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ouR escaPOD mods

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lostagain View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: ouR escaPOD mods
    Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 5:50pm
I can understand a Mystery Hill in NC being full of optical illusions, but not the Mystery Spot near Santa Cruz.  There all the stuff is true.  Confused
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Post Options Post Options   Quote StephenH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 3:59pm
It probably appears to be running uphill. It is like some of the "magnetic" roads where it looks like a car is being pulled uphill. It is an optical illusion though. Mystery Hill in Boone, NC is one such example. (see also Gravity Hills).
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ouR escaPOD mods
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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 3:43pm
Waddaya mean water doesn't run up hill?  At the Mystery Spot near Santa Cruz it does.  
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Post Options Post Options   Quote StephenH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 10:21am
Originally posted by DavMar

Maybe I’m naïve but if there is a worry about water collecting in the bottom of the V channel of the angle iron why not drill a couple of small weep holes in it? I don’t know if it would affect the strength of this steel brace but I don't believe it would.

I don't think weep holes will be needed. The bottom of the axle tube has a curve but the steel angle does not have that curve so there is a space on the bottom of the angle. Given that the axle tube is highest in the center and slopes down toward the wheels and that water does not run uphill, any water that may get inside should naturally flow outward toward the wheels where it will be able to drip out through the space between the axle tube and the peak of the steel angle. Even though this picture is blurry, it should show what I am describing.


On a

side note I'm looking very forward to reports on how this axle mod has worked out in real use over time.
I will post information on it as I have opportunity to test it.

StephenH
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ouR escaPOD mods
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2019 at 7:41am
Drain holes kept small say 1/8 inch won't be significant structurally but there's not really a channel open under there to carry water to them, the angle is up against the axle. So I don't know that they'd do much good either.

Barring something strange like the angle sliding side ways or falling off don't expect anything definitive to come from one or two field uses. That's because the failure rate of our axles is fairly low to begin with. 

I  like to exercise my brain so here are some numbers.  

Lets say there are 10,000 rpods on the road and they've been sold for 10 years (average age 5 years) so there are roughly 50,000 rPod-years of product history out there now. Let's say that there have been 1,000 axle failures in that time (just a wild guess on my part), so that's a 1000/50000 or a 2% per year failure rate with the existing axle, or a 20% failure rate over 10 years. 

These aren't the right numbers of course but they're probably not way off the mark either. Most folks don't experience axle failures, but a significant number do. 

What would success look like for an axle reinforcement? Lets say we want to cut that 2% down by a factor of 10 and get a 10X reliability improvement, for a 0.2% annual axle failure rate or 2% over 10 years. How many field trials would you need to run to prove that? 

The math used to do that kind of failure analysis is called the binomial distribution. If you run that calc for this case it turns out that if you want to be 80% confident that you've taken the failure rate down to 0.2% per rPod-year then you'd need to run about 800 trials (800 rPods for a year or 400 for 2 years for example) and have zero axle failures. 

So, to prove anything definitive from field testing we'd need to get about 10% of our 8000 members to do the mod, tow for a year, and report back that their axles were all still good. As we say in engineering, that ain't gonna happen. LOL  

So, we need to depend on the structural calculations instead. Those show a significant (about 50% increase) in load capacity of the axle tube from adding the reinforcement. It doesn't do anything to help with the potential to have bent torque arms, spindles, or crushed rubber cords though.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote DavMar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2019 at 10:37pm

Maybe I’m naïve but if there is a worry about water collecting in the bottom of the V channel of the angle iron why not drill a couple of small weep holes in it? I don’t know if it would affect the strength of this steel brace but I don't believe it would.

On a side note I'm looking very forward to reports on how this axle mod has worked out in real use over time.

Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the
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Post Options Post Options   Quote DavMar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2019 at 10:36pm

Maybe I’m naïve but if there is a worry about water collecting in the bottom of the V chanel of the angle iron why not drill a couple of small weep holes in it? I don’t know if it would affect the strength of this steel brace but I don't believe it would.

On a side note I'm looking very forward to reports on how this axle mod has worked out in real use over time.

Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the
wonder dog.
2017 Rpod 180
2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4
Lexington, NC
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Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2019 at 6:35pm
I'll be looking out for that as well but I don't think it will, its not like the axle is moving around, and the friction from the ubolts is really high.   Unforlunately, it will be another month before I (hopefully) get to take a trip of any distance in our rPod. 
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Post Options Post Options   Quote StephenH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2019 at 4:52pm
Our first test will be soon when we go to Florida to see my parents. I'll be keeping a close watch on it to make sure the U bolts stay tight and the reinforcing angle does not shift.
StephenH
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ouR escaPOD mods
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Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2019 at 5:24am
Originally posted by StephenH



Addendum:  I decided to seal along the upper edge of the reinforcing angle, but not the ends. The seal should keep water out and decrease chances of corrosion. The camber should help any water that might get in to drain toward the ends where it should drain at the bottom of the V channel at the end by the arms. I used DAP Dynaflex Ultra Window, Door, Siding & Trim. The color I used is black to match. The product says "Crack Proof, Resists UV Fading & Dirt Build Up, Weather MAX Technology. One thing that helped me decide to use this is the specifications which include Flexibility: Permanently Flexible and Joint Movement: +/- 35%. I used less than a tube for the job.

I was thinking about doing that but decided against it and just gave both the axle and the angle a good coating of rustoleum before mating them up. Either way, I'm sure my setup will rust faster than yours because of the salt environment here on the OBX. I had to grind and refinish my A frame this spring already due to corrosion there. We'll see what happens. 
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