Quote:
Originally Posted by BamZipPow
I have two crossbeams that section the bottom of the truck into 3 main areas. Engine bay, main, and rear. The crossbeams also provide attachment points fer my side skirts. The rear section is hinged at the front, middle, and rear to allow fer articulation. The rear hinge is a double hinge and allows lateral movement of the rear diffuser. Multiple rubber cords keeps the rear belly pan tight to the rear axle. As the rear axle moves up/down, the rear belly pan and diffuser will move with the axle. It took me a few tries to git the hardware configuration just right.
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Ah, ok I see the new design now. I had looked at your thread last summer, but you hadn't built the diamond plate version yet. It looks to me like your center section (axle-to-axle area) is fixed, and the rear articulation all happens from the fixed hinge points about 12-18" forward of the rear axle. Is that correct? Because you are working on rubber spring tension holding the pan up, and a sliding interface (rubber pad under the shock perches) you don't have to worry about the axle going down too far and ripping off the front hinges. My thought was to fix the axle pan in place tight to the axle (probably with big u-bolts), and then figure out some flexible flapper sheet to go from the front fixed part to the mobile axle part. That might be more complicated than what you have, or more prone to squeaks. I'll have to think about that before building.
Per Isoldmysaturn's comments, did you find poor FE while you were rebuilding the pan? I'm hesitant to spend $300 on aluminum sheet to build the passenger side (muffler side) bellypan with questionable ROI.