The real reason the Mustang has a solid rear axle

[Throckmorton]

Jesus H. Christ. When are you going to stop trolling my thread?

Here, let me quote myself:

If you want to argue about something like the merits of independent suspensions vs solid axles, or beancounters vs enthusiasts, go ahead. Just stop with the meaningless "you're stupid and I'm smart and you should never criticize a car because you're not an auto engineer" posts. It's really tiresome.

 

[Howard]

oops

 

[Throckmorton]

Since Howard accidentally bumped my thread....

I think I figured out why Ford switched from 4 triangulated arms to 5 link.

With the 4 link, the point that the axle rotates around is above the axle. It's similar to the 3 link in the WJ Grand Cherokee, where there are 2 lower arms plus a triangular arm is joined to the top of the axle with a ball joint. That means that when the left wheel goes up over a bump, the whole axle rotates around that point, which means the contact patches of both wheels are pushed to the left. That's why people complain about how much the previous Mustang crabs over bumps.

With the 5 link, you have 4 almost parallel arms, 2 per side, plus a lateral panhard rod. The rotation point for the whole axle is either end of the panhard rod, depending on which wheel is going upward, or somewhere in the middle if both sides are compressing or if the vehicle is leaning. Since the panhard is lower than the top pivot point on the previous setup, there's less crabbing.

 

[Throckmorton]

My bad, the current Mustang doesn't have a 5 link, it has 2 longitudinal links, a trackbar, and another arm on top that prevents the axle from twisting but doesn't control left-right motion. What I said still applies though.

http://www.modernracer.com/features/carcutawayfordmustanggt.html

 

[Throckmorton]

SN95 rear suspension:

http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm

I believe the pivot point for axle rotation is at the intersection of the imaginary lines created by the two upper arms.

 

[Throckmorton]

Is no one really interested in the engineering of the solid axle?? I guess people are less curious than I thought if they're content with knowing from reading magazines that it's better than the previous setup.