I have a friend who works in a shop where they can cut me sheets of aluminum to any specifications.

I was going to have him cut me a single piece 72" long, 13" wide narrowing the last 19" to 10" near the front A-arms. This will attach to the front where the plastic is now, under the center of the frame and finally to the rear hitch. I'm then going to have him cut me a single piece 42"x17" to cover the frame under the floor boards from side to side, attaching under each floorboard and at the center of the frame where the other sheet will be bolted on.

Is there any reason this won't work? I measured it over and over, cut a piece of cardboard to these specs and attached it underneath with duct tape just to see how it would look and what it would cover, these dimensions pretty much cover everything.

The reason I'm doing this is it's basically free, just buy my buddy a 12 pk.

 

Sounds like it will work to me. Have you seen what WPSA quad terrain guys are doing? They are simply welding 2 angle iron pieces running parallel on to the bottom of the frame with V point facing down.

 

Show some pic's when done..

 

raidermike67....I'm no DS guy but you said a single piece 72" long.......How is the swingarm going to "swing" ?
And doubling up the skidplates (where you would do the floorboard piece over the frame piece) sounds to me like it would look pretty "hack job" Imo I would cut the floor board pieces so they dont overlap the frame piece. I have honestly never seen a DS in person so I can only compair it to a normal quad....

 

Thrash.. he is talkin about his outty [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] trailing arms it has a loong frame [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] The Ricochet skids for the outlander go clear under the floor boards.

 

Yea, do you have pics of the cardboard mock up? where you thinking of attaching(mid frame)? I think anything that protects the walls of the frame and fragile hardwear up front, will be worth while. and anything free is a bonus. got anymore? I'll send a case of beer![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Been a bit busy getting ready to ride this morning. I'm going to re-measure one last time then cut a new cardboard template, I need to cut holes in the cardboard where it will mount to the frame so I know where to drill the holes, I'll also probably need to drill a hole for the oil drain plug as it will barely be covered.

I don't think criss crossing in the middle of the frame is really an issue of asthetics, it's underneath and nobody can see besides once it's bolted together probably wouldn't notice anyway.

The skids on my DS are pretty thick, I don't think my buddy has that thick of aluminum at his work but I'll ask what the thickest is. Prob. won't be up to the same specs as Ricochet but for free it would be better then nothing, besides, I'm trying to not add weight to the quad, figure by removing the racks and adding a skid plate I'm almost a wash.

Anyway, it will be generic but it's also going to get pounded by rocks and crap so as long as it works who cares?? I have a rock quarry close by I ride at and I'm still finding pebbles falling out of the frame, so hopefully this will provide some protection. That did concern me.

 

Go Raidermike! Homebuilt stuff is the shiznet! Make sure to post some pics along the way.
Oh yah, congrats on the new 800. I'm getting closer to one myself.

Ah the beer trade. How many projects I've got done and have done for beer. It usually starts out like this, " I'll bet you a half rack that you can't cut a piece of aluminum ---". Or the often used, " A half rack of beer says you can't rebuild that----". Just have to love it.

 

Don't have my quad handy, but I know that ricochet doubled the 3/16" aluminum up front with a boat shaped piece maybe 16" long welded to the front section. Hit a rock, pushed both pieces (plus the spar) in about 3/4" size of a fastpitch softball. Front of the spar bar is very much at risk. If I had a buddy making it up, I would tell him to doubler the front with about 5" x 16" of 3/8"t aluminum, rounded point on end with about a 45* included angle.