Hubs

formulastudent · 16 Oct 2002, 19:05 (Ref:405979)

Does anyone have a tried and tested design for a front hub suitable for a small single seater, about the size of a formula ford? better still does anyone have any for sale/donation?

Any advice on designing one is appreciated if we have to go that way!!

Owen

boyracer · 17 Oct 2002, 05:06 (Ref:406253)

Sorry haven't designed any hubs like that.
But sugest you have a look at your local car wrecking yard.
Choose a small car with the same size wheel and basically copy it.
Have a good look around, things to look for are of course, bearing size, dust seal arrangement and physical size.
Some hubs I have seen use a large dust seal that seals against the rear face of the hub, making the transistion to a formula car a bit impractical.
Don't be too concerned about the fact that the car you are copying from is a road car and you need it for a race car. While the instantaneous loading on a race car stub axle and hub will be greater than a road car, road cars are heavily over engineered for long life. If you then consider how many miles a road car would do compared to a race car you should be further re-assured. Add to that the fact that even a small car would weigh in at 700-800kgs (approx.) compared to the weight of a single seater and there should be no problems.
If you still have doubts, go to your local race track on race day (while the formula fords are racing) and find out who the guy is. Generally you'll find a club president or spokesman on behalf of the F.Ford assoc. he should know everyone who's ever broken anything on their car and find a damaged F.Ford hub. Surely no one would have a problem with handing over a "stuffed" hub.
Anyway hope that helps.

THR · 17 Oct 2002, 16:35 (Ref:406597)

lol, yea or just look in the bins after a meeting!

Guisbro Rod H · 19 Oct 2002, 23:11 (Ref:408253)

Single Seater. Now is that front wheel drive or rear wheel drive? If its the latter many formula ford cars started with a Triumph Herald front hub. Probably difficult to source in the 21st century. What about a hub from a Caterham / Westfield. The kit car boys probably use a Sierra (Ford not Dutton who had the name Sierra first). They will give you typical bearing sizes stub diameters etc.

If you are designing from scratch should one design the suspension geometry first then define the location of the supension joints and hub geometry to get the desired Caster, Camber, King-pin inclination, caliper location, etc. Existing units will provide guidance and availble ball joints, etc.

Front wheel drive? Why not steal the geometry from the front wheel drive Lotus Elan from ten years ago, for self build that was one of the best front end set-ups that you could copy. Tell Lotus what you are doing if you do.

boyracer · 22 Oct 2002, 07:16 (Ref:409958)

Well now you have started a question.
Formula Student are you after a hub or the complete knuckle including suspension pickups ?
If you are after the complete deal, then our friend "Guisbro Rod H" is right. The knuckle will need to be designed around the suspension. Not a project for the short of fuse

.

formulastudent · 22 Oct 2002, 17:03 (Ref:410320)

The car is rear wheel drive and we have a set of rear hubs provided by an ex formula ford racer, but he did not have any fronts. basically our guesstimate design goes like this _/\ with the stub in the middle, suspension picups top
\/ and bottom and a steering arm. We have looked at the triumph herald/vitesse but they seem to be incredibly heavy. Our other thought was hubs from a racing quad bike? is this thinking too far out of the box??

avsfan733 · 24 Oct 2002, 01:25 (Ref:411801)

shouldn't be to far off the mark formulastudent in designtheory, but make sure to be careful about the already mentioned effects of suspension points ect. realize that the hubs for a quad are going to be overengineered (good) but also engineered for long suspension travel (bad for a low clearance formula SAE). Also check for brake mounting solutions as some quads that i have seen use inboard brakes. Good luck with your project and may i inquire as to your college.

formulastudent · 24 Oct 2002, 13:21 (Ref:412150)

I'm not going to release that on the board, you have two options, there are two universities in brighton, both have FS teams - if you really want to know, PM me.