08-15-2007, 04:14 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 704
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by scott.venables
it wouldn't matter where on the crossbar the force was applied- at either end or in the middle right under the vertical support- the vertical force acting on the vertical support would always be the same.
This is the same as with the lower balljoint /upright. The vertical support of the "T" is the spindle and the crossbar is the plane that the contact patch travels along when you change wheel offset. The upright can only move in a (roughly) vertical motion, and vertical force on the upright = vertical force on the lower balljoint. Therefore the lever length is to the balljoint, not the contact patch.
Scott
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The force is acting through the contact patch to the lower control arm to the torsion bar into the body. The ball joint and upright is only there to control geometry, it doesn't carry any weight as such, and nor does it affect the wheel rate.
The distance between the contact patch and the torsion bar is what matters in converting the torsion bar rate to a wheel rate. Pushing the contact patch outwards with offset will change the leverage on the torsion bar, reducing the wheel rate for a given torsion bar thickness. Have no idea how much difference it makes as I've been too slack to do the maths.
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