TOY: All Pro Buggy

["Randy Burleson"<randii@xxxxxxx>]

Did you guys check out the new front suspension or that ALL-TOYOTA front axle:

http://www.outdoorwire.com/gallery/trailshots/Trade_Shows/SEMA_2000/pb010088.jpg

  
Jon started with a 3-link setup, but parked the rig after steering issues in
the Montrose WRCC event. He torched off that 3-link and is now running this
linkage with a track bar. 

There has to be a good way to make a tri-link suspension steer short of full
hydraulic... maybe they had bad geometry and insufficient lateral stabilization.
What do you guys think about using a longer arm at the steering box, and a shorter
arm on the knuckle, to be sure to allow lock-to-lock steering, even at extreme
droop? The steering stops are on the knuckles for most axles, so you'd essentially
be extending the range of sweep of the drag link while keeping the range limited
at the knuckles.... if you reinforced the knuckles, this shouldn't be a big
deal...

The reason I ask is that my truck steering gets less sharp at full droop on
the passenger side... I can't turn quite as tightly as I can when full-drooping
the driver's side. The geometric cause of this is obvious -- when the passenger
tire drops, the drag link has to stretch farther (if the wheels are to remain
straight).

You'd obviously have to balance steering effort and twitchiness...

Randii