Crossmember Bars POLL

[nlowe79 at gmail.com (Nate Lowe)]

On 6/16/05, Larry Fry <rocco16@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>  Can you shorten up the end plates any?  That would put the ends of the bar
> higher, thereby deepening the Vee AND making the end plates less flexible at
> the same time.  The picture leads me to believe that this may be possible.
> I think it would be of some benefit if you can do it....

The flexibility of those plates at either end of the bar has been, in
my mind, the weakest part of the bar when thinking about long term
use. Like Larry, I'd like hard evidence to convince myself (sorry, but
I don't care if the rest of you believe or not, that's up to you) that
this bar will work over a very extended period of time. A deeper V
would also add to the vertical rigidity of the bar, but I'm not sure
if this is necessary, my gut (just as unreliable as a butt dyno) tells
me that those end plates will be the first thing to fail.
I do love the basic design of the bar iteslf and think that it's a
great beginning to a solution to the problem of a weak crossmember,
but what do I know, I'm just an ME student (senior), not a real
engineer yet. If I had the money to order one, I'd do it right now,
but tuition is a priority and I don't have any cracks to deal with.
Nate