96DXCivic
96DXCivic SuperDork
10/19/10 2:14 p.m.

Ok so I agreed to help some guys with the suspension design for a vehicle. However this is the chassis was given to work with. Can you mount a double wishbone to an angled bar like that and make it work? Or will that play hell with the geometry? It seems like to me it will cause some weird stuff to happen. Should I just slap the guys who designed this and tell them to give me a straight section to work with?

quot;Photobucke

96DXCivic
96DXCivic SuperDork
10/19/10 3:38 p.m.

Bueller?

44Dwarf
44Dwarf Dork
10/19/10 3:48 p.m.

No problems seen. you never mount arms directly to the frame you have to make some sort of mounts.

Try http://www.aa-mfg.com/pdshop/shop/listcats.aspx

96DXCivic
96DXCivic SuperDork
10/19/10 3:52 p.m.

I mean I knew that I would need mounts but I was talking about the front A-arm mounting point would be a lot closer to centerline of the vehicle then the rear mounting points. It seems like this would put weird forces on the A-arms. Am I wrong?

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
10/19/10 8:23 p.m.

If you run the mount bolts in the same plane yet offset from each other yes it will bind. You can mount the arm pivot points at an angle to the centerline to fix that, but here's what happens: it acts like anti dive and still creates binding as the arm is forced back when hitting a bump. It's much simpler to bitch slap them and tell them to give you a straight section to work with.

Or, you could go with a single mount point for the CA and then go with a radius rod setup. Like this: The problem with that is the RR will describe an arc at the end as it moves up and down, this will move the wheel forward/backwards in relation to the chassis. You can minimize that by using the longest possible raius rod (similar to the idea for a Panhard rod) but I swear it would still be easier to just put the A arm on a straight section.

I'm doing radius rods on a weirdo project at the moment due to space considerations. If I had a choice, I'd be doing A arms top and bottom.

Appleseed
Appleseed SuperDork
10/19/10 8:29 p.m.

If the angle is severe enough, wouldn't the A arm act more like a trailing arm, instead? But, judging by your pic, that's not the case.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
10/19/10 8:41 p.m.

It looks like the front control arms would become a 'leading' rather that 'trailing' arm. With enough angle and travel, the knuckle would move up and back under compression. That could, if severe enough, induce serious bump steer and possibly change the Ackerman. If it were, say, only 1 or 2 inches of travel that might not be a huge issue but if it has, say, a total of 6 inches now geometry weirdness rears its ugly head.

MrJoshua
MrJoshua SuperDork
10/19/10 9:40 p.m.

Not sure of the problem. Solve your problems in the suspension mounts, not the suspension. The front a-arm mount is long and the rear a-arm mount is short. The A arm ends up with equal length arms. If you run into problems with the front mount being too long, make the mounts above or below the tube and make one go inwards while the other goes out to split the difference.

internetautomart
internetautomart SuperDork
10/19/10 9:44 p.m.

looks like a yerf dog chassis. I would check out those for suspension ideas.

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