a degree that would astound you. That's what all your guys in the rock crawler industry are starting to put on their rigs because they are following these west coast guys in the go fast industry, and trying to copy their shit. Now, how do you mix this anti-squat figure with your roll axis? Well, you have to move the front joint on the trailing arm towards the inside of the vehicle. It lowers the roll axis in a traditional 4 link, keeping the chassis in a more flattened relation with the earth looking at it from an articulation stand point.
K, so the next question about my car that consists of over traveling the uniballs from the chassis to the axle. I'm under the impression I can get 60 degrees with high misalignment spacers combining two separate uni-balls. Will I have to factor this rotation in with the lower joint on my rear shocks? With out a doubt, Yes. Will I exceed the limits of my trailing arm's movement with articulation? No, not with proper mounting of the link mounts, and orientation of the uni-ball.
Lets move on to bypass piston speed. What you run into with piston speed inside the shock body is pressure. I've never had to answer a question like this, but the answer is pressure. The faster the piston moves up the shock body, the more pressure it creates on the everything inside while it's trying to make it's way up through the oil. The piston inside of the coil-over is gonna have to push it's way through every ounce of fluid contained inside the shock body. Maybe some of you guys have seen an emulsion coil-over explode? This is the reasoning behind whatever busted. The piston moving from the bottom of the shock body to the top created so much pressure, and the piston was moving so fast to the point where the components of the shock body couldn't contain the pressure any longer, it exploded. This is why remote reservoir shocks where invented. A nitrogen charged empty cavity tube with a separate piston dividing the oil from the nitrogen was introduced. It allowed the piston speed to move faster while only moving a certain amount of oil pressure though the piston valving. In other words, the remote reservoir takes the blow. Alright, so lets relate this to the bypass shock. The remote reservoir bypass shock doubles this feature, and give your more control. Now we have created tunnels for the oil to bypass ( go around ) the piston. We can restrict this fluid bypass where we want through out shock travel. All this allows for reliable, and complete control of your suspension. I would think there needs to be a solid understanding out there that what you need to do is, demand the bypass shock to control the movement of your wheel travel, and ask the coil-over for help when you need it. A good suspension guy will start there to see what's going on with your suspension. A great suspension guy is going to start by looking at your spring rate.
The last question that was asked, was about the massive geometry deviation through static travel. As far as I'm concerned, it flows through the heart of my car, and doesn't deviate. If this thing is ever asked to conquer 80 degree ledges, it can do it with the burden of responsibility handed off to the driver.
I'd like everyone to take a decent look at the last photo, and ask yourself where the center of gravity might be in relation to where the rear end is pushing.
