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Re: Camber Comphensator? Rebuttal (long)

To: Bschwartz@encad.com (Barry Schwartz)
Subject: Re: Camber Comphensator? Rebuttal (long)
From: pwatson@ix.netcom.com (Pete Watson)
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 05:54:20 -0800
Cc: triumphs@Autox.Team.Net
You wrote: 
>
>> One draws an imaginary line from
>> the center of the contact patch, up through the axle pivot, repeats 
it
>> on the other side, and where the two lines intersect that is is the 
roll
>> center of that suspension.  That, and ONLY that, is what determines 
the
>> roll center of a swing axle suspension. 
>*******************************
>Not entirely true, given two vehicles with the same suspension and 
track, in
>this case swing axles, one a top heavy truck and the other a low slung
>go-cart, can you guess which one will roll first in a turn at limit?  
Yep
>it's the truck.  What you fail to take into account is weight 
transferring
>during dynamic conditions not static. (read that book a little more) 
Weight
>transfer among other things determines a cars roll center at speed.  I
>guarantee that in the above example the roll centers are different
>regardless where the center of your pivot points are (which by the way 
is a
>static roll center, not dynamic).  There are a LOT of factors in 
determining
>roll centers, way too much to condense all of them here and I'm not 
about to
>get into a big debate about it.
>********************************

Barry,
     It appears you are confusing "roll couple" with "roll center".  
The roll center is entirely determined by the geometry of the 
suspension hardware, and is as described by the other writer for a 
swing axle suspension.  There is a very nice discussion of this in the 
January 1997 SCCA Sports Car magazine, specifically about the Spit rear 
suspension.
     The reason the truck rolls more than the car is that the center of 
gravity is farther from the roll center.  This is the "roll couple", 
and is essentially the lever arm upon which the mass of the car acts in 
rotating about the roll center.
     The most important objective with the Spit rear suspension is to 
reduce the roll stiffnes, so that the loaded wheel will compress up 
into the fender, rather than jack down under the car.  Both a camber 
compensator and the swing spring do this.

     Pete

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