F1technical.net

I am trying to find out how Formula 1 mounts their bellcranks. Anyone have any pictures of them? I would hope that they are in double shear although I am unsure how they would achieve this with a monocoque. Additionally I would like to know what style of bearing the formula 1 cars are currently using.

Have F1 cars ever used pullrods? Are pullrods banned?

I have many more questions but I think this is enough for my first post.

If i remember, Minardi were the last team to use pullrods.

They're not banned but my understanding is the dampers are effectively buried when using pullrods and a nightmare for mechanics to modify/work on in a short space of time.

I found more information on the pullrods. Thanks guys. It really only seems to be an aero issue from what I have read. I'm not buying the adjustment line because that is nonesense given the time it would take to access the shocks currently.

But back ot my original question, anyone know how the bellcranks are mounted or what bearings are used.

Actually a lot of teams didn't like the pullrod suspension... it was much harder to adjust, and the lower CofG wasn't really that beneficial.

Using pull rods requires that the bell crank/spring/damper assembly be mounted lower on the chassis than when using pushrods. (as the pull rod runs from the top of the upright to around the level of the lower wishbone mounts) In the current F1 designs, this position would be where the keels are and there is not space to mount the shock absorbers. Older designs which made use of pull rods mounted the wishbones directly to the monococque rather than having keels. So in this design era, the needs of the aerodynamicist (clean air flow under the nose/underbody) overshadow the desire to keep the CofG as low as possible.

Yes, I understand all of the kinematics and layout of a pullrod vs. a pushrod suspension and the pros and cons to both. (you can run a very tiny pullrod because it is always under tension, something not mentioned yet.)

I would like information regarding the bearings and actual mounting locations of F1 suspensions. Pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Bellcranks are now mounted with small bulkhead moulded into the roof of the tub. There are effectively three bulkheads to mount the bellcrank\torsion bar. Firstly the bellcrank is mounted between a pair of triangular bulkheads, the house the bearings the crank pivots on. The pivot shaft is hollow and has the splines to mount the torsion bar. the fixed end of the torsion bar then mounts to the front bulkhead (or similar on McLarens BARs Williams). The Toyota link aboove shows the arrnagmenet very well on the CAD cutaways. or my schematic below might help. or let me know if you need clarification.

Scarbs





http://www.3ds.com/news-events/announcement/toyota-f1/

Here is a picture of the tunnel of a renault R202's tunnel for the driver's legs. Inside, there can be clearly seen the bellcranks for the front suspension. http://www.gurneyflap.com/formule100's.html
look for the Renault R202 pictures, third row down, third from the left.

thank you for the help and pictures. I'd like some more pictures if possible. but i don't want to be too greedy.

I think that Arrows was the last team that experimented with pull rods in 2000 or 2001, I'm not sure but I'm certain they did. It was that phase when they switched from extremely high nose to one of the lowest noses in season 200?

Regarding bearing joints in F1 suspensions, whether they are bellcranks, push/pull rods, control arms, etc, they all have some inherent friction and dampening characteristics that are not usually very consistent. If there is one thing that suspension engineers hate, it is variability in their set-ups. So suspension designers have gone to great lengths to remove these types of things from their suspensions.

If you look at an F1 suspension from 10 or 12 years ago, you would have seen spherical bearings at the inboard corners of the control arms. Today, those spherical bearings are replaced by "frictionless" leaf spring elements. The leaf spring elements provide a reliable and consistent set-up each time. Eliminating one of the variables from the complex equation that is suspension tuning.

riff_raff wrote:Regarding bearing joints in F1 suspensions, whether they are bellcranks, push/pull rods, control arms, etc, they all have some inherent friction and dampening characteristics that are not usually very consistent. If there is one thing that suspension engineers hate, it is variability in their set-ups. So suspension designers have gone to great lengths to remove these types of things from their suspensions.

If you look at an F1 suspension from 10 or 12 years ago, you would have seen spherical bearings at the inboard corners of the control arms. Today, those spherical bearings are replaced by "frictionless" leaf spring elements. The leaf spring elements provide a reliable and consistent set-up each time. Eliminating one of the variables from the complex equation that is suspension tuning.

I think that setup was first seen on John Barnard's Ferrari (was it the 640?) - I had assumed it was to do with aero; you learn something every day - thanks

What about this? I think this complements the view

riff_raff wrote:Regarding bearing joints in F1 suspensions, whether they are bellcranks, push/pull rods, control arms, etc, they all have some inherent friction and dampening characteristics that are not usually very consistent. If there is one thing that suspension engineers hate, it is variability in their set-ups. So suspension designers have gone to great lengths to remove these types of things from their suspensions.

If you look at an F1 suspension from 10 or 12 years ago, you would have seen spherical bearings at the inboard corners of the control arms. Today, those spherical bearings are replaced by "frictionless" leaf spring elements. The leaf spring elements provide a reliable and consistent set-up each time. Eliminating one of the variables from the complex equation that is suspension tuning.

Yes, I am well aware of this. They're called flexure points.