So, while I was cracking open my first Pepsi of the day around 5:30am a really interesting idea popped into my head... Pinzgauer's backbone drive-train grafted on the on ladder chassis of the Jeep. How exactly does one graft these two systems together is a good question. I've not worked out all the particulars of idea yet in my head.
The benefits of this design are amazing.
1) First off the drive lines are always parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle-- meaning that you don't have worry about the drive line binding or ever actually changing in length even if you change the tire sizes.
2) The drive lines are protected from water, mud, dust, sand, grit and impacts from within the chassis tube itself. This makes the system very effective for off-road driving and if you like rock crawling you don't have to worry about hitting a drive shaft on a big rock and bending it or damaging it. The tube is about .300 thick and resists most impacts.
3) Swinging Half-Axles-- instead using CV Joints the Axles are split up and the differential has two ring gears that pivot around common gear shaft with two pinons and the spider gears centralized... The picture will make it clear. One of the big benefits is that this differential setup can be locked on the fly at almost any speed.
4) Portal Axles: These swinging half axles use a portal design which gives you all the extra clearance you want without the issues of having the to upset the vehicles' CG like you would with a straight axle concept.
5) Torsion Loads-- In both Pinzgauer and its father the Tatra- the chassis tube is the main torsion bearing element in the design. If you designed your setup correctly the entire jeep chassis that you graft on to the tube chassis would be torsion load free. So, could potentially lead you to designing an independent body leveling system. You could use hydraulics to help you maintain a level orientation on steep slide slopes without the additional stresses being absorbed by the chassis itself.
6) Independent front and rear suspension. You would always have maximum contact with the tires and surface in question.
It would be interesting to see if you could maintain the 100% grade climbing ability, the 60% side slope capability and so on with the chassis tube under a Jeep Chassis.
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