Outer Limits 4x4 Board

has anybody used a heavy wall rhs for an A frame or control arms?? just wondering cons n pro's (if any).

I personally have not seen any but have heard of them. Not a bad idea though.

LudaCris

it'd be heaps easier to make the a frame but not bein an engineer i couldnt understand why hollow bar is always used over rhs

size for size round tube/pipe has a higher 2nd moment of inertia, basically stronger and in all directions. But this dosnt mean rhs isnt any worse

depends on where the force is applied .

rhs is sometimes just as good if not better.

Wouldn't tube be lighter tho, for same wall thickness?

I used 40x40x4 rhs to make my a-frame for my shorty which i have extended the wheelbase to 105", ?No real reason otherthan i had i lieing around and its a little easier to work with.

round tube is easy to use, a pain to chop off at angles when making up an A-frame or similar stuff. Hollow tube is fantastic in in-line forces, as in drive shafts or flagpoles for instance. Its no good for side impact forces. Have you ever stood ontop of a can of coke, balanced on one foot? It'll hold ur weight, but as soon as you touch the wall of the can, it'll collapse. Ask anybody with coils and trailing arms, once you ding a trailing arm, the torque forces on the axle will bend the arms even more.

Square or rectangular tube is slightly heavier, but will take in-line loads as well as round tube, AND will take side loads heaps better than tube. Have u ever tried to bend a square tube on its corners? It has effectively 2 walls to resist the forces. Much better for trailing arms, slider bars, etc.

V6XtraHilux wrote:round tube is easy to use, a pain to chop off at angles when making up an A-frame or similar stuff. Hollow tube is fantastic in in-line forces, as in drive shafts or flagpoles for instance. Its no good for side impact forces. Have you ever stood ontop of a can of coke, balanced on one foot? It'll hold ur weight, but as soon as you touch the wall of the can, it'll collapse. Ask anybody with coils and trailing arms, once you ding a trailing arm, the torque forces on the axle will bend the arms even more.

Square or rectangular tube is slightly heavier, but will take in-line loads as well as round tube, AND will take side loads heaps better than tube. Have u ever tried to bend a square tube on its corners? It has effectively 2 walls to resist the forces. Much better for trailing arms, slider bars, etc.

rhs is probably only stronger due to the "ding factor" you mention (teknical term)

As someone else said, round tube is the same strength in all directions, RHS is not. With this fact in mind it is very easy to substitute the same wall thickness RHS for round tube (same weight? close?) if you know where the forces are coming from and orient the RHS the right way.

i thinka lad from pirate did a complete 4 link front n rear
using RHS filled with T-section..