what does the panhard rod do?

will930

will930

theres alot of talk about people changing it or using adjusting bushes when ypou lower your car! so what on earth does it do and what do you achieve from changing it?

cheers
 
A panhard bar prevents the rear axle from moving side-to-side. When I lowered my car it shifted the position of the axle causing the wheels to be unevenley spaced. etc not in line with the front wheels.

Frank put some bushes in that aliened the pan-hard rod correctly on mine.
 
Righto, adjusting panhard rod: shorter the rod the further you pull the beam towards the passenger side? Resulting in positive camber on passenger rear shed loads of negative to the drivers? Longer the rod, the further you push the beam drivers direction? Etc..?

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i use a stick from the arch down to the bottom tyrewall, then a tape measure from the stick across to the upper tyrewall
 
Mines not too far away now, but it looks like there are different amounts of camber between the two wheels? Bearing perhaps?

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Madmonkee said:
Mines not too far away now, but it looks like there are different amounts of camber between the two wheels? Bearing perhaps?

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Click to expand...
Could be its not seated correctly, if its gone in on a slight angle and binded then it could give the impression its seated properly when its not (general bearing advice, not changed a wheel bearing myself)
 
will930 said:
theres alot of talk about people changing it or using adjusting bushes when ypou lower your car! so what on earth does it do and what do you achieve from changing it?

cheers
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_rod

the original length of the fixed rod was designed to work with the original size/dimension of the tyres, wheels, shocks to do 4 main things.
- at a static stable level unloaded ride height, it centers the axle to the chassis to ensure the alignment is straight and the tyres clear any part of the vehicle.
- only allow the axle to travel vertically and roll.
- during cornering, it transfers the lateral load between the axle and the chassis and keeps the axle relatively centered to the chassis.
- when the wheels/axle are at their highest travel up into the wheel arch under maximum load (big bump and/or hard landing and/or heavy loading etc), the rod is short enough to ensure the original spec tyres, wheels and shocks don't hit any static part of the vehicle.

by altering the whole suspension geometry with lower static ride heights, different shock geometry, different wheels and different tyres, the rear axle/tyres are more likely to be:
- off-center which affects alignment (crabbing/pulling/handling) and tyres may foul the arch
- hit the arch at the suspensions highest travel/loading

adjustable rods/bushes allow you to shorter the pivot ends of the rods to ensure the wheels are equal distance away from the reference edge of the chassis (arch lip) so the alignment is straight and the tyres won't foul the arch.
 
will930 said:
indeed i shall kidnap him :p muhahahahaha

does the front upper strut make much difference?
Click to expand...

upper strut, un-noticable difference cos the strut tops are structurally so close to the bulkhead anyway.
lower strut, has a bigger effect of joining and stiffening that massive wobbly gap between the lower suspension arms to maintain a stable front geometry for a more consistant handling behavior/response.
 
micra racer said:
Yous seem to talk about this frank guy who is he if he has a website can I hav a link
Click to expand...

frank is a well known, experienced, knowledgable, creative, passionate and friendly member who's shared with the community a wealth of valuable hints, tips, information from his years of low budget mad-scientist-like experimentation unafraid to explore anything to reach his goal. think of doc brown
 
pollyp said:
frank is a well known, experienced, knowledgable, creative, passionate and friendly member who's shared with the community a wealth of valuable hints, tips, information from his years of low budget mad-scientist-like experimentation unafraid to explore anything to reach his goal. think of doc brown
Click to expand...
Great Scott !
 
f.jpg
d.jpg
 
When the rain fecks off I will, passenger side does have a dodgy spigot ring in come to think, 67.1-60.1 not 59.1 and has compressed it slightly... might contribute.
 
pollyp said:
frank is a well known, experienced, knowledgable, creative, passionate and friendly member who's shared with the community a wealth of valuable hints, tips, information from his years of low budget mad-scientist-like experimentation unafraid to explore anything to reach his goal. think of doc brown
Click to expand...
frank said:
not really :) noddie sells adjustable p/rods
Click to expand...
You forgot modest Polly :D
 

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