"Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message
...

I will tell you something about the bonus question that may burn your
britches a little: It's sort of a trick question because I didn't
specify that the parts that move when you move the axle are balanced
fore and aft. I *really* didn't think anyone would pick up on that
though.

I thought of that, actually. Should have stated it as an assumption. Seems
like a reasonable simplification to make. If it is a leaf spring suspension
system (not necessarialy a safe assumption) then the axel should be mounted
roughly in the middle of the spring. One end of the spring has a slightly
different mount, but the difference in weight would be small and it would
only have a foot or so of moment arm. The error would probably be lost in
the round off to a single decimal place.

Rod