Re: [a/s] Fear This

[Susi and John Burchard <saluqi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

True enough in respect of truck suspensions ... which is one reason the good
ones have pneumatic seats ... but the SUV story is a bit more complicated than
that.  During 15 years of ramming around the deserts of Arabia I had plenty of
opportunity to compare stiff leaf-spring suspensions (Chevy Suburban and Toyota
Land Cruiser, which was then a utility rather than a fancy vehicle) with the
much softer coil spring suspension of a Range Rover.  The RR has coil springs on
all four corners, long trailing arms in the rear, long leading arms in front,
which gives it enormous wheel travel and the ability to keep wheels on the
ground in much more extreme terrain than a leaf-spring truck suspension (the
Burb of those days, and the Land Cruiser of those days which was a thinly
disguised military jeep, were both definitely of the "truck" persuasion).  The
Range Rover was incomparably more capable in really difficult terrain.  It could
go places the others could not, and was also much more comfortable while doing
so.  The really interesting thing was that the rated weight carrying capacity
(payload) of the RR was slightly greater than that of the much larger Burb! 
Since I was trying to do scientific field work under difficult conditions I
regularly had the vehicles maxed out ... which caused endless transmission
problems with the Burbs, but that's a different story.

I'm sure this does not apply to the RR as sold in this country, which has
hundreds of pounds of yuppie stuff added on (with a price tag to match).

John
-- 
Susi and John Burchard
Tepe Gawra Salukis
saluqi@ix.netcom.com