Thread: panhard bar

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One bracket to the frame, one on the axle. The bar should be parallel to the axle, and as close to level as possible. Beyond that, anything goes.

henry i dont know how much travel you need on your cars, but most coilover set ups dont have 6 " of travel. ive never had a car that i know of that needed over 4 " of travel.

Mike,

That was just an illustration to give an idea of scale of movement with an angled Panhard. With 4" of travel (2 up, 2 down) and a 15* angle, the movement would be 0.4" and 0.6."

At 30*, the movement would be 1.0" and 1.3"

Hey everyone thank you for all the input.. There was someone talkin about roundy roundy and thats were alot of my past comes from LOL I catch my self wanting to do things like that to my car. But the dirt days are over larry M thank you for helpin my try and post a pic of what I have now. Like I said in the past post I think I cant mont the locator on the bottom so heres a shot of it on top. I am looking at making a bracket to mount to the center section today and try and get a length of the bar ( looks like a short one ) Again thanks to all for helpin me out. Scott

With that beefy track bar, I can't see any reason in the world to add a Panhard bar . . . but it's up to you.

"Of course, your bar has to be stout enough to withstand the obstructions and cornering forces "

I don't think the problem here is with the bar's strength.

A track locater bar on the street is transferring all of it's force to the 4-link front bushings during cornering.

Not to mention that part of the side force is pushing the 4-link bushings sideways, something most of them are not designed for.
Add some acceleration forces and you could be getting close to the limits of the 4-links load carrying capabilities.

Imo, track locaters don't belong on the street.

Especially so when you take Henry's math into consideration and consider the minimal side movement even with a short panhard.

Just because it works for some guys doesn't mean it's right.

If things are that problematic length-wise when using a panhard, why not try a Watts Link?

Looks like he's pushing on the brackets, not the bushings - at least if the front is set up like the rear.

Another thing I didnt mention is I only have an 1"1/2 from the inside tire to the frame rail so im really going to need something with as little side to side movement as possible. again the input is great thanks for all the help..

Just a thought. In the sprint cars we used to run a Jacob's ladder to keep the rearend centered in the car. I've thought some about putting one in a hot rod, but never saw a reason to because either a panhard bar or track locater worked fine. The best thing about the Jacob's ladder was that there was no lateral movement in all of the travel a sprinter rear has. Just a thought, any opinions.???

The only problem I see with a Jacob's ladder is its complexity. For short spans, I prefer a Watts Linkage. It's the only system that insures zero lateral movement.

Forgot photo

You are absolutely right. Sometimes I just like to make my life difficult, I guess. The pic you posted is an excellent job of controlling lateral movement, always difficult with air suspension to keep things centered. I have a very special place in my heart (and in the 3 fused vertabrae in my back) for sprint cars, especially the USAC and CRA non-winged versions. One of my biggest ever thrills was getting to do a few laps in a vintage Don Edmunds built, Offy powered, open cage sprinter.....Made me wish I had been born about 25 years earlier. I have always wanted to incorporate some of the early sprinter features into a street rod...maybe the '27 will be the place?????

Dave,

If we'd been born 25 years earlier, we'd both probably be pushing up daisies by now . . . and hoping that long black Cadillac had a Watts linkage.

Yup. I was still racing carts when the last days of the open cage sprinters. Watching the races in Lincoln, Ne. the last night they ran open cage cars. Jerry Blundy was killed, no more open cage sprinters. I also remember when the USAC boys came to Huron, SD for the state fair in their open cage cars. What a trip to watch AJ Foyt (named my son after him), Johnny Rutherford, Parnelli Jones, and all the legends battle it out on a 1/2 mile unbanked horse track in those monsters!!!!!!!!!

Back in the day, I watched the Indy cars run the last day of the Illinois state fair. A lot of the Indy "names" ran that dirt oval. Vukovich, Ward, Foyt, Rathmann, Bettenhausen. I particularly remember Ward. In '57, he had a new setup of some kind. While everyone else was powering through the understeer with the wheels crampet to the right, Roger was just driving around in circles like he had a slot car.