Hi,

I have now finished the basic construction of my chassis, and am proceeding to stick stuff onto it. For those of you who have built your own chassis, I would appreciate any thoughts about proper methods of attaching a gearbox mount.

I am using a Westfield mount for my Type 9, and am planning to make an adpater channel out of of 2" tubing sliced in half lengthwise, but I am concerned about how to attach it to the chassis.

I don't want to just drill through the RHS and put a bolt through with a nut on the other end, as this would weaken the RHS, and also potentially compress it when tightened.

I could just find some tubing with an ID matching the bolts I am using, drill a hole in the RHS matching the OD of the tubing, and weld it in to allow a bolt to pass through, but how do I weld this in so it doesn't protrude from the RHS and impede the mount from fitting flush?

In a very similar manner, I could use a thick-walled tubing, and just tap that to the appropriate size for the mounting bolts, but the same problem exists. Do I just grind the tubing flush to the RHS and not be too overly concerned about strength?

I believe I have also seen an example (can't locate it now) of angle iron being welded to the chassis and the mount then being bolted to this. Is this a practical methoed?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Shaun

Tubing gets my vote, but then thats how I have added the occasional bolt hole.

You just drill the hole then using a ball pein hammer tap the hole edges to make them concave on both sides.

Insert the tube, leave it longer than required, and put a fillet weld around to fill the recess, then cut off flush and clean with a grinder.

Regards Mark

I just welded fillets to the chassis and made a cradle, almost 2 years on the road an no problems
Rescued attachment WestyMount.jpg

quote:

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Originally posted by Mark Allanson
I just welded fillets to the chassis and made a cradle, almost 2 years on the road an no problems

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Couple of plates of 3mm used for mine... 2000miles seems ok.

Cheers,
James

Thanks, gents. All great information!

Shaun

the book suggests welding 25mm rhs to the lower trans tunnel tubes and drilling bolt holes.

Is there a problem with this solution?

..drilling bolt holes into what?

quote:

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Originally posted by kp
the book suggests welding 25mm rhs to the lower trans tunnel tubes and drilling bolt holes.

Is there a problem with this solution?

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