As a recent Tiger owner and discoverer of my own front suspension
defects, I couldn't agree with Tom Hall's comments more.
With regard to Tom's comments on slow-speed/reverse manuevering - I
believe he's right-on! My first year of metallurgy classes
demonstrated that rapid stress/relief on components (as in hard
cornering, drifting, sliding and other fast manuevers) places excess
loads on these parts only momentarily - not enough to cause breakage.
Once the tires have lost their grip, there is much less strain on these
pieces. High speed manuevering is of less concern to the suspension,
in that, the excessive stresses are of brief duration.
IMHO, The real stress comes when the Ackerman/toe problem rears its'
ugly head at its' worst - as Tom pin-pointed - the slow-speed,
constant, steady dragging force of the wheel that is misaligned in a
sharp turn. I see it every time I back out of my concrete driveway
apron - The car leaves one heavy black skid mark on the surface as the
tire is dragged rearward. This long-duration, continuous, excessive
force is what leads to breakage of the weakest links - whether fulcrum
pin, ball joint or something else (in my case, the front cross member
is cracked - again).
If all it takes for an improved design is a little capitol investment
from the various clubs, I'll be the first to support an "assessment" on
my club dues.
Don Daves <dondaves@ix.netcom.com>
MKI Tiger B9472509
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