pic: 2851 2014 off-season design: Bottom view with electronics

[wyrzykowskij1]

Originally Posted by cfair

I'll see if our guys can post a CAD. We have two center cross members about where yours are, with the piano hinges attached there by rivets. Our electronics hinges down from the center cross members, accessible from the bottom, with the rivet nuts on the extreme ends of the chassis to hold the hinges closed. We will have a shear plate welded between the two center cross members, and we'll mount our compressor on that. We are also putting small gussets at the corners of the chassis for shear (I think that's more of a concern than torsional rigidity with regards to a belly pan). Also the battery will go in a "cage" and that cage will be mounted in a location tbd depending on access and the mechanisms above the electronics. Our chassis is welded tubular 1x2 for the most part. It's our first time with a west-coast style drive...

What advantages does a tubular chassis have? Also, this would be our first west coast drive too, so I made sure that there was a lot of support to prevent the side modules from twisting upwards from the weight of the frame. It's probably overkill, but it has to be strong anyway.