shock mounting...

[Razor]

i got to thinking after looking at the cars in our autotech school today, their shocks are mounted upside down, why dont our buggies do that? i mean, it works the SAME, just, the COG is lower (!!) and uh.. yea, u could say its now stronger near the bottom....

seriously though, this makes a lot of sense to mean in the center of gravity department. ... lol, someone tell me if the kanai guy starts doing this or something. as soon as i get my rbc5 ill give it a try.

 

[Razor]

no comments?

 

[Çh®i§tiªñ]

I dunno..... It might work. I would be interested in how well it works. The only thing I worry about is no ball links on the top of the shocks (well in this case would be bottom). The ball mount on the end of the shock shaft is key for being attached to the arms. I think you would need those same balls if you go top side down.

Otherwise, yes, the COG would be lower.

Just not certain how they would perform. LET US KNOW!

 

[slothy]

there must be issues/reasons why not or they would be doing that along time ago, instead of milling out the chassis to lower the motor 1mm...

 

[Çh®i§tiªñ]

Are you still going to try it? If so, make sure you get the balls for the mounting.

 

[scottm]

Shocks on most all race vehicles have the body of the shock stationary. This is to reduce unsprung weight, or weight that moves with the wheel. The less unsprung weight realative to the weight of the vehicle, the more compliant the suspension.

 

[Razor]

ah yes. that makes a LOT of sense... so whats better, lower cog, or less unsrpung weigh?

 

[scottm]

I think less unsprung wieght in general, at least for off road.

 

[militarymaxx]

Yup, scottm hit it on the head. Unsprung weight. Take a look at high end production race motorcycles. They went to the "inverted" fork years ago to overcome that very problem of too much sprung weight. Good call scottm.

 

[slothy]

Originally posted by militarymaxx
Yup, scottm hit it on the head. Unsprung weight. Take a look at high end production race motorcycles. They went to the "inverted" fork years ago to overcome that very problem of too much sprung weight. Good call scottm.

and more ridged...

 

[savagesquirrel]

most of the inverted forks are a little stiffer and they have other advantages

 

[Wardo]

Originally posted by Razor
ah yes. that makes a LOT of sense... so whats better, lower cog, or less unsrpung weigh?

For the amount that a shock body and oil is going to lower COG, it's not going to matter unless you're at the point where everything else is 100% perfect, maybe 150% perfect.