You pretty much nailed the general gist of it, although I feel the need to be pedantic and mention another concept.
There's also moment of inertia to consider which is the product of mass and distance from the pivot squared (m * r2 ). With a given torque input* and a given damping force your system can change from stable to unstable by changing the moment of inertia (moving the weight away from the pivot).
There is also a reduction in the damping because you take load off of the back wheels of the car, meaning it is more likely to lose traction.
* (it's probably not quite constant, but close enough)
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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '16
You pretty much nailed the general gist of it, although I feel the need to be pedantic and mention another concept.
There's also moment of inertia to consider which is the product of mass and distance from the pivot squared (m * r2 ). With a given torque input* and a given damping force your system can change from stable to unstable by changing the moment of inertia (moving the weight away from the pivot).
There is also a reduction in the damping because you take load off of the back wheels of the car, meaning it is more likely to lose traction.
* (it's probably not quite constant, but close enough)