Chassis for a car is analogous to the skeleton for a human body. Chassis, also known as ‘Frame’, is the foundation structure of any car that supports it from underneath. The purpose of the chassis is to bear the weight of the car in its idle and dynamic states. Given that, most people don’t get to choose the chassis of their car and many may not really care about them as much. However, if you have some level of know-how about chassis, it can help to determine the abilities of your car. Here are four main types of chassis.
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Ladder Frame Chassis
Named after the shape it replicates, the ladder-frame chassis is one of the oldest chassis types. This chassis is characterised by two long heavy beams that are supported by two smaller ones. Its quality of being easily manufactured not only made it contemporarily popular but also eased the way for its mass production. Since ladder frame chassis is significantly heavy it’s usually used for vehicles that transport heavy material.
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Benefits
- Easy to manufacture and easy assembling of the car over it.·
- Heavy and strong tensile strength.
Drawbacks
- Poor cornering ability due to weak torsional rigidity
- Its heaviness doesn’t make it suitable for performance cars and hatchbacks.
Backbone Chassis
Similar to the ladder frame chassis, the backbone chassis is also named after the shape it reflects. The hollow rectangular cross-section and a cylindrical tube passing through it connecting the front and rear suspension, like a backbone. The cylindrical tube surrounds the driveshaft. You can find backbone chassis in one of the most popular cars, Skoda Rapid.
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Benefits
- Its crafting allows better contact between the half axle and ground making it preferable for off-roading.
- A cylindrical tube covering the driveshaft saves it from any damage while off-roading.
- The structure’s torsional toughness is relatively more supple than ladder chassis.
Drawbacks
- In case the driveshaft fails, the whole chassis needs to be dismantled as the driveshaft is covered with the cylindrical tube of the chassis.
- The manufacture of backbone chassis is costly and increases the overall cost of the car.
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Monocoque Chassis
Monocoque is French for ‘single shell’. This unibody frame is named after its structural outlook. The monocoque frames were firstly used in ships, next in aeroplanes, and manufacturers took quite a while to find them pertinent for cars as well. A monocoque is like an endoskeleton of a car crafted by fitting chassis and complete basic frame in a single unit. Monocoque chassis is the most popularly used chassis as of now given its number of advantages over the other two types of chassis.
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Benefits
- Best torsional rigidity
- Its cage-like design makes it relatively safer.
- Easy to repair.
Drawbacks
- The amalgamation of frame and chassis makes it fairly heavy.
- The production of monocoque chassis on a small scale isn’t financially plausible, thereby it can prove fairly costly for the cars that are produced in small numbers.
Tubular Chassis
A three-dimensional derivative of ladder chassis, Tubular chassis are mainly used in performance cars given their excellent safety. Rarely seen in passenger cars, tubular chassis is much stronger than ladder chassis and they popularised the utilization of stronger structure underneath the doors to accomplish more consolidated strength.
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Benefits
- Comparatively better rigidity for the chassis of the almost same weight
- Nice ratio of rigidity and weight making a car strong while being light-weighted.
- Highly preferred for race cars
Drawbacks
- Tubular chassis are quite complex in design, conclusively they can’t be manufactured by conventional methods.
- They are very time-consuming in production, and can’t be mass-produced.
- Not suitable for passenger cars
- The tubular chassis elevates the doors a bit making it slightly hard to access the cabin.
The quality of anything relies a lot on its premise, and the same is the case with cars. This is why manufacturers underpin their cars with the most suitable chassis for them. Hopefully, the information laid above will help you learn much about your car and cars in general.
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FAQs about Types of Chassis
Q. Which Indian cars have ladder frame chassis?
A. Some popular cars in India that have ladder frame chassis are Toyota Fortuner, Mahindra Thar, Ford Endeavour, Force Gurkha, Mahindra Alturas G4, and Mercedes AMG G63.
Q. What is the biggest disadvantage of Backbone chassis?
A. The most critical disadvantage of the Backbone chassis is that it needs to be opened up completely if anything needs to be repaired in the drive train.
Q. Is the differential part of the chassis?
A. A differential is an element of the transmission system; thus, it doesn’t perform as the foundation or chassis of any car.
Q. Is the chassis the same as the frame of the car?
A. A chassis is a minimum requirement or foundation for any vehicle to move. On the other hand a frame is the main structure of the chassis, and all the body components along with the chassis are fastened to it.
Q. Can I replace the monocoque chassis of my car?
A. Most modern cars come with monocoque chassis. In case you find the monocoque chassis damaged, there are only two options before you. You could either get it repaired, if possible, at an affordable cost or buy a new car since the replacement of a monocoque chassis is almost the replacement of the whole car.
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