Thread: Chassis Flex
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Old 09-01-2008, 05:04 AM
  #13  
BillyShope
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Orlando
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The reaction to the driveshaft torque, taken at the engine/transmission mounts, is distributed, front-to-rear, in proportion to the relative roll stiffness. If all the roll stiffness were at the rear, all of the driveshaft torque reaction would be fed back to the rear axle assembly, completely balancing and canceling the the normal tendency to unload the right rear. An anti-roll bar, with its extremely high roll stiffness, approaches this ideal condition, but, since there is always some roll stiffness at the front, complete cancellation is never possible.

The misdirected reaction torque...that which goes to the front...is seen when the left front rises higher (or before) the right. THIS IS NOT TO BE CONSIDERED "NORMAL" AND IS, INSTEAD, TO BE AVOIDED!! The torque necessary to twist the chassis is exactly equal to the uncanceled torque acting to unload the right rear. Since performance of a tire pair, whether in traction or in cornering, is optimized when the tires are equally loaded (verified by testing performed by both the tire and automobile manufacturers), performance will ALWAYS be improved when the twisting is eliminated and the fronts rise evenly.

As for the question originally posed, I would recommend the 4link be adjusted for 100% anti-squat and that some means of dynamic cancellation of the driveshaft torque be incorporated. This can be either in the form of an asymmetric 4link adjustment or the use of different spring rates, left-to-right, at the front. Final tuning should be with a traction dyno.
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