Originally Posted by
Bush65
Yes I am.
The roll axis that you have described is the roll axis of the body.
For roll steer, we are concerned with the roll axis of the rear axle (the roll axis of the front axle is not usually a problem because the driver compensates for it).
The roll axis passes through 2 points that do not move when the axle articulates.
To eliminate roll steer, those fixed points should be at the same height (roll axis is horizontal).
For the suspension with an upper A-frame, one of the fixed points is the ball joint.
For control arms (eg lower trailing arms on rovers) the the fixed point is a point where the lower (or upper) control arms converge.
When control arms angle in, it is possible to arrange the geometry so that they converge at the same height as the other fixed point.
When the control arms are parallel (eg rover trailing arms) they converge at a point parallel to the arms at infinity.
For suspension with a panhard rod. one of the fixed points is where the panhard rod intersects with the vehicle centreline.
So the roll axis of the rover rear suspension, with A-frame and parallel lower trailing arms, passes through the A-frame ball joint and is parallel with the lower trailing arms.
The rear roll centre is the point where the rear roll axis intersects a vertical plane through the centreline of the axle. Only if the A-frame ball joint is vertically above the centreline of the axle, is it at the roll centre. On rovers, it is close enough for our purposes.
The point at which the front panhard rod intersects with the vehicle centreline is not the front roll centre, but lies on the front roll axis. If the angle of the front roll axis is small this point will be close for determining the height of the front roll axis.