SASQUATCH hits the shop next Monday @9am for front/rear axle trusses, these pics represent my rough design. I'm undecided whether or not I'll use the lightning holes (shipbuilding term), I may just leave the trusses solid, not sure yet. This is just MS Paint so it's not a perfect CAD type drawing with perfect dimensions, just something to gauge my thinking off of. I made it red to amplify the thinking behind the design which will be simple yet effective in strengthening the D44s front & rear.

Open to ideas, suggestions, opinions, etc.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]
FRONT: Without lightning holes


FRONT: With Lightning holes


REAR: this will be the easy axle to build trusses for

 

Do you think there is enough room above the axle to make the truss a little taller (stronger)? I haven't measured. I don't think I'm gonna just do the top portion and not the bottom. Seems like more to hang up on, I don't know.

 

The holes drilled in a sheet of metal do not weaken the metal as long as the direction of the pressure is mostly in line with the sheet itself...therefore it depends which direction of bend/break you're trying to reinforce. Holes will definately make it lighter...hence why they are used in shipbuilding and aeronautics. Do consider the angle that you want to mount them...it may not be directly verticle.

I'm with 2K1TJ on thinking it might cut down your clearance on the underside (although it looks cool on road), and might even cause a little more on road air drag?

Might consider whether you will be putting on skids and if they would interfere with them or not?

Any idea how to calculate how much reinforcement you're looking for? Meaning in pounds, pressure, etc? The ones that have suffered problems or broken might have been fine with just a little bit of help?

 

Thought about what you both are thinking already, talked to my fab guy about maybe doing a skid type design on the bottom (half an I-Beam or something). Another idea I had was to do an L-type on the bottom with the bend facing the rear maybe. I too am concerned about snagging the bottom. My other thinking was boxing in the bottom with a 2" square tubing type design and leaving the top with just plates.

I'm not sure on the calculations for strength, I work in aerospace and know a few engineers who could figure it out but don't think I need to get too involved with that, but definitely plan on lining up the lightning holes should I leave those in. Didn't think about aerodynamics which is a good idea to consider...with todays gas prices a very good idea . Thanks for the ideas guys, keep em coming

 

Not a bad idea, I changed it up again, think the bottom clearance is something I need to keep, still kicking around some more ideas. The front is tough due to the electrical e-locker plug in housing/bolt, so I made a sipe/notch for it. Think I'll leave out lightning holes in the front for now.

 

Found these online...ruffstuffspecialties

 

Exactly, it's how we used to build double-hulled ships and where I got the idea, an American Bureau of Shipping inspector explained to me how it actually increased the strength over plain plate steel. Of course we were using a plasma-table/water cutter to do massive sheets of steel with huge lightening holes. Not sure if our shop has a punch.

 

Interesting, would like to see them installed but I get the idea. Looks like just a rear though.