Engineering
Steering Design
Chassis Table
Here we will upload images of the chassis and other components designed by the team. This is intended to show the projects evolution, so keep scrolling!
Below are screenshots of the completed design. The most drastic changes from the first rendering were in the front end of the chassis. Multiple bent tubes were added to allow as much suspension articulation as physically possible without running into clearance issues. Similarly in the rear, bent tubes were added to maximize total overall axle travel.
Updated design includes full range of suspension motion and drive-train. 15″ of travel in the front and 24″ of travel in the rear. The bars in the rear of the chassis where the radiator and oil coolers mount were changed to allow an area for the radiator. This design consideration will be covered in depth in another section.
Current model design now including fuel cell, transmission cooler, radiator, skid plates, and more. Next we will prepare cut list and prepare for manufacturing of the main chassis.
This drawing was created over an imported photograph of the steering knuckle assembly on our Dana 60 front axle. We used it to extract some proprietary dimensions from the axle which we then used to tune our scrub radius, and to create an accurate solid model of the axle outers.
Scrub radius is the distance between where tire centerline and king pin inclination axii intersect the roadway when viewed from the front, and greatly influences handling at both high and low speeds. We can “tune” scrub radius for our intended use by selecting wheels with the appropriate combination of backspacing and offset, and that’s exactly what this CAD drawing allowed us to do.
Using the drawing to update our front axle model with the exact dimensions of our donor axle allowed us to design the front of the chassis around the real world motion of the front wheels along their inclined axii.