What possessed me to develop the Dragvette 6-Link
The Dragvette 6-link was initially developed for two reasons as I proceeded with its development a third reason became very apparent. First I was breaking parts in the rear end with way to much regularity. Second the traction was not always there. When your bracket racing you must have a consistent car so your dial in isn't all over the map. The third reason safety. I realized veering down the drag strip erratically because of a broken suspension would eventually catch up with my Corvette or worse me.
Some thing had to be wrong in the suspension. As I laid down on the garage floor staring at the 1967 Corvette suspension I started analyzing the suspension. It had been built a half of a century ago. Bias tire were a thing of the past by 1976. This suspension had been developed in 1963 more than 50 years ago. They weren't considering radial tires with there heavy stiff cap. That's got to be an issue when the chamber starts moving around that stiff cap won't flex and it will loose contact with the pavement.
What was putting so much pressure on the rear end? The half shaft, side yoke, and drive flange all of which I had broken once if not multiple times. The half shaft is about 14 inches long and the bottom strut bar is 17 1/2" long as the suspension compresses the motion pushes the half shaft into the differential because they are two different radii swinging on two different angles. When you make a hard turn or a hard launch the geometry is forcing the drive train to push the side yoke into the carrier of the rear end. There isn't a thrust mechanism in the differential. The half shaft simply shoves the side yoke into the differential until the side yoke hits the cross pin in the carrier. The differential is now supporting the Corvette while turning the tire. Most drag racers know the left side of the car gets hit first because of the direction the engine spins. Its the effect of the motors torque. The differential cross pin is getting hammered by the side yokes one after the other. We need to eliminate this pressure.
A top strut bar takes the abuse and allows the differential to simple turn the tire. This takes the side thrust off the drive flange, half shaft, side yoke, and carrier. These are the things I was busting up in the early 90's.
The traction seemed minimal with my Corvette. I had just installed my third set of slicks at the end of my first season. The inside corner of the tire was simply gone. The outside corner of the slick was still good, the middle wasn't real bad, but the inside had cord showing. This excess wear was simply caused by the radical camber changes of the stock suspension as it compressed during burn outs. I needed to eliminate this. By shortening the bottom strut to about the same length as the half shaft and relocating the mounting position I was able to eliminate the excessive camber changes the rear tire was going through. This allowed the tire to remain straight up and down with the track. I had eliminated all camber change. I now had a tire that was 100 percent in contact with the track at all times. I could now get all that horse power to the ground consistently. Now my slick would last all season and then some.
When the half shaft, side yoke, or drive flange would break the Corvette suspension would no longer support the body. The long bottom strut bar would push the bottom of the tire out and cause the top of the tire to make contact with the inside of the wheel well and frame. This makes for a very difficult driving situation, of which I had experienced several. Luckily I had developed some safety loops so this minimized any damage to the body, shocks, trailing arm, and battery of the 76 Corvette. I was also able to evade contact with any guard rails or walls. Most breakage was on the launch and that gives you the opportunity to get off the gas and on the brake at less that 40 mph usually. I realized I had to incorporate at least one safety loop in the design of the 6-link. Fortunately with the thought of maximum safety in mind I was able to design two safety loops. One on each end of each half shaft. I was now satisfied and happy with my creation. In early 2000 I launched my first web site and began marketing my safety loops and the newly developed Dragvette 6-Link.
The Dragvette 6-link was initially developed for two reasons as I proceeded with its development a third reason became very apparent. First I was breaking parts in the rear end with way to much regularity. Second the traction was not always there. When your bracket racing you must have a consistent car so your dial in isn't all over the map. The third reason safety. I realized veering down the drag strip erratically because of a broken suspension would eventually catch up with my Corvette or worse me.
Some thing had to be wrong in the suspension. As I laid down on the garage floor staring at the 1967 Corvette suspension I started analyzing the suspension. It had been built a half of a century ago. Bias tire were a thing of the past by 1976. This suspension had been developed in 1963 more than 50 years ago. They weren't considering radial tires with there heavy stiff cap. That's got to be an issue when the chamber starts moving around that stiff cap won't flex and it will loose contact with the pavement.
What was putting so much pressure on the rear end? The half shaft, side yoke, and drive flange all of which I had broken once if not multiple times. The half shaft is about 14 inches long and the bottom strut bar is 17 1/2" long as the suspension compresses the motion pushes the half shaft into the differential because they are two different radii swinging on two different angles. When you make a hard turn or a hard launch the geometry is forcing the drive train to push the side yoke into the carrier of the rear end. There isn't a thrust mechanism in the differential. The half shaft simply shoves the side yoke into the differential until the side yoke hits the cross pin in the carrier. The differential is now supporting the Corvette while turning the tire. Most drag racers know the left side of the car gets hit first because of the direction the engine spins. Its the effect of the motors torque. The differential cross pin is getting hammered by the side yokes one after the other. We need to eliminate this pressure.
A top strut bar takes the abuse and allows the differential to simple turn the tire. This takes the side thrust off the drive flange, half shaft, side yoke, and carrier. These are the things I was busting up in the early 90's.
The traction seemed minimal with my Corvette. I had just installed my third set of slicks at the end of my first season. The inside corner of the tire was simply gone. The outside corner of the slick was still good, the middle wasn't real bad, but the inside had cord showing. This excess wear was simply caused by the radical camber changes of the stock suspension as it compressed during burn outs. I needed to eliminate this. By shortening the bottom strut to about the same length as the half shaft and relocating the mounting position I was able to eliminate the excessive camber changes the rear tire was going through. This allowed the tire to remain straight up and down with the track. I had eliminated all camber change. I now had a tire that was 100 percent in contact with the track at all times. I could now get all that horse power to the ground consistently. Now my slick would last all season and then some.
When the half shaft, side yoke, or drive flange would break the Corvette suspension would no longer support the body. The long bottom strut bar would push the bottom of the tire out and cause the top of the tire to make contact with the inside of the wheel well and frame. This makes for a very difficult driving situation, of which I had experienced several. Luckily I had developed some safety loops so this minimized any damage to the body, shocks, trailing arm, and battery of the 76 Corvette. I was also able to evade contact with any guard rails or walls. Most breakage was on the launch and that gives you the opportunity to get off the gas and on the brake at less that 40 mph usually. I realized I had to incorporate at least one safety loop in the design of the 6-link. Fortunately with the thought of maximum safety in mind I was able to design two safety loops. One on each end of each half shaft. I was now satisfied and happy with my creation. In early 2000 I launched my first web site and began marketing my safety loops and the newly developed Dragvette 6-Link.