I’m thinking of making some heavy-duty front and rear bash guards for my monster truck build. I have been doing some serious off-roading on it lately on mountain bike and dirt bike tracks with lots of big rocks and roots (and occasional small tree stumps) and would like to be able slide over those things without fear of damaging motors, trucks, and drives, or getting caught up on those things and falling off the board or worse. I also want to stop small bushes from poking up around near the motors and hangars and then getting dragged along for the ride.
These tracks are pretty brutal so the plates have to be able to withstand minor impacts at low speed.
I’m thinking clamps around the hangars with 2mm or 3mm stainless steel sheet all the way across and angled such that it will help lift the board up and onto those obstacles so the board can slide all the way across from front to back. Possibly also thin UMHW sheets on top of the stainless steel to help reduce the sliding friction and avoid direct abrasion on the metal sheet.
I’d like to fix to the gear drive too, using the gear drive casing bolts, but there’s very clearance between the wheel and the gear drive already and in fact I had to use spacers to clear the wide tires from the gear drive. So I’m thinking maybe some TPU bumpers on the inside of the bash plates that would allow them to contact the gear drives and absorb some of the shock if the plates flex.
I’m wondering if anyone else has done anything similar or has any thoughts or tips.
