pic: 25lb Drivetrain

[bkahl]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

By removing the crossmember 2x1s in favor of the bent sheet metal you are saving a bit of weight. But it is not as strong and you are more limited in mounting points. The few pounds its saves is just not worth it imo.

A cross section of a C is almost negligibly weaker than a box. In this scenario, a single piece belly ban and front and back members is actually extremely rigid.

On top of that, a single-piece bumper could add even more strength.

By your logic, would not all drives with a similar single-piece belly pan and cross-members be weak, and limited in mounting? IIRC 971 uses a similar style design. What about the kit frame? It uses C-channel cross-members too.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by cad321

Is there a reason you chose not to use bearing blocks on your drive wheels? Although I haven't built a WCD before, my understanding is that their benefits far outweigh the cons (the only con in this I could see is possibly weight as you're limiting it to 25lbs).

Another reason for this design may be for maintenance.

With the one-piece belly pan and members design, you "cap" the end of your drive tubes, making it hard to change a chain in an (unlikely) emergency. Being able to pull bearings from the tube may allow you to slide a chain in without taking the belly pan off (even though it still sounds like a nightmare).