November 21, 2009 - With the axle actually attached to the car, I was able to move it through the full range of motion.
As I suspected, at full compression the upper link hit the bottom of the car. After a bit of fine metalwork, I had that problem solved! Right now, maximum compression is actually a bit more than was available on the original suspension. My tires are a smaller overall diameter but since they're further outboard, getting this much travel is going to involve quite a bit of surgery to the wheel wells before the fender flares go on. The plan to to build the car to allow this much travel, then use spacers to limit it to less if that should become necessary for any reason.
It was very cool to be able to put the axle through its paces and see how things worked, then simply reach up and tweak the pinion angle or the fore-aft location.
tags: rear axle, suspension, travel |
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