New Sportsmobile

[HMR]

[ujoint]

man, you've got to be getting verrrrry excited!!!!!!!!!

[spencyg]

Can somebody explain to me why a track bar is both necessary AND a good design in a leaf spring front end? The track bar moves in a radius while the springs want to move linearly up and down. There doesn't appear to be any allowance in the springs (other than the rubber bushings) to accommodate the rotational movement of the track bar radius (i.e. orbit eyes). I read through Badgertrek and his track bar broke presumably because of the issue with the geometries of the two systems not "talking" to each other. It just seems foolish. The springs are hard mounted to the axle which will prevent them from moving side to side....whats the deal?

Spence

[ujoint]

I don't run a trac bar. It helps, especially as the leaf spring bushings start to wear. Springs will "twist" under articulation, but the amount of twist depends on the spring. ------------The steering geometry is the deciding factor on a trac bar. If the drag link is as parrallel to the ground as possible, you don't need a trac bar. Look under a Superduty, the drag link connects below the pass side spring, and it has a pretty good angle to it. If it didn't have a trac bar, it would be all over the road, classic bumpsteer.

[cobblecrazy]

man, you've got to be getting verrrrry excited!!!!!!!!!

I was in the middle of a camping trip when I stopped by Sportsmobile. If I could have I would have thrown out the sleeping bag and spent the last few weeks right there....

[ujoint]

You should have told them "where I come from, we don't go home @ 5. We can bust this thing out in a couple days if we hustle"

[cobblecrazy]

You should have told them "where I come from, we don't go home @ 5. We can bust this thing out in a couple days if we hustle"

A few times through the process I've thought about suggesting a "made by buyer" section at the factory....just come down and work on it yourself when you have time, and they can work on it when I'm home....

[Railvan]

Congrats on getting a Sportsmobile! We've had one for a year and a half and are very happy with it. Looks like you are getting the RB50 floorplan. Are you getting the diesel engine?

Regarding the top folding down, it does so in an accordion fashion. There are two bunge cords around the top that pull it in and it folds as it drops. They suggest you stop half way down when lowering the top and push out the front corners to make it fold neatly. It seems to work well.

Some photos of our van and the Sportsmobile West factory are at:

http://www.pbase.com/railbat/root

Look under the Travel and Sportsmobile project folders.

Regards,

Brian Rutherford

[dieselcruiserhead]

Wow, cool to see it built up. Also an Atlas, cool!

[etbadger]

Can somebody explain to me why a track bar is both necessary AND a good design in a leaf spring front end? The track bar moves in a radius while the springs want to move linearly up and down. There doesn't appear to be any allowance in the springs (other than the rubber bushings) to accommodate the rotational movement of the track bar radius (i.e. orbit eyes). I read through Badgertrek and his track bar broke presumably because of the issue with the geometries of the two systems not "talking" to each other. It just seems foolish. The springs are hard mounted to the axle which will prevent them from moving side to side....whats the deal?

Spence

There is sufficient play in the spring mounts on the SMB front for the front axle to travel about 1/2" side to side with alternating articulation. For the Atlas transfer case and location of the pumpkin on their front axle this allows the front drive-shaft to impact the transmission filter housing when the track-bar is disabled (broken).

We also noticed a slight but noticable decrease in the ability for the van to hold a straight line at highway speeds when the bar was broken.

The front axle does not have a lot of vertical travel (about 1" up before it starts to hit the bump-stops), so the arc swept by the track-bar is not all that great. I suppose at extreme articulation it could be an issue, and I have noticed some jeeps have quick-disconnects on their track-bars for off-road travel.
-e