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chassis drilling light weight

6.5K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  mennis1971  
#1 ·
how much strength is lost in doing this? im i normal dune rider nothing fancy and im thinking of this on my 86. also i want to put in the bar in the middle of the frame for the rear motor mount to run a different swing arm. thoughts, ideas?
 
#2 ·
Just my opinion, but completely useless and stupid. How much weight do you think you could possibly save? 1 maybe 2 pounds?
The strength of the chassis IS compromised and the chance that it rusts out is greater cause how are you going to protect the inside of the frame from getting water in it?

Resale value is about $0

People would do better to lose a few pounds on themselves. I also doubt you'll notice any increase in power to weight.

It's kinda like spending $2500 for an aluminum frame to save 5 lbs.

To run the other swingarms, just mount some tabs on the bottom of the frame like the aftermarket frames.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Ouch 250Renvy, that is actually my frame. It got it down to low 20's lbs showing what you know. Pretty good considering stock frame is around upper 30-40lbs. It had been broken previously. The swiss cheese frame was only for drag racing. I would not dune ride it. The area of most concern was right in the shock towers. This frame was an 88 and the old rear motor mount was cut out. So I used the 86-87 swingarm bolt style mount. Everything worked as it should and the setup was very light. Although I probably would not use it to dune it took some good size woops without any breaks.

The holes were drilled all the way through except on the bottom frame rail. I knew that area would hold water so the 2nd set of holes were drilled in the very bottom.
 
#8 ·
Do you have proof? I think you contradict yourself a little, in that you mentioned you removed the rear motor mount. That in of itself is around 3+ lbs which isn't the same as all the holes.

Even if you lost a total of 10lbs what does that really get you besides a very compromised frame that can only be used for one thing?

I still maintain that it's pointless.
 
#7 ·
frame

did they just strait drill holes or put small tubes in? cause we do that on chopper and hot rods. drill holes then weld little inserts in. looks cool and actually strengens frame but if they just drilled holes id be scared to even drag it! cause that motor is probably twisting that thing on launch
 
#18 ·
I wouldn't dune it, but it should be fine for drag racing. Weight and hp mean a lot in ANY type of racing. After you've skipped a few cheeseburgers and lost weight yourself(not calling anyone fat, just saying that it's cheapest to lose weight yourself first), then there isn't much else to do except start decreasing weight on the quad(not cheap at all usually). All the little things add up, whether it's weight savings or optimizing your setup(motor, chassis, gearing, tires,etc...). It all makes a difference.