<VV> Mercedes swing axles (was digest post from djtcz@comcast)

[Alan and Clare Wesson]

Great - I was looking for a picture and couldn't find one! All I could 
remember (it was a couple of years ago) was being up under a car and 
thinking what a half-assed arrangement it looked, and that this kind of 
thing was O.K. if you were paying Vair money, but definitely NOT O.K. if you 
were paying 300SLR money.

I take your point about less jacking effect, but I can't for the life of me 
work out why someone would have bought one of these in preference to a 
Lancia Aurelia, which had a proper independent rear end and transaxle, and 
cost a fraction of the amount. Better made, as well...

Cheers

Alan

> http://www.mbzponton.org/images/mb_ponton_feature_swing_axle.jpg
>
> It looks pretty odd, but I  think it might be better than "ours" in some 
> ways.  The pivot is at the center, so the camber change per inch of 
> vertical wheel motion is less than a shorter axle.  I think I read the 
> roll center geometry had less "jacking" effect when cornering, which is a 
> big part of the swing axle/instability thing.
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