Rose Jointed Adjustable Drop Links!

[jonah 1]

This thread is getting confusing...

 

Kev G is right (if I've understood the post properly), making the leverage shorter will make the bar stiffer not softer. You'd have to be careful not to go to far though because the droplink will be far from vertical and you could get a very non-linear translation between suspension compression and ARB twist.

 

ARB's work by torsion, absolutely. They're completely different to a strut brace. It's easier to see how they work on the 205 rear ARB, where the "levers" (the egg-shaped plates) are exactly perpendicular to the bar. Any difference in suspension compression between left and right sides, due by body roll, causes the ARB to be twisted along its length. It is the bar's resistance to this twist that gives the roll resistance. On the 205 front ARB it's harder to see the distinction between the "bar" and the "levers" as they are all one piece. It's the angled end sections of the front ARB that act as the levers, converting the vertical movement at their ends to an angle that leads to a twist along the length of the bar if the front struts are compressed by different amounts.

 

Moving the drop-link connection points inboard would make the lever length shorter, so a given amount of suspension movement rotates that end of the ARB by a larger angle. So a difference in left and right suspension compression would create a greater twist along the ARB and therefore more resistance.

 

You would introduce pre-load into the bar if you made the drop-links different lengths (making them both longer or both shorter would have little effect). This would tend to make the car sit non-level, so unless you're going oval racing or compensating for a bent shell, I can't imagine why you would want to do this...

[Wurzel 16]

If you were to move the outer mounts in the way then the ARB will become stiffer for the same thickness....

 

 

Off course, I got that completely the wrong way around despite my brain telling me otherwise.

 

Still, I reckon the whole subject has been flogged to death now