PHASE III : The Chassis
Building the chassis was key. I needed a welded 2 part frame that hinged and would be able to carry a load of over 700lbs when lifted. It also needed to be customized to hold the wheelchair carcass for driving. We settled on 1 1/2 x 1-1/2 16GA (.065 wall) A513 Square Steel Tube. This was our first big “Free Labor”. The team at Seki's Machine Works in Wailuku really stepped up and helped me with the welding and fabrication of the chassis. When I brought them the idea and told them my plan…they were skeptical, but we all got a great smile when it worked!
The initial two part hinged chassis
A frame was fabricated around the weelchair that allowed for it to be attached and detached. We used the mounting holes where the chair had been connected.
The final chassis had crossbars for attaching the wheelchair, outrigger bars for support of the base and a rotating set of bars for mounting the airjack. These needed to rotate because the angle would change as the car lifted.