Critique this IFS setup

Some may know, my roots are in rock crawlers. This past week saw King of the Hammers 2013, which blends the best of desert racing and rock crawling. The two methodologies demand a compromise: Solid front axles suck at controlling the bumps in the fast stuff and IFS has limited abilities in high-articulation rock crawling.

I came across this picture and it made my head hurt. No double wishbone set up that would allow a somewhat-static camber through the range of motion.



from this thread.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/competitions-events/1147282-our-fearless-leader-lance-fully-gettin-clifford-koh-13-a.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2013 01:17AM by SeanP.

Get a load of this:

Here is a much better (IMHO) design:

I remember that Dave. Goes back about 12 years, I think. Pretty cool engineering, but heavy as shit.

IIRC, not all that different than what's on Bill Holmes' truck - granted, the arms on his truck are much longer J-arms (ie. the arm for the left wheel pivots somewhere on the far right side of the truck) so there's less camber change, but still...

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

The double A-arm would have the potential for more CV issues since it will increase the angle on the CVs at the wheel, no?

Isn't this an iteration of stock VW bug front end design? Many baja cars started this way, and some classes still require that setup. I think Class 12 and 9 (foggy memory from when I ran Baja in 2000) do. It's obviously not ideal, but that is probably why this buggy is setup that way.

Doug

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SeanP
Some may know, my roots are in rock crawlers. This past week saw King of the Hammers 2013, which blends the best of desert racing and rock crawling. The two methodologies demand a compromise: Solid front axles suck at controlling the bumps in the fast stuff and IFS has limited abilities in high-articulation rock crawling.

I came across this picture and it made my head hurt. No double wishbone set up that would allow a somewhat-static camber through the range of motion.



from this thread.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/competitions-events/1147282-our-fearless-leader-lance-fully-gettin-clifford-koh-13-a.html

I'm thinking that it's going to be able to be a lot tougher than an A-arm setup. The steering knuckle only has to pivot on one axis, the control arm only has to pivot on one axis. A high angularity ball joint to allow big suspension travel isn't going to be as strong. This is before getting into the CV issues that may occur.

How does it handle? I dunno. A poor handling truck that doesn't break is going to do better than a truck that handles well but doesn't finish.

Now, the million dollar question - how well did they actually do?

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2013 08:16PM by Pete.

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Doug Heredos
Isn't this an iteration of stock VW bug front end design?

Doesn't look like any VW front end I've ever seen. Seems to be based on the Ford twin i-beam design, like Aaron mentioned. They were popular because they were strong (compared to chevy ifs) and you could get a fair bit of travel out of them for cheep (at the expense of camber).

In the race though, they didn't do that well, they rolled it and hydrolocked the motor.

Here's Bill Holmes' truck with the Ford Twin I Beam suspension.
Picture is with the old body, but the chassis and suspension is same one he uses today with Bilsteins.

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2WD...Less Traction More Action!

I have an old traxxas RC stadium truck. IT's front end looks like that

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

the twin traction beam is a ford things but that one is on the chevy side. its hard to use the
rock crusher diff in the front because the motor and trans has to be off set to get it right now the
pipe like the pro 4 trucks. The first photo od the TTB set up is nice because your using a fixed housing
in 4 wheel drive is nice and having them move independently will keep from flipping vs a solid front
at speed but theres lots of good jeeps running now. Baja doesn't get a lot of awd trucks just more
to go wrong but in the races they only average like 40 mph max so that means theres tons of slow
spots, Is that truck a King of the hammers rig?

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TSSFAB.US No HYPE just parts!!!! And check us out on Facebook!!!

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stgallagher
Here's Bill Holmes' truck with the Ford Twin I Beam suspension.
Picture is with the old body, but the chassis and suspension is same one he uses today with Bilsteins.

91-96 is my second favorite Ford truck body style. Damn sharp looking.

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Kirk Coughlin
Woodbury, MN and River Falls, WI

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.

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darkknight9

91-96 is my second favorite Ford truck body style. Damn sharp looking.

I got a ride in bigfoot as a young'n loved that truck ever since