I did a search but could not find an exact answer. Does it matter if your panhard bar attatches to the left frame rail and goes to the right side of the rearend housing or from right to left? Is it preference or am I missing something? Thanks!
I cant say which side right now, but it needs to be hooked up the right way due to the torque that gets to the rear end......
Don't know for sure but most are fixed at the left side frame rail and extend to the right side axle. Probably no difference.
This question is best answered by what side your steering box sits, and really only matters if you run cross steering configuration. Even then it probably still does not matter too much if run on the rear axle, but in my book better to follow the convention and mount to the LH frame and RH axle, since where it gets tricky is when you run a panhard bar on the steering axle and it would be preferable to have the bar on the frame same as the steering box. On a RH drive car for some of our international members it would be the reverse configuration. The worst case senario would be when you have front panhard bar attached to the opposite frame rail to that of a rear panhard bar hence creating a sissor effect during suspension movement. I recommend even if your steering is not cross type still follow the convention as the vehicle may have a new owner one day who is unaware of such technical stuff and converts from say push/pull steering to cross steering without also knowing that the rear panhard bar is on the opposite side and hence it would be set up incorrectly and potentially an accident waiting to happen. My belief is, that mostly this wrong/unconventional set up will not affect smooth general driving at slow speeds, however you need this stuff to be set up correctly when it counts, say when you get out of shape on a curve or on a wet road or when trying to avoid a collision, the times when you need all your components to be working with you instead of against you for those few split seconds.
If you are talking about the rear end panhard, it always goes to the drivers side of the frame and extends to the passenger side of the rear end housing, so it runs from left to right. I used to know the reason but have forgotten it, but we just always do it that way. It might have something to do with the way the rear end wants to pull under torque. It is one of those things that your Mom told you about, "Don't ask why, just do it. " I'm in the process of installing coil overs on the back of my current rpu project and will mount the panhard just as I always have, like described above. The other thing is that they say the bar should run level when at rest, but that is sometimes impossible to do because of clearances and the fact the mount on the frame would be very long and the one on the axle very tall. I have seen no adverse affects if the bar has to run downhill a little because the rear end only travels a couple of inches at the most in either direction. Don Here is the last one we did.Car has been on the road for almost 4 years now and rides fine.
done it both ways on rear, never noticed difference, on the front I attached from left axle to rite frame, I think it depends on size and weight of car.. On my 28 PU rear w/coilover shocks it goes from slightly left of axle center to rite of frame paralel to axle housing, over 130.000 miles so far no problem.
On the front, if you've got cross steering, it should attach to the frame on the same side as the steering box so that the arc it travels through is roughly the same as the drag link. On the rear, I doubt it matters. Bob
To answer the OP's question: It doesn't matter for the rear axle panhard bar. If you do some searches you'll find factory configurations of both left and right frame mounts.
The late, great, Carrol Smith (Heavily involved in FORD's defeat of Ferrari at Lemans in the 60s, etc) wrote a series of "Prepare to...." books covering a batch of race car topics. I think "Tune to Win" may have had a big suspension section, and another devoted to classes based on American 'sedans' . I believe he said that for oval tracks, with cornering in one direction there was a preferred orientation, but that only an extremely sensitive driver could feel the difference. But that it should always be horizontal with the chassis at running height.
All good comments. Funny, the only place it REALLY matters is in dirt circle track racing... Don is correct in how the engine (chassis) torque is applied to the rear housing through the bar, but only if the bar is also running slightly uphill to the frame on launch. As the chassis leans over from engine torque, the bar will tend to push down on the RR tire a little, helping to balance traction. You didn't specify the application, but in general I would try to make the bar as long as possible, as close to level as possible, and as close to axle centerline height as possible.
Dirtracer, It seems that requirement for panard rod mounting is application dependent. Panard brackets on the rear can be mounted bracket right side or left. The same with the front application. However in the front application the most favored bracket mount is in conjunction with the steering box mount. In cross steer applications the panard rod should be similar in length to the drag link, so the panard rod and the drag link both pivot in concentric arcs. In side steer applications the arc swing of the rods are on different axis, independent of each other so the lenghts do not have to be as close together. Unless you are in a racing application panard rod bracketry should be as close to parallel in ride as possible, as you increase the angle of the rod you increase the side scuff of the axle. The high angle attack rear track or panard rod you see on circle track cars is a weight shifting method used for moving the weight concentration left or right to promote better corner handling. The rear mount/ bracket angle should be minimum in a street car to avoid any rear steer tendency at hight speed bump. You could not find an anwer to your question because there is not any exact one.
Correct, All I'll add is the longer the bar is in length, the less lateral movement as the arc swings thru suspension travel. I like to go from the frame rail to axle tube on other side. Mounting to center section leaves you with a short bar.
Found this in the French slang dictionary. panard: panard Details Foot, can also be a "exiting" "C'est le panard" means "That's exiting" The guys at TCI (Total Cost Involved) refer to it as a Panard bar also. Regards, Ron
A panhard bar is a major chassis setup tool in dirt oval racing. In dirt mods and late models especially (that's what I am most familiar with) the length of the bar and lateral position of the bar are adjusted for nearly every race, depending on track conditions. It's interesting to watch mods and the position of their left rear tire. They're never in the same position during a race. Sometimes it looks as if the driver is sitting on top of the left rear tire. Much of that is a result of the rear panhard bar. The goal is to obtain some rear steer (short tracks, especially) to help cornering. I'm not an expert of dirt car setup by any stretch of the word. I'm simply a life-long dirt track racing fan with many friends in the business. I'm a "bleacher creature"!!
Actually, the "driver sitting on top of the tire" setup on dirt cars comes from the rear trailing links, the "rock crawler about to flip over" side lean is from the panhard bar...
LOL,,,,boy do I feel stupid reading this. I'm not even sure WTF a panhard bar is, much less WTF it does. A solid rear end fixes all those issues anyways
In the photo of the blue chassis above, it is the thin blue bar seen above the rear diff, attached at an angle to the chassis at one end and the axle at the other.
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