okay you should see 3 pics

the first is the independant suspension that almost all of us have in our rc cars, the little square at the top is meant to be the shock tower
the second one, as you might recognize more easily, is a solid axle setup... that solid black line is meant to be a representation of one of the links you have , like in crawlers or scale monster trucks....
the 3rd pic is something i thought of, it was mainly 2 things... first, the articulation of a solid axle , because dogbones can only work up until a certain angle before they bind up, and the articulation is strictly like bending a flat rectangle.... secondly, the ground clearance of the independant suspension , specifically the gearbox is not the same level as the wheels, and also there is less of an unsprung weight problem so you get a smoother ride

this is just a rough representation...ignore the obvious lack of attention to scale and detail, and assume everything moves freely and nothing is gonna hit each other,the red bit is supposed to be a cantilever thingie on the 'shock tower', the action of the shocks pushing the wheels down also lifts the rest of the chassis up...it could be adjustable, having more leverage on the wheel side would make it more independant, having more leverage on the chassis side would make it more solid axle... it would be held by a multilink to the main chassis , but the springs will indirectly lift the chassis up, something like a revo or txt ...ive tried to emphasize the robustness of these suspension links by giving them thick lines, so it doesnt look flimsy or anything(think of the longer thinner lines as the suspension rods of the revo, and the short stubby one is a giant turnbuckle or something)... i think torque twist wouldnt be as apparent as if it was a normal solid axle setup , because of the mechanical advantage of the wheels twisting the gearbox and not the other way round...

does anyone know if any cars use this type of suspension? i'll be really interested in how well they work...

There are a number of problems with this. First, there is an inverse effect of the springs, the body would actually sink. Second, there is no way to enforce correct geometry as this is effectively an independent suspension attached to the body through links.

well thats what the cantilever is there for, it lifts the body up when the wheels go down...without the cantilever, the setup would look like a paradox... again, the cantilever part is the most important here... the geometric relationship of the gearbox to the rest of the chassis, is a function of the relationship of the wheels to the gearbox... the higher the wheels lift the gearbox from the ground, the higher the gearbox lifts the body up... while the arms are independant, the gearbox is held like a solid axle , except the springs are on the gearbox side and not on the chassis side....there would be plates etc reaching out of the gearbox for the appropriate links(that ive left out for clarity), so that in the end it would look like a classic monster truck , except when you see it move , it would look like the links were somehow holding the shocks instead of the wheels

so does anyone know if this type of suspension actually exists or not???

ive never heard or seen any thing like it but i have no idea wat exactly its supposed to do but if they do have it i woulden do it that would just be mor money i would be puting in my car wen something breaks on the suspention.

what if one wheel is down and another is up? wouldn't it twist everthing up?

I'm pretty sure that's the same suspension setup used on the 72-74 ford chevette which was not well reviewed

for some reason, when i google 'chevette' , it has a sponsored link to ford, but every other link points to something about chevrolet? can you please clear this up for me, what exactly is this 'ford chevette' your talking about...

yes, it will twist the gearbox, but on a solid axle the gearbox is twisted more, since it has to follow the wheels all the way up... in this setup, the wheels move up relative to the gearbox so the gearbox shouldnt have to twist so much

what im thinking is this might be useful like, in crawlers and stuff, where the extra articulation would come in handy

Go post this at www.rccrawler.com Those guys will give you honest feedback about it.

heh, the last time i checked, someone who posted that link got in trouble and had their post edited beyond recognition...
thanks for the tip anyway, but i just wanna add something....

you see those links represented by the thick stubby lines?? if they are put in a 'v' pattern, which is like, the mounting points on the chassis is wider apart than those on the gearbox, the suspension would bear lateral loads...
lets say the truck tilts to the left, and this causes the chassis to 'hang' on the right link and put pressure on it... the link in turn would then compress the right side shock, and tilting the truck to the right....
ive never seen a truck like this in action, so i dont know how it will work in real life, but man i suuure would like to find out....

Crawlers don't need more than 60 degrees of articulation which they accomplish just fine.

in fact, i dont see that this is going to give as many degrees as solid axles, due to the fact that the movement of the gearbox is a fraction of the movement of the wheels... what im putting forwards is something with as much travel in the wheels as crawlers, but with additional ground clearance, and possibly a way to compensate for the increased center of gravity

also, i know it might sound slightly controversial, it has several additional tuning options... the cantilever leverage, and the link mounting positions.... the same truck could be switched from a basher to a crawler, by doing something as routine as changing your shock positions and wheels...

wow, it sounds like you have alot going on here. maybe try to build model (larger of course) out of brass tubing. not for really strength or anything, but just so you can see all the moving parts in motion. if you get it right, start calling companies. maybe you'll get lucky. experiment first. honestly, i cant really see the advantages unless i have the part in front of me. good luck

i think i could physically have something like this , because the university i go to has a workshop place , someone got a panel for their computer case cut there...
it wont be a scratchbuild, because the beginnings of this idea came from me seeing someone turn a mini lst into a crawler... the entire independant suspension part can be taken right off an existing truck, you'll need custom plates to go where the chassis plates used to mount to the gearbox, and a custom shock tower, which i think will be the most important part
maybe any 4-link capable chassis, like from crawlers and stuff,which hold a center tranny, can be used... the idea is to get that chassis much heavier than the gearbox in order to push on the links, otherwise its going to have no suspension travel, i think....

thats why i asked the question, wether if any real cars have anything like this because i have no idea how well it actually works...