Another random question

[Minoa]

I've got a custom 8x8 I threw together several years ago, I think I might have posted pics here, don't really remember. Anyway, it's a simple dual rail chassis with moa axles from the discontinued redcat rs10. Built it to bash around trails and woods. Thing climbs insanely well, it's held up great.

When I made the chassis, I went through 3 revisions before I settled on what I currently use. Over the last 2 or 3 years I've started wanting to redo the chassis to see if I can squeeze a little bit more performance out of it, even though there's really nothing wrong with the current set up. There are things I know I can do that will help. So on to my question...

How would shortening the length between the front 2 axles and the rear 2 axle effect performance? Currently there is 55mm between the tires on the front 2 axles and the same for the rear. I can shorten the gap between tires to about 30mm, which I like the idea of but don't want it to negatively effect performance. Anyone have any insights?

Second question. The chassis is currently 3mm delrin, which has been plenty strong. Is there any material I might be able to use that's lighter in weight and would hold up just as well? And frankly, cheaper, as the price of delrin had gone up since I laser cut this thing years ago.

 

[89Industries]

I don't know about cost but you could get your chassis rails cut from 6061-t6.

6061-t6 is 2x as dense as but around 10 times stiffer (depends on the exact delrin you have) so you could go to 1.5mm (or 1/16" which is 1.6mm but might be more available) thick aluminum and the rails would likely be about 5 times stiffer at about the same weight.

Might help but might not. In a race car type vehicle chassis stiffness is good. I honestly don't know with crawler type stuff. Maybe the frame flex actually helps.