Chassis Design Question

[builder]

I'm looking to fabricate a chassis for my Clod Buster while still retaining the stock wheelbase. I mainly want a new chassis because the battery on the stock chassis is too high.

Question one; the stock chassis has the battery perpendicular to the chassis, should i retain this design because if i make it parallel it won't fit between the motors unless i place it higher up and the whole thing becomes a wash.

Question two; How much value is placed on center of gravity and center ground clearance? Right now my clod sits at 4.25 inches center ground clearance. What is the minimal height i should have and can COG and/or GC be compensated for with good driving?

[heartless]

fabricating a chassis isnt all that difficult. most use 1/2 square steel tubing and bend to suit - mark & drill the various mounting holes needed (doing this before splitting keeps everything nice and square) and split it in two lengthwise - use a hacksaw, bandsaw, even rotary tools with cutoff blades work if that is what you have. There are lots of custom chassis' out there - go look around in the various build threads. a bit of thought, and careful planning, you should be able to come up with something that can/will use the stock crossmembers, etc.

Keeping center of gravity as low as possible makes the rig much more capable in extreme angle situations. the higher the COG is, the more likely it is to tip over. (think about 1:1 SUVs being more likely to roll in a skid than a regular passenger car is - the reason for that is COG)

Ground clearance can be somewhat compensated for with thoughtful, careful driving - choosing the best angle of approach to an obstacle for your rig. Just be aware that there will be some limitations in what you can clear, and what you cant depending on your rigs clearance.

Battery position - well...that is entirely up to you, and where you can fit it on your rig - keeping in mind COG...

[lonleycreeper]

What heartless said is very true, though I think she was refering to scale chassis'.
Most comp style crawlers use a TVP chassis, often fade from 1/8" -1/4" aluminum or plastic. As far as Cog keeping it as low as possible is best for crawling, and mounting the battery on the axle, vs the chassis will keep the cog lowest.

Have you considered getting a smaller battery? I run some mini lipos and 2, weigh less than a 540 motor and fit in a tiny location.

[2WheelFlyer]

Are you building a crawler chassis or a scaler one? I think you're referring to a crawler since the clod is a MOA rig. Like they said above, getting some lipos and locating them as low and forward as possible will help you a lot. You could try different sample vertical plates in stiff thick cardboard just to see if you get the articulation and components ok, and then you can cut the final design in aluminum or even carbon fiber plate to save some weight in the upper area. If the chassis design is nice enough you can even run bodyless, so it's even less weight on top with no body posts, clips, body or accesories on the body.

Check the comp rigs how low they go, its a balance between cog and clearance, ability to slide the chassis and links and not get caught on anything and good traction from articulation and good tires so they really grab and pull the chassis, assuming you got the motors and gearing to torque it through the hard parts.

[builder]

I assume lipos require a lipo charger? The clod has a nice empty spot for a small enough battery between the ladder bar mounts. If i could place batteries there it would be sweet.

I am slowly building a comp crawler but i don't like the batteries on the axles it don't look right. Maybe you can call what i'm building a scale comp.