Cantilevered Wheel Shaft Strength

[magnets]

Our team is strongly considering going for a west coast style drive where the wheel shafts are cantilevered, but we're a little worried about strength, and how to make it stronger and we were wondering if any teams could speak to the strength(or weakness) of a system like this.

We are still deciding on if we will be using dead/live axles. I am leaning towards dead axle because I feel that placing a thick block of aluminum inside of some box tubing and putting a 1/2" aluminum shaft (maybe steel?) shaft will be stronger than supporting the shaft with bearings.

So my question is- Are cantilevered wheel shafts really strong enough?