SusProg3D - Suspension by Design.
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V4.500 notes Added option to draw the undertray. Although undertray input was added in V4.84A it was limited to the PitchCentre calculations and not included as part of the graphic display. , Added option to draw the chassis datum plane. , Added a tool to create the chassis datum from vehicle coordinates., Previously the chassis datum could be relocated longitudinally and/or vertically.

Version 4.500 adds additional functionality and a few bug fixes.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.

Added option to draw the undertray.
Although undertray input was added in V4.84A it was limited to the PitchCentre calculations and not included as part of the graphic display. 

Added option to draw the chassis datum plane. 

Added a tool to create the chassis datum from vehicle coordinates.
Previously the chassis datum could be relocated longitudinally and/or vertically.
This adds the ability to create the chassis datum in any position, including side rake. 

The major enhancement is the ability to specify three ride height control points.
This means that the chassis can be positioned with rake in both side and end views.
Three points are used for ride height reference - two at one end of the vehicle, and one at the other end.
The previous method only allowed for two points to be specified

V4.500B (Build 710.1)

Updated SusProg3D Licence Server (Sawdust) to better handle TCP/IP messages.


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Version 4.91 adds additional functionality and a few bug fixes.
Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.In no particular order.
 
Added a File -> New option.

Reorganised the Excel export/import functions.

There are now four Excel functions - two export functions and two import functions
“Calc2Excel” exports the calculated data,
“Input2Excel” exports the input data,
“Excel2Input” imports the input data, and
“Excel2CMM” imports the CMM data. 

In addition, the worksheet naming has been extended to include "LH" and "RH" suffixes, and the various calculation functions will now update the appropriate "Front" and "Rear" worksheets.
A new tutorial Creating Excel worksheets for LH and RH data has been added showing how to use the worksheet names.

Thanks to Ben, Pesek and Lloyd for these.


Changed the Ackermann distances and percentages to always relate to the front axle.

Thanks to Peter for this one.


Allow for a strut suspension to have a separate spring.

The '79-'04 Mustang has a modified Macpherson strut with the coil springs inboard of the struts.
The '05 Mustang reverted to conventional strut mounted coil springs.

Thanks to Lonnie for this one.


Reorganised the toe out in turn results to better fit on the printed page.

Thanks to Peter for this one.


Version 4.90 adds additional functionality and a few bug fixes.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.

Updated and added some additional functionality to the recirculating ball steering.
Allow for the tie rod pivots to be either side of the track rod.
Add the steering box ratio and overall steering ratio calculations.
Add the option to specify track rod pivots with chassis coordinates, and back calculate track rod offsets.
Thanks to Bruce and his Datsun1600 for these changes. 

Add an option for the torsion bar to extend in either direction from the actuation point, and for a defined chassis mounting point not on the wishbone pivot axis.
Thanks to Chuck and his Porsche 911 for this one. 

Add a note to the help file explaining how the motion ratio calculations are affected by the wheel alignment.
Thanks to Simon for pointing this out. 

Allow for a second shock with a live axle four link.
Thanks to Louie and his off road racers for this one. 

Renamed the menu items from “Export2Excel” and “Import2Excel” to “ExportExcel” and “ImportExcel”. 

Allow for Windows 7.

Compiler upgrade, D2009 Update 2.

V4.90B (Build 675.1)

Updated the maximum turn angle from integer to float and added a turn radius calculation.
Thanks to Pratap for this one.

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V4.89 notes

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Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.

Added the IMCA live axle with 4-link birdcage.

The axle is located longitudinally with 4 trailing links. These links attach to a birdcage which is free to rotate on the axle tube (and is restrained axially).
To hold the axle in alignment, a torque arm extends forward from the axle and is connected to the chassis with a link (which may be a combination of spring and damper).
The axle is laterally located by either a Panhard rod or a Watts linkage.

The brakes are attached to the axle.

The usual springing is with a single coilover shockabsorber attached to the birdcage.

V4.89B (Build 659.1)

Fixed a bug when using a-arm mounted toe control link. The mounting point wasn't shown correctly when referenced from the front mounting point.
Thanks to Pesek for this one.

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V4.88 notes
 Version 4.88 has a number of enhancements.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.

Added a crossmember tool.
Older unit body sedans and contemporary hot rod conversions often use a separate chassis crossmember with a-arm, spring and steering mounts.
This tool maps the coordinates between the crossmember and the chassis.
Thanks to Mick for this one.
Added a nominal curb-to-curb turning circle (all steering types) and the number of steering wheel turns lock to lock (for rack and pinion steering).
Thanks to Mick for these.

Added the roll gradient to the dynamic calculations.
Thanks to Rupert for this one.

Fixed a bug that prevented the suspension travel being set by specifying the shock open and closed lengths if the spring dialog was open at the same time.
Thanks to Roger for this one.

V4.87 notes
Version 4.87 adds additional functionality and a few bug fixes.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.

Added a stand alone spring calculator. Available in the Tools menu.
Handy for those times when you have a spring and just need to know the rate. 

If the Antirollbar Correlation Factor was zero, this caused the antirollbar calculations to fail. It now defaults to 1.0
Thanks to Gavin for this one.

Added an option to the wheel alignment settings to allow for specifying the toe in degrees. Typically, laser toe gauges have a resolution of 1/60th of a degree, approx 0.02 degrees. 

Updated the registration algorithm for Vista. 

Added "double ball joints" to the CMM tool for struts.
Thanks to Mark for this one.

Added the upright coordinates referenced back to the chassis datum. This is makes it easier to position suspension component in the correct place when the chassis is in the chassis jig.
Thanks to Tim for this one.

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V4.86 notes
Version 4.86 has a number of enhancements.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.





Updated driveshaft configuration.

For those suspension types that use the driveshaft as a suspension link it is now possible to specify the driveshaft as "Fixed length driveshaft (top lateral link)" or as "Variable (splined) or "Variable (plunging joint)".

When the driveshaft is specified as "Fixed length driveshaft (top lateral link)" the driveshaft will act as the top lateral link.
This is the typical arrangement for Jaguar and Corvette rear suspensions.

When the driveshaft is specified as "Variable (splined) or "Variable (plunging joint)" then the driveshaft will not take suspension loads, and a separate top lateral link is required.

Thanks to Toni and the Finnish Corvette community for this one.

Upright camber shims and steering

When upright camber shims are used, and they also adjust the steering arm, then this is now noted in the steering results.

Thanks to Jan for this one.

Dynamic parameters

The dynamic parameters now include a Vehicle or Custom option to determine the input data. This provides a clearer distinction between using the current vehicle parameters, and bespoke "what if" parameters.

Thanks to Rupert for this one

Undertray

Fixed up the names on the undertray input.

Thanks to Ian for this one.

Wheel spacer

Added a wheel spacer.

Thanks to Roy for this one. 

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V4.85 notes

Version 4.85 has a number of enhancements.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.


Added an anti-roll bar configuration to suit live axle with leading arms.
TThanks to Pratap for this one.
Corrected the motion ratio calculations for the fully floating shock and bellcrank setup.
Sometimes the spring data displayed the wrong units.
Updated the help file with additional notes about naming ranges for front and rear sheets.
Thanks to Rupert for these.

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Version 4.84 has a number of enhancements.   A new VCalc button has been added.   PitchData - this is where the suspension travel data is specified

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Version 4.84 has a number of enhancements.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.



A new VCalc button has been added.
This operates similar to the current ECalc, but will do the complete vehicle.
A new graphical pitch centre calculator has been added.
Under the Dynamic tab there are two new items
PitchData - this is where the suspension travel data is specified
PitchGraphic - this is where the data is cycled through, calculated and displayed
Thanks to Ian for this one.
As an aid to visualizing the vehicle movement in the graphic pitch calculator, the vehicle undertray can now be specified.
Thanks to Gary for this one.

The existing pitch centre calculator will be deprecated. It will be removed shortly.

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V4.83 notes


Version 4.83 adds additional functionality to the dynamic calculations.
Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.

The dynamic calculations can now be done over a combination of front roll centre, rear roll centre and lateral acceleration. 

The dynamic calculation results can now be exported to Excel to enable a better analysis of when calculating over a range of roll centre positions and lateral accelerations. 

Added an option to allow for a pushrod bellcrank to actuate from the top wishbone

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V4.82 notes

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Version 4.82 adds support for Microsoft Vista.

Thanks to all of those who made comments and suggestions.

In no particular order.


SusProg3D  is now supported on Windows Vista.

This has required several changes to the SusProg3D installation, and to the help file.

Vista has greatly increased security relating to User Access Control (UAC) and imposes more restrictions on data file locations.
This has required changes to the install procedure. This also affects installs on all other Windows versions.

Also, with Vista, Microsoft have dropped support for the traditional WinHelp format, and now only support the CHM (Compiled HTML) format.
To support Vista, the SusProg3D help file has been converted from WinHelp to CHM help.
When upgrading older versions which used WinHelp the patch files will include the new CHM help.

How do I know what style of Help I have?

Start SusProg3D and then go to Help -> Contents.


If the help displayed looks like this, it is WinHelp


If the help displayed looks like this, it is CHM help.

I have added a "Correlation factor" to the antirollbar rate calculations.
Use this to factor to adjust the calculated rate to match the actual rate.
Thanks to Norm for this suggestion

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V4.81A (Build 593.0)
SusProg3D Licence Server Phase 1
Driveline data added to Excel exports.


V4.80A (Build 586.0)
The basic geometry for a three-wheel configuration has been added.
The currently supported configuration allows for two front wheels (wishbones or strut) and a single rear wheel on a trailing arm (essentially the same as a motorcycle rear suspension).
Thanks to Gary for this one.

 A tool to calculate the wheel camber change over the range of upright shims has been added.
Thanks to Oscar for this one.

 For those who usually work on the same data file, the last used data file will automatically load when SusProg3D is opened.
Go to Settings |Settings and tick "Start with last working file".
 The "toe out in turn" calculations have been extended to calculate caster trail and kingpin offset.
If you are exporting "toe out in turn" to Excel, then increase the Excel range with an extra four columns (a total of 21 is now required) to include the caster trail and kingpin radius data.

If you do not increase the Excel range, the "toe out in turn" data will still export OK, just the caster trail and kingpin radius data will not be included.
Thanks to Daniel for this one.

  The roll and bump results now include caster trail and kingpin offset.
Thanks to Daniel for this one.


Version 4.78
Added graphic display print function.
Increased the steer angle in toe out in turn calculations.
Increased the suspension travel for trailing arm suspensions (especially for off-road vehicles).
Clarified the exporting of brake and acceleration "anti" values to Excel.

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Version 4.74

When drawing the steering arm, also draw the king pin axis.

Added an "ungrounded" toe control link to the rear A-arm suspension types. This is where the toe control link attaches to the A-arm instead of the chassis.
Thanks to Peter Davies for this one.

Fixed the Mumford bellcrank axis offset dimensions so they always refer to the bellcrank axis (and not the lever axis).

Add dual rate coil-over springs.
Thanks to Ted Mitchell for this one.

There is now a graphic display of the spring rate with the bump and droop travel positions marked. This is especially applicable to the new dual rate springs and hopefully will make the design and selection of spring rates easier. The calculations are a bit complicated, and tend to require an iterative approach.

For metric users, spring and wheel rate calculations have been brought in line with SAE J916 “Rules for use of SI (metric) units”. This means that spring and wheel rates will now be shown in N/mm rather than kg/cm, and spring loads will be shown in N (Newtons). There is only a 2% difference between N/mm and kg/cm, with the N/mm value being slightly smaller than the kg/cm value for the same rate. The results will continue to show rates in both N/mm and lb/in, and loads in N, kg and lbs. Vehicle “weights” will remain in kg. For imperial users there is no difference. Rates will be in lb/in, loads and weights in lb.

Removed some code that was specifically for Windows 95 and added a note to the FAQ describing the required fix.

Added the necessary changes to support Windows 64-bit operating systems.
Thanks to the V8 Supercar team for their patience and help on this one.

Added an “Update Reminder”. This will pop up a box when the installed version is 90 days old, and then once every 30 days, reminding you to check the web site for program updates.

Added a camber adjustment shim option for uprights.
Thanks to James Morrison for this one.

Added the functionality to set page margins for hard copy printouts.
Thanks to Jan Hoel for this one.

Extended the “toe out in turn” calculations to do both turn directions at the same time. Also included the actual “toe out in turn” angle and the caster data.
Thanks to Paul Yaw for this one.

Added the extended “toe out in turn” data to the Excel exports.
Thanks to Rob Palermo for this one.

When doing a geometry calculation with the front wheels steered, the steer direction is now independent of the chassis roll direction. Previously the turn direction determined both the chassis roll direction and the steering direction. The “straight ahead” wheel alignment toe settings are used to return the steering to the straight ahead position, and to ensure that subsequent calculations always start from the “known position”. When doing a steered calculation, the wheel alignment dialog box will always show the steered wheel alignment.

Added a graphical isometric representation to the upright dialog. And when you click on a pivot point, the name of the point and the co-ordinates will display.

Added extra calculated info to the mass dialog. It now calculates the left and right mass distributions as well as the percentage splits for the individual wheels.

Added extra calculated info to the centre of gravity dialog. SusProg will now calculate the sprung mass (ie the chassis) centre of gravity location relative to the front axle centreline and the ground. SusProg will also calculate the sprung mass centre of gravity location relative to the chassis datum. This will now mean that any changes to ride height (amongst others) will automatically “back calculate” the new vehicle centre of gravity.
Thanks to Duncan Grant for this one.

Added a dialog to enable the setting of the display grid colours and spacings. The grid will only display when the view is “axis aligned”. Added a “show me the co-ordinate” function to the display. If you click (left mouse button) anywhere on the graphic it will report back the vehicle co-ordinates of that point. This only works when the view is “axis aligned”.
Another from Duncan.

Added a “centre of rotation” function to the graphic display. In previous versions, the graphic was always centered on a point on the axle hub centreline. Whenever the graphic was zoomed in or out, or rotated, the location of the centre point did not change. Now there is a function to change this “centre of rotation”. It is only active when the view is “axis aligned” and will move the graphic to be centred about the “click” point. Hold down the Control key and click (left mouse button). The graphic will redraw with the “clicked point” now at the centre of the display. Note that this does not change the position of the “centre of rotation” in the direction of the “aligned axis”. To do that, you will need to flip the view 90 degrees and click a second time. If you have defined a “centre of rotation” that causes the graphic to rotate “off screen” you can reset everything back using the “Reset” button on the “Display” tabs. The options to show the graphic as lines or in full, to show or hide the grid, and to hold or reset the orientation are now on the “Display” tabs.

Changed the way the graphic calculates the initial scaling to use the complete vehicle (instead of the end being shown). Now when you flip between front and rear the scale and grid will remain the same.


Version 4.73
Additional Excel exports.
Rigid (non-driving) axle added. Typical for the rear axle of FWD vehicles.
Additional spring data added to results.
Added function to copy graphic display to clipboard.


Version 4.72
Additional Excel exports


Version 4.71
Added Mumford linkage option for twin trailing arm rear suspension


Version 4.70
Front live axle added.
Two configurations, 3 or 4 leading link + Panhard rod, and twin leading arms + Panhard rod.
 Drag link steering.
Transfer box and front propshaft.
 
 
 
 

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