great thinking. read books by carol smith. there are so many variables in suspension. scrub, bump steer camber change all have their places.

Lot of articulating joints to maintain.

From the looks of it - that would not be feasible on production vehicle.  The inward movement would not allow much space for an engine, assuming a traditional front engine, rear wheel drive - or luggage space, assuming rear engine, rear wheel drive.

Thanks for the input guys, but please bear in mind that this is the 1st prototype of many.  I hear your collective concerns regarding weight, complexity and intrusion into the chassis.  I assure you all that these concerns will be addressed in forthcoming prototypes.  I have a plan to address every one of these issues.

I promise you that the VXI will be the most compact independent suspension there is for any given amount of travel.  For instance prototype #2 will have "nested" legs that will make it far more compact than version #1 is by allowing one set of legs to eat into the space taken up by the other legs.  Prototype #1 is as basic as can be since I was just making it up mostly on the fly, now that I've built the first one I've learned a lot and will use that knowledge to improve things in prototype #2 by vast margins.

Rigidity will be addressed by moving to a "T" configuration on the legs where one set of legs is oriented "east-west" an the other set of legs "north-south".  This will also help packaging in real cars.  Also bear in mind that prototype #1 has 3.5" of travel potential whereas the stock SLA setup on that chassis had but 1.5" of travel.  Believe me when I say that if I only had designed it to match the 1.5" of travel it would be far more compact than depicted.

Weight will be addressed by reducing the amount of metal used in the "wheel carraige" and other components.  Obviously this was built in my garage, not by a CNC machine so there's a LOT of refinement left to be done.  Prototype #1 is just a proof of concept, prototypes #2 and more will advance the design significantly so stay tuned.

looks like it would work but how much abuse can this take once made full scale?  looks unique and wish you the best in your developpement. progress is always a journee and stay positive.

The picture of the steering bottom looks like the week spot if used in a real car or buggy.
From rocks ect....

That is the spirit that made this such a great country. Best wishes to you on your quest!

Hello All Zuki fans.  At long last as requested I've recorded a video and posted it on YouTube....

VXI V2Prototype

Enjoy!

Lets say everything works great. How would you be able to produce this in a cost effective manner that averge 4wd enthusiasts can afford?

Due to the seemingly complex design I would think that folks will look for the most affordable item that would give them the hight, flexibility, quality, strength, and performance for the least amount of $$$$.

I like the concept but I have a feeling that the final cost may limit those who would be willing to purchase.

Well parts count is certainly higher and therefore cost will be too, there is no doubt.  I would like to think that the combination of markedly improved tire-wear, somewhat better fuel-efficiency and of course all the potential performance gains will be enough to off-set the additional expense.

The VXI does lots of things never before possible in a suspension.  I guess I'd say if you want the best you'll have to pay for it, simple as that.  The VXI should radically outperform any prior design by a fair margin and you'll definitely get longer tire-wear (much longer) along with better gas mileage (5%ish) as well as a rig that is safer, rides smoother, handles better, stops better, goes better, is far more stable....All of that comes at a price, what can I tell ya.

That said I'm really not looking to put this in rigs on a retrofit fashion, it's just way too different for that to be an easy thing to engineer.  I do think it can be build on race rigs and then hopefully put into some production vehicles.  As for kits to retrofit an old Sidekick or something, that's something I'd love to see but I'm not sure it's worth it from a development cost perspective.

That makes sense to me and I believe you will find there is a market availble for your product.... Good Luck and thanks for sharing with us for a 1st class 1st hand look!

As  far as steering way to many parts to bind and such. I work in the marine industry and you should look at a twin outdrive system on a volvo DPH drive. They have several styles available but the one for a twin hulled boat without the tie bar would work best. I'll try and bring a picture back from work today. Heck then no steering shaft to get in the way and yes it's still power assist. Then we can add an auto pilot. Sky is the limit.

i just see way too many parts to fail. engineering is great, and the design is interesting, but for production, simplicity and reduction of parts to fail under warranty will always be favored above performance/tire wear. it's all about economics with the auto makers, and this design is far to un-economic to see on new cars.
as for racing, i could see some advantages with the design, unfortunatly the steering looks like a BIG weakness to me. the need for the shaft to slip up and down in the vertical rotary shaft would be very hard to eliminate all the "slop" involved with it's need to move, thus making the steering sloppy and unresponsive.
dont give up though, this kinda shit is what still makes it worth living in this country!
my  $.02
locjaw

That video seems to show massive camber changes as the suspension cycles - wasn't one of the design goals to have no camber change?

That video seems to show massive camber changes as the suspension cycles - wasn't one of the design goals to have no camber change?

Yes initially that was the case, zero camber change.  Then of course I learned that camber change is desirable but only when cornering.  On the V1 prototype camber is fixed and never changes.  On the V2 prototype the camber change can be set to be either a lot or zero depending on the placement of the camber-link on the longitudinal arm.  On the V3 which I'm working on now the camber-link will be made active so that it combines the performance of V1 and V2.

Essentially when traveling in a straight line camber-change is not desirable yet when cornering it is desirable.  The V3 prototype will do exactly that, offer zero camber change under braking dive or acceleration squat and in bump/jounce like when your tire hits a bump while traveling straight ahead.  Yet when cornering the camber-link will be made to move up the longitudinal arm such that as much or as little camber-change as you'd like can be designed into the system.  In this fashion the VXI can optimize camber at all times and therefore also maximize tire grip while also minimizing tire wear and improving fuel economy too.