The MM Panhard Bar eliminates
the Mustang’s unstable and unpredictable behavior while cornering near
its limit. This feeling is caused by the rear of the car steering itself
without any input from the driver. Rear end steering is caused by the
sideways movement of the rear axle.
In the Mustang’s 4-link suspension design the
lateral location of the rear axle is done by the upper control arms. The
axle, however, is not precisely located--it shifts around because of the
deflection of the rubber bushings in the control arms. We built a device
to measure sideways movement of the axle, and actually recorded up to
2" of sideways movement of the rear axle while cornering.
In addition, the upper arms are at about a 45
degree angle from the direction of the cornering load. Some binding in
these arms is induced during cornering as one arm enters into compression
and the other enters into tension.
Do NOT use urethane in the upper arms to improve
the side to side motion of the axle. Because of the three dimensional
movement of the upper arms, severe binding will be induced as the suspension
moves--with or without a Panhard bar. This effect may not be evident in
a drag-only car, but if you plan to drive the car on the street at all,
we do not recommend urethane in the upper arms (see the Rear Lower Control
Arm section for more information).
The Panhard bar is a lateral suspension link between
the rear axle and the chassis, and is the best method to control the side
to side location of the axle relative to the chassis. The Panhard bar
is in a direct line with the cornering load, and acts through spherical
rod ends, therefore no bind is induced during cornering. By nature of
its design, a Panhard bar does a better job of locating the axle than
the Mustang’s four-link suspension.
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Maximum Motorsports' unique
Panhard Bar:
MM's Panhard rod is the longest possible at 38” between pivot points.
This minimizes the amount of rear axle movement associated with the arc
of the rod’s movement. The longer the rod, the larger the radius. The
larger the radius, the smaller the sideways movement.
Slots on the MM chassis mount allow for vertical height adjustment to
keep the Panhard rod level at different vehicle ride heights. A level
bar reduces the effect of the rod’s movement arc.
Beefy 3/4” rod-ends are mounted in double shear at both ends. If a rod-end
mounted in single shear fails when the rod-end’s ball separates from its
body, that end of the Panhard Bar will become completely disconnected
from the mount. The result could be catastrophic as the Panhard rod will
no longer provide any lateral control of the rear axle and may even drop
to the roadway. If the same failure occurs to a rod-end mounted in double
shear, the rod-end body will still be contained within the mounting brackets
by the bolt and the two plates of the bracket. Some lateral control of
the axle will still be maintained.
Both the unique design and quality materials used make the MM mounting
brackets strong enough to not break and stiff enough to not flex under
conrning loads of over
1 G.
The boxed axle bracket virtually encloses the rod-end for a rigid, non-flexing
mount.
The MM chassis bracket mounts to the rear subframe of the car (not the
flimsy trunk floor or spare tire well)– using the exclusive MM frame inserts
to prevent collapse of the subframe.
The MM Panhard Bar is designed to clear the factory tailpipe routing.
The Panhard rod is mounted as low as possible to lower the rear roll
center height (typically at the same height as the rod).
The Panhard rod is available in either steel or lightweight aluminum.
The identical item is used on NASCAR Winston Cup stock cars.
Compatible with T/A rear differential cover
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