Adventures in Driveline – The Independent Rear Suspension

I'm a bit of a gearhead. The computer bug bit just as I was getting ready to apprentice towards my journeyman's ticket as a mechanic. I was || that close!

So, it was pretty neat when Raymond and I managed to put together the following independent rear driveline setup.

When needed we looked for guidance in the Super Car 8070 instruction set. LEGO has most if not all of their build instructions available for download here.

Now, since Raymond and I had already put in a full day one Sunday to build the Super Car from scratch to finish we had a good idea of what the finished product should look like.

Plus, we had the 8070 sitting here beside us as we walked through the various steps of putting the rear end together.

Note that if we were building an independent front suspension we would only have one link per side with the other two ball joints connected to a steering mechanism.

Independent Rear Suspension Versus Live Axle

Now, on the gearhead side of things the discussion between the two camps as far as live axle versus independent rear suspension (IRS) can be a lively one.

The edge for handling can probably be said to belong to the IRS. However the big drawback to IRS comes in the form of wheel-hop when running a straight line race like a 1/4 mile or an off-the-line jaunt.

A good side-by-side track video comparison between a 2011 BMW M3 and a 2011 Mustang GT can be found on Motor Trend's site. The M3 hosts an independent rear suspension while the Mustang has a Live Axle.

BTW, the Coyote is an _awesome_ engine! :)

Philip Elder
Elder Bricks
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