the only thing I changed after the designing it was where I initially put the panhard bar (I moved a bolt). On another site, I was getting grief about an IC discussion - they said that if you can't feel it, it doesn't matter. I know he's wrong so that IC comment was more directed towards him. To him I said that it's like the artificial horizon in an airplane, you can ignore it but it's at your peril.
I think most off-road people have no idea how the IC affects traction, and that's actually too bad because you can load the front with how you set the IC. In drag racing, you want a neutral balance. Moving it can really wake up (or slow) a car. For example, if your car is front heavy, you actually want your IC further forward to put weight onto the rear tires (you see it as squat). In the 4x4 world, tending towards separation (moving the IC back towards the rear) could really make a huge difference in getting up a hill or not. To me it's a physics exercise because you look at the problem and say "what is the solution" do I want the nose to lift, drop? when do I want that to happen? In drag racing, you want the weight over the wheels at the hit (instant acceleration) to prevent smoke shows, but by the time you're at the 60' mark, you want the nose back on the ground to aid in aero.... you do that with shock tuning. 4x4 is the same thing, granted sometimes they go opposite directions, but the principles and solutions are the same.
I can even illustrate. So that picture of me climbing the hill? The first run I popped right up the hill because I was travelling less than a couple mph and, since the IC is just a bit back (roughly at the bellhousing flange) it creates separation when I nail the throttle (which puts weight on the rear, but also the front) and I pop right up the hill. When resting on the hill, as in the picture, it wouldn't climb it because it didn't have traction since the front wasn't getting loaded. It's also the reason my H3 struggles with it - the IC is in front of the engine so when I nail the throttle, it pulls the front tires up (unloads).
I also can tell from the various videos of people who should know better that they have no clue, they pound and pound at an obstacle, when, if they just moved their top link a bit, would pop right over the top.... but there are some, mostly on Pirate, that seem to think that buggy wheels, and leaf springs is the height of technology and shout down anyone who says different.
But don't tell anyone on Pirate
they think road folks don't know anything and I love seeing their frustration.
