Tube chassis question

[DORIGTT]

Hey Bloodline,

There's a reason 99.9999999999999999999999999995% of chassis builders build their chassis from steel and not aluminum....

Use Chromoly tubing if you're trying to save weight, but aluminum will get you injured / killed

[vwbloodline]

I did not know that but hey, its why I asked and should probably thank you greatly now, thank you. What is it about aluminum that is a great risk factor for death? I decided to save up for a 915 or greater transmission and as far as the brakes go I got one sweet deal on a local guy parting out a 944 n/a and not knowing what its worth.

[volkdent]

You can flex steel quite a bit before it lets go, and it tends to do so slowly, aluminum can't handle fatigue that well and then just snaps off suddenly. Steel is just more "tough". I think if you get into really exotic aluminum and castings you can get a lot more out of it, but for general fabricators, it's probably not the way to go, to many possibilites for something to go wrong or just let go.

Jason