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I don't know what Hummers use, but Unimogs definitely don't have chains. The axles are 'portal' type with a planetary reduction gear in each hub and the half-shaft located above the wheel centreline. ZR

I assume that you have also read Tony Foale's book on motorcycle engineering - not that it really has any definitive answers to your questions. Sadly, I think the most information you are ever going to get is along the lines of "this is what 'X' has tried and it appears to work without making...

I believe I'm right in saying that the last Suzuki RGV250 (and Aprillia RS250, which used the Suzuki engine) had power valves virtually the same as the Yamaha patent. I suppose the patent had expired by then since I guess it was first obtained in the late 1970s. I can't say for sure because I've...

The mass of the vehicle is likely to be about 300kg gross (including rider). I reckon 1.5g is about the greatest decelleration the front end can ever see under heaviest braking conditions. With a factor of safety of 2, I make that approximately 9kN through the ball joint in the front hub. I...

I was trying to describe almost exactly what Matthew has posted, but only using one end of course. Since this type of ball joint is not really suitable for my purposes, can anyone recommend a source of high articularity, metal-to-metal ball joints that can take radial and axial forces and have...

Hi Dunno, As far as I know, the RG250 used the same mechanism as the RG125. This required a resonant chamber cast into the cylinder head directly above each exhaust tract. A simple plug valve was fitted between a hole in the roof of the exhaust tract and a hole in the floor of the resonant...

Thanks Greg I had expected the plastic cup to be standard, all the examples I've seen so far are like this. I assume that link rods are only intended to take force aligned with the actual rod itself. (I suppose this would mean vertical forces only in most installations.) What would you advise...

Can anybody tell me what sort of magnitude of forces are experienced by the ball joints at either end of an anti-roll bar link rod, as used on a typical European saloon car or small MPV? Also, are any of these ball joints metal-to-metal or do they all have a plastic bearing cup? Many thanks...

It's probably down to price. A mid-engined bus uses a standard truck chassis and is comparatively cheap to make. It also suffers from more NVH and possibly heat in the cabin. A rear-engined bus isolates the passengers from NVH and also allows for clever things like a really low internal floor...

On a motorcycle? Definitely! Given that modern motorcycles STILL expose important electrical and electronic components to all the water, salt and other assorted crap that the tyres kick up off the road, I feel uneasy about any safety critical system on a bike that depends on electronics. Maybe...

This is the supermarket shopping trolley effect. Am I right in thinking you control steering by changing the speeds of two separate drive motors (one for each driven wheel)? I which case you need the other two wheels to caster fully through 360 degrees, which in turn requires the vertical...

To quote Tony Foale; "The layout of the suspension links defines the locus of the end of the steering arm on the upright, to avoid bump-steer the steering drag link must be of an appropriate length and be located such that it describes an arc coincident with the end of the steering arm." In...

Sorry, Confused me by writing "WOT" as "wot", so I thought you might have meant "what". I have to agree with Metalguy about harmonics. Have you altered the exhaust system from standard regarding length?

It sounds like the needle profile is too thick at a specific throttle opening. Try raising the main jet needles a notch, or if that makes things too rich, add shim washers under the circlips. This works on a large number of recent Japanese engines, which are set lean to pass emissions tests...

Assuming that these are driveshafts and not prop-shafts I dont see a problem in principle. Lots of trike builders in the UK have mated bike prop-shafts to 'car' (Reliant 3-wheeler) prop-shafts this way (much less meaty than car mechanicals). However, I suggest you make sure the sleeve is...

Thinking laterally, you could put the cooler in a duct and use a temperature sensor to open a flap that otherwise covers the inlet to the duct. Obviously you would need to size the cooler for the highest temperature range you need to deal with. I would have thought a bi-metallic strip would be...

I recently suffered a brake failure on a 1989 Ford Fiesta (FWD, 1.1L, sub-compact, hatchback for all you Merkuns). The pedal went right down to the floor*, but retained marginal braking power - enough to get home. No warning light came on (low brake fluid warning only) and I strongly suspect...

PTwizz, It may not be obvious from the photos in Tony Foale's book but his updated girder front fork design is inferior to the Hossack layout, because a girder includes the mass of the spring (and linkages) in the steered mass, which increase the steering's moment of inertia. The Hossack layout...

If the profiles are simple you could do worse than learn a bit of G-code programming. It really isn't too hard. Also, the only program I've used similar to your description, always needed tweeks to the code to start and end cutter paths. It's called CAD-Link and requires you to draw the profile...

I personally think that the reason none of the current GP bikes use alternative front suspension is because none of the manufacturers wants to be first with new technology that doesn't have decades of development behind it. In other branches of bike racing, like BEARS, BoTT, SoS there have been...