A chassis

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A chassis(/si/or/tsi/;plural: "chassis") consists of an internalframeworkthat supports a

man-made object in its construction and use. It is analogous to ananimal'sskeleton.An example

of a chassis is the underpart of amotor vehicle,consisting of the frame (on which the body is

mounted). If therunning gearsuch as wheels and transmission, and sometimes even the driver'sseat, are included then the assembly is described as arolling chassis.

Contents

1 Examples of use

o 1.1 Vehicles

o 1.2 Electronics

2 See also

3 References

Examples of use

Vehicles

See also:Rolling chassis

1950sJeep FCcowland chassis for others to convert into finished vehicles

In the case of vehicles, the termrolling chassismeans theframeplus the "running gear" likeengine,transmission,driveshaft,differential,andsuspension.

A body (sometimes referred to as "coachwork"), which is usually not necessary for integrity of

the structure, is built on the chassis to complete the vehicle.

Forcommercial vehiclesarolling chassisconsists of an assembly of all the essential parts of atruck (without the body) to be ready for operation on the road.

[1]The design of a pleasure car

chassis will be different than one for commercial vehicles because of the heavier loads and

constant work use.[2]

Commercial vehicle manufacturers sell chassis only, cowl and chassis,

as well as "chassis cab"versions that can be outfitted with specialized bodies. These includemotor homes,fire engines,ambulances,box trucks,etc.

In particular applications, such asschool buses,a government agency likeNational HighwayTraffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) in the U.S. defines the design standards of chassis and

body conversions.[3]
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Anarmoured fighting vehicle's hull[4]

serves as the chassis and comprises the bottom part of the

AFV that includes thetracks,engine, driver's seat, and crew compartment. This describes the

lower hull, although common usage might include the upper hull to mean the AFV without theturret.The hull serves as a basis for platforms ontanks,armoured personnel carriers,combat

engineering vehicles,etc.

Electronics

PowerMac G4chassis opened to expose computer components

In an electronic device the chassis consists of a frame or other internal supporting structure on

which thecircuit boardsand other electronics are mounted.[5]

In the absence of a metal frame the chassis refers to the circuit boards and components

themselves, not the physical structure.[citation needed]

In some designs, such as oldertelevisionandradiosets, the chassis is mounted inside a heavy,

rigid cabinet, while in other designs such as moderncomputer cases,lightweight covers or panels

are attached to the chassis.

The combination of chassis and outer covering is sometimes called an enclosure.
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A frameis the mainstructureof thechassisof a motor vehicle. All other components fasten toit; a term for this design is body-on-frameconstruction.

In 1920, other than a few cars based on motorcycles, every motor vehicle had a frame. Since

then, nearly all cars have shifted tounit-body construction,while nearly all trucks and busses

still use frames.

Contents

1 Functions

2 Construction

o 2.1 C-shape

o 2.2 Boxed

o 2.3 Hat

o 2.4 Design Features

3 Types

o

3.1 Ladder Frame

o 3.2 Backbone tube

o 3.3 X-frame

o 3.4 Perimeter frame

o 3.5 Platform Frame

o 3.6 Superleggera

o 3.7 Unibody

o 3.8 Sub frame
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4 See also

5 References

Functions

The main functions of a frame in motor vehicles are:[1]

1. To support the vehicle's chassis components and body

2. To deal with static and dynamic loads, without undue deflection or distortion.

These include:

Weight of the body, passengers, and cargo loads.

Vertical and torsional twisting transmitted by going over uneven surfaces.

Transverse lateral forces caused by road conditions, side wind, and steering thevehicle.

Torque from the engine and transmission. Longitudinal tensile forces from starting and acceleration, as well as compression

from braking.

Sudden impacts from collisions.

Construction

There are three main designs for frame rails. Normally the material of construction for chassisand along with frame is carbon steel alloys or aluminum Alloys (Light Weight frames). Their

cross-sections include:

1. C-shaped2. Boxed

3. Hat

C-shape

By far the most common, the C-rail has been used on nearly every type of vehicle at one time or

another. It is made by taking a flat piece of steel (usually ranging in thickness from 1/8" to 3/16")and rolling both sides over to form a c-shaped beam running the length of the vehicle.

Boxed

Originally, boxed frames were made by welding two matching c-rails together to form a

rectangular tube. Modern techniques, however, use a process similar to making c-rails in that a

piece of steel is bent into four sides and then welded where both ends meet.
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In the 1960s, the boxed frames of conventional American cars were spot-welded here and there

down the seam; when turned into NASCAR "stock car" racers, the box was continuously welded

from end to end for extra strength.

Pickup truckframe. Notice hat-shaped crossmember in the background, c-shape rails and

crossmember in center, and a slight arch over the axle.

Hat

Hat frames resemble a "U" and may be either right-side-up or inverted with the open area facing

down. Not commonly used due to weakness and a propensity to rust, however they can be found

on 1936-1954Chevroletcars and someStudebakers.

Abandoned for a while, the hat frame gained popularity again when companies started welding it

to the bottom of unibody cars, in effect creating a boxed frame.

Design Features

While appearing at first glance as a simple hunk of metal, frames encounter great amounts ofstress and are built accordingly. The first issue addressed is beam height, or the height of the

vertical side of a frame. The taller the frame, the better it is able to resist vertical flex when force

is applied to the top of the frame. This is the reasonsemi-truckshave taller frame rails than othervehicles instead of just being thicker.

The rear rail is in the front.

As looks, ride quality, and handling became more of an issue with consumers, new shapes wereincorporated into frames. The most obvious of these are arches and kick-ups. Instead of running

straight over bothaxles,arched frames sit roughly level with their axles and curve up over the

axles and then back down on the other side for bumper placement. Kick-ups do the same thing,but don't curve down on the other side, and are more common on front ends.

On perimeter frames, the areas where the rails connect from front to center and center to rear are

weak compared to regular frames, so that section is boxed in, creating what's known as torque

boxes.
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Another feature seen are tapered rails that narrow vertically and/or horizontally in front of a

vehicle's cabin. This is done mainly on trucks to save weight and slightly increase room for the

engine since the front of the vehicle doesn't bear as much of a load as the back.

Pickup truck chassis showing an x-shaped crossmember at the back.

The latest design element is frames that use more than one shape in the same frame rail. For

example, thenew Toyota Tundrauses a boxed frame in front of the cab, shorter, narrower railsunderneath the cab for ride quality, and regular c-rails under the bed.

Types

Ladder Frame

So named for its resemblance to a ladder, the ladder frame is the simplest and oldest of all

designs. It consists merely of two symmetrical rails, or beams, andcrossmembersconnectingthem. Originally seen on almost all vehicles, the ladder frame was gradually phased out on cars

around the 1940s in favor of perimeter frames and is now seen mainly on trucks.

This design offers good beam resistance because of its continuous rails from front to rear, but

poor resistance to torsion or warping if simple, perpendicular crossmembers are used. Also, the

vehicle's overall height will be higher due to thefloor pansitting above the frame instead ofinside it.

Backbone tube

Main article:Backbone chassis

A backbone chassis is a type of automobile construction chassis that is similar to the body-on-

frame design. Instead of a two-dimensional ladder type structure, it consists of a strong tubularbackbone (usually rectangular in cross section) that connects the front and rear suspension

attachment areas. A body is then placed on this structure.

X-frame
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This is the design used for the full-size American models of General Motors in the late 1950s

and early 1960s in which the rails from alongside the engine seemed to cross in the passenger

compartment, each continuing to the opposite end of the crossmember at the extreme rear of thevehicle. It was specifically chosen to decrease the overall height of the vehicles regardless of the

increase in the size of the transmission and propeller shaft humps, since each row had to cover

frame rails as well. Several models had the differential located not by the customary bar betweenaxle and frame, but by a ball joint atop the differential connected to a socket in a wishbonehinged onto a crossmember of the frame.

The X-frame was claimed to improve on previous designs, but it lacked side rails and thus did

not provide adequate side-impact and collision protection.[2]

This design was replaced by

perimeter frames.

Perimeter frame

Similar to a ladder frame, but the middle sections of the frame rails sit outboard of the front and

rear rails just behind the rocker panels/sill panels. This was done to allow for a lower floor pan,and therefore lower overall vehicle in passenger cars. This was the prevalent design for cars in

the United States, but not in the rest of the world, until the uni-body gained popularity and is still

used on US full frame cars. It allowed for annual model changes introduced in the 1950s toincrease sales, but without costly structural changes.

In addition to a lowered roof, the perimeter frame allows lower seating positions when that is

desirable, and offers better safety in the event of a side impact. However, the design lacks

stiffness, because the transition areas from front to center and center to rear reduce beam and

torsional resistance, hence the use of torque boxes, and soft suspension settings.

Platform Frame

This is a modification of the perimeter frame in which the passenger compartment floor and

often the luggage compartment floor were permanently attached to the frame, for extra strength.

Neither floor pieces were sheet metal straight off the roll, but had been stamped with ridges andhollows for extra strength. This was used by the Germans on the Volkswagen Beetle and theMercedes-Benz "Ponton" cars of the 1950s and 1960s, where it was called in English-language

advertisements as the "frame floor".

Superleggera

For more details on this topic, seeSuperleggera.

An Italian term (meaning "super-light") fromCarrozzeria Touringfor sports-car body

construction using a three-dimensional frame that consists of a cage of narrow tubes that, besidesbeing under the body, run up the fenders and over the radiator, cowl, and roof, and under the rear

window; it resembles a geodesic structure. A skin is attached to the outside of the frame and is

often made of aluminium. This construction is not stress-bearing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superleggerahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superleggerahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superleggerahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrozzeria_Touringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrozzeria_Touringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrozzeria_Touringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrozzeria_Touringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superleggerahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-2

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Unibody

In an unibodydesign, the frame and body are constructed as a single unit.[3]

Sub frame

Main article:Subframe

The sub frame, or stub frame, is a boxed frame section that attaches to a unibody. Seen primarilyon the front end of cars, it is also sometimes used in the rear. Both the front and rear are used toattach thesuspensionto the vehicle and either may contain theengineandtransmission.

Examples of passenger car use include the 19671981GM F platform,the numerous years andmodels built on theGM X platform (1962),and the unibodyAMC Pacerthat incorporated a

front subframe to isolate the passenger compartment from engine, suspension, and steering

loads.[4][5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subframehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subframehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subframehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_%28vehicle%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_%28vehicle%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_%28vehicle%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine#Modernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine#Modernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine#Modernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_F_platformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_F_platformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_F_platformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_X_platform_%281962%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_X_platform_%281962%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_X_platform_%281962%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Pacerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Pacerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Pacerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Pacerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_X_platform_%281962%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_F_platformhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_%28mechanics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine#Modernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_%28vehicle%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subframehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_frame#cite_note-3

Documents

A chassis