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- Sep 26, 2010
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I wanted to get some thoughts about steel versus aluminum and the required thickness to be adequate. I picked up a mount from one of the Jeep forums that I am on to carry a Fuelpax tank (3.5 Gallon FuelpaX (rotopax.com) when off-roading.
The plate is 3/8” thick steel and it is 14” long at the longest point and 10” wide at the widest point. It is a good design and the creator used what materials he had laying around, but steel is too heavy and is not necessary for structural stability in this application.
I am waffling between 1/2” and 5/8” thick T6061 aluminum to replace the steel with all other dimensions remaining close to the same. I read that aluminum needs to be about 1.5x thicker than the steel that it replaces, but I am also wondering if the 3/8" steel was too much from the start . I may reduce the width of teardrop base as it also does not serve any purpose by being that wide. Given that 3.5 gallons of gasoline x 6.3 pounds per gallon is about 22 pounds and the tank adds 4.7 pounds to make it a total of 27 pounds.
Since the unsupported part of the plate is about 4.5” center to center from the two lug nut bolts to the center of the Rotopax clamp (note the tank will ride above the centerline of the tire), what are your thoughts on what thickness is needed to prevent flexing? Is 5/8” needed or is 1/2” T6061 good enough? Could I replace it 1:1 and use 3/8” T6061?
There is not a lot of force on the plate itself, but there would be bouncing and potentially some flexing if the plate is too thin as the Jeep moves down the trails.
Please give me your thoughts.
@ABN_CBT_ENGR @OVERKILL @ZeeOSix
The plate is 3/8” thick steel and it is 14” long at the longest point and 10” wide at the widest point. It is a good design and the creator used what materials he had laying around, but steel is too heavy and is not necessary for structural stability in this application.
I am waffling between 1/2” and 5/8” thick T6061 aluminum to replace the steel with all other dimensions remaining close to the same. I read that aluminum needs to be about 1.5x thicker than the steel that it replaces, but I am also wondering if the 3/8" steel was too much from the start . I may reduce the width of teardrop base as it also does not serve any purpose by being that wide. Given that 3.5 gallons of gasoline x 6.3 pounds per gallon is about 22 pounds and the tank adds 4.7 pounds to make it a total of 27 pounds.
Since the unsupported part of the plate is about 4.5” center to center from the two lug nut bolts to the center of the Rotopax clamp (note the tank will ride above the centerline of the tire), what are your thoughts on what thickness is needed to prevent flexing? Is 5/8” needed or is 1/2” T6061 good enough? Could I replace it 1:1 and use 3/8” T6061?
There is not a lot of force on the plate itself, but there would be bouncing and potentially some flexing if the plate is too thin as the Jeep moves down the trails.
Please give me your thoughts.
@ABN_CBT_ENGR @OVERKILL @ZeeOSix
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