Types of car Chassis – Brief

Chassis to a car is similar to the skeleton of a human body. Basically, the car chassis is artful work done by the manufacturer to support your car when it comes to construction and function properly. The chassis is the most underappreciated part of your car. It is a vehicle frame on which your car body is built along with the engine, wheels and its transmission. It is the base of any car or motor. Most of the people are not interested to take knowledge about the car chassis. In other words, it is essential to have knowledge about the Chassis and its types.

Following are the types of Car Chassis let’s talk about it.

1. Ladder Frame Chassis

The ladder frame chassis comes with an idea of the ladder as it looks like.  It consisted of two long beams which are further supported by shorter beams. At the beginning of the Era of automation, this technology was invented & design the chassis was like a ladder, moreover which is easy to mass-produce. The ladder chassis is heavy, simple & easy to assemble.

Advantages:

• Easy to fix the part
• Easy to assemble
• Good construction method

Disadvantages:

• Weak torsional rigid
• Heavy weighted

2. Backbone Chassis

As the name suggest, it has been derived from how it is constructed. Backbone Chassis is a rectangular cross-section cylindrical body connect to the top & bottom suspension. Hence, the Backbone. Moreover, the cylindrical tube covers the driveshaft and in addition protects from getting any damage, thus making it safer. The SKODA Rapid, DMC DeLorean are some cars which have Backbone Chassis.

Advantages:

• Good structure with amazing torsional rigidity
• Covering of driveshaft via chassis for better contact with the ground when off-roading.

Dis-advantages

• Manufacture is quite expensive
• The driveshaft repair is a little complicated if it fails as the main chassis.

3. Tubular Chassis

Tubular Chassis is another one of the car chassis that is mainly used in race cars. For instance, the unrivalled safety they provide. Majorly known as the upgrade from the ladder chassis as they are three dimensional and is stronger. Therefore, the use of a strong structure below the doors for overall strength is the main motive. It is rarely used in passenger cars.

Advantages:

• Better in terms of rigidity when it comes to other car chassis.
• Light in weight.
• An ideal choice for the race cars because of the lightweight and better rigidity.

Disadvantages:

• Not applicable for passenger cars.
• Tubular chassis are time-consuming to build and hence, cannot be mass-produced.
• Difficult to access the cabin due to raised structure.
• It has a complex structure. In other words, cannot be made using autonomous methods.

4. Monocoque Chassis

This is a unique structure that is first used by ships and then by airplanes. The word monocoque is a French word which is known as the single shell. After some time, it is discovered that it can be used in your car as well. Also, monocoque is the shell in a car made by using both the chassis as a frame in single built. This is one of the most used car chassis right now because of its numerous advantages.

Advantages:

• Easy to repair.
• Known for its superior torsional rigidity.
• Safer than the other chassis due to its cage-like build up.

Dis-advantages:

• It is heavier as compared to other chassis due to presence of both the frame and chassis as single entity.
• Production in a small quantity is not financially feasible.

5. Rolling Chassis

Also known as running gear, this chassis is in a ready to run condition. It has all the ideal parts included such as tires, engines, transmission, axles which are crucial to run a vehicle. Therefore, you can legally drive it on the road. Manufacturers ideally use this rolling chassis for trucks and buses which is transported to vehicle body builder. As a result, they build the body on such vehicles. Above all, are the types of car Chassis which one do you like the most? To make things easier for you, we have some FAQs about the car chassis!

• Is the chassis the same as the frame of the car?

Ans. Chassis is the foundation or a minimum requirement for any vehicle to move. However, frame is the main structure of the chassis and other body parts are fastened by it.

• Which Indian car uses the basic Ladder frame chassis?

Ans. Popular cars like Ford Endeavour, Mahindra Thar and Toyota Fortuner have ladder frame chassis.

• Is the Differential element part of the chassis?

Ans. A differential element is the part of the transmission system and it has nothing to do with chassis or foundation of your car. Also read: 5 questions for car maintenance that you must ask on AutoFlipz Blog page. Subscribe to Notifications