Dave,
After I posted last time I started thinking about this in a lot more detail.
The Sportage has lower links connecting each side of the rear axel to the frame and only one center link connecting the top of the axel to the frame.
The steering movement experienced when rapidly accelerating is torque steer and comes from the directional rotational forces being applied to the rear end from the drive line components. This makes the rear end try and move to the left. With the rear end being lighter than the front due to the motor being placed in the front the rear end is allowed to slide to the left.
In reverse the vehicle tries to do the same thing, but with the added weight in the front from the engine there is more mass to move thus counter balancing the affect and what you experience is less torque steer.
This is why in a front wheel drive car you don't experience torque steer. In a rear or mid engine car torque steer is also almost non existent.
Having 4.11/4.10 axel ratios front to back works to eliminate torque steer, but only if you are going forward. When you go in reverse any advantage is lost and you would actually experience more torque steer.
Logansportage <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />
DAMNIT RYAN, i thought you did reverse engineering or something like that for a living!
you're still wrong.
the effect you're describing has nothing to do with gearing except that it is more obvious in vehicles with lower gearing, but only due to torque multiplication. go back, read my last post, then read gary's. i thought you were on the right track noticing the suspension, but you went the wrong way.
the reason a front wheel drive vehicle does not experience much in the way of torque steer or even torque lean, is because it has an INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION AND BECAUSE THE ENGINE IS MOUNTED SIDE-F-ING-WAYS!!! torque lean is almost non-existent, but if it were existing, it would create a rotation opposite the traction of the front tires, rotating the engine forward or backward, doing absolutely NOTHING to cause ANY side-to-side movement or lean, never creating a situation where traditional torque-steer can be exhibited.
when speaking of our Sportages, in forward and reverse, the reason you get no torque lean or torque steer in reverse is exactly like i said in my last post, there is no other reason for it, especially one having to do with gearing, except for the fact you would get microscopically less in reverse anyway because reverse gear is a numerically lower gear, meaning it is a higher gear than 1st forward.
now, back to your original statement that (for some reason) running a 4.11 gear up front would be better with a 4.10 gear out back, well, you're actually right about that, a little bit. i didn't catch it at first, don't know why, but i didn't, but that actually makes the front gear lower than the rear, which means the rear would be pushing against the front when it came time for binding, still not good, but i still think it is doubtful it would ever be noticed. if you were going to have different gear ratios, and there was no way around it due to an axle swap of some combo, this really would be the way to go, if only it were low enough for our vehicles, but 4.1 is not. (thanks to those who pointed that out some ways up the page).
