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SAE Mini-Baja West Design Report

Ben Johnson
Brigham Young University-Idaho Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Technology
Copyright 2005 SAE International
ABSTRACT
A team of Brigham Young University-Idaho mechanical
engineering students designed and manufactured an off-
road vehicle. Efforts were focused on designing cost
effective yet efficient systems including chassis,
suspension, drivetrain, and controls. Design criteria
included: originality and innovation, suspension, brake
system, power train, structural design, craftsmanship,
operator comfort, feasibility for mass production, and
serviceability. The final product meets these criteria and
provides the customer with a functional product, and the
producer with a product worth manufacturing.
INTRODUCTION
A team of Mechanical Engineering students from
Brigham Young University-Idaho designed and
manufactured a prototype Mini-Baja off-road vehicle.
This report documents how and why the following
components were designed: chassis, suspension,
drivetrain, and controls. It also discusses the
manufacturability and ergonomics of the BYU-Idaho
Mini-Baja vehicle.
The design goals for the 2006 Mini-Baja included:
Meet customer specifications
Create innovative and functional design
Minimize weight
Maximize control with suspension design
Optimize power efficiency
Maintain mass production feasibility
Minimize cost
Decrease time to market

When producing an off-road vehicle the largest concerns
are cost, maintenance, safety, and driver comfort. Each
of these aspects has been optimized to produce the best
product.

CHASSIS
The design goal for the chassis was to build a
lightweight, structurally sound, and aesthetically pleasing
frame. The purpose of the frame is to protect the driver
in case of a collision or rollover, and to support the
components of the drivetrain, suspension, and controls.
Other aspects considered were operator comfort,
innovation, craftsmanship, manufacturability, and
serviceability. Consumers of this vehicle can range in
height and weight. It was envisioned that users would be
between 56 and 62 so the cabin was designed to
accommodate both extremes. The frame was designed
to decrease time to market. This was accomplished by
making the frame modular and by using only simple
processes to manufacture each component. The cabin
and front suspension were designed and built
simultaneously but separately from the rear suspension
and engine compartment. The two modules were joined
with nine bolts. By using a modular system this vehicle
can be easily customized.
FRAME DESIGN
When designing the frame the primary goal was to keep
the driver safe in the event of an accident. The shape of
the frame was designed to maintain a safe distance
between the driver and the environment in whatever
position the car ended up after an accident. The frame
was also designed to be aesthetically pleasing. In years
past the frame looked like a bubble, this year the frame
was built with more straight lines to give it a more
aggressive look. This was done because most
consumers tend to look for products that perform well
and look good. See figure 1.



Figure 1: Computer model of frame using
Unigraphics software.
To ensure the safety of the driver, correct engineering
design was used ensuring that all frame members would
be in only tension or compression and minimal bending
loads would be applied to the tubing.

Material Selection
It was required to make a steel frame using a material
with equal or superior bending strength and bending
stiffness of 1018 steel. Appendix A shows the analysis
of bending strength, wall thickness, and density of
various steel materials considered for the frame. The
tubing chosen was 1.25 O.D., .065 wall thickness 1018
steel. This steel was chosen because of the low cost
compared to the Chrom-Moly tested, it is available on
short notice, and it is easier to weld and bend. The skid
plate was made of .077 aluminum plate. The firewall
was made of .03 aluminum plate. Aluminum was used
to decrease weight and meet design criteria. The roof
and other covers were made of a single layer of
glass/epoxy composite to decrease total weight of the
car wherever possible. Since these covers only provide
a finished look for the car, structural integrity was not
necessary in these applications. The side panels were
made of a double layer because of the higher risk of
impact, which increases the need for structural integrity,
but light weight is still extremely important.
Fabrication
Welding
MIG welding was the welding process chosen for
manufacture of this off-road vehicle for the following
reasons: faster and easier than TIG welding, provides
sufficient strength, and appearance. For the past two
years TIG welding was used because the frame was
made of Chrom-Moly and a specific wire or filler rod
must be used when welding this steel. MIG welds can
be as strong as the parent metal, while TIG welds
depend on the parent metal and the filler rod. Since
1018 steel tubing was used, the MIG welding was the
more viable option.
Bending
All the bends were done using a hydraulic mandrel
bender, to maintain circular cross section and structural
integrity of the tubing.
SUSPENSION
The objective of the suspension system on any vehicle is
to maintain control of the steering wheels while turning,
braking, or traversing rough terrain, and also to increase
traction of the drive wheels.
FRONT SUSPENSION
Design
The front suspension is an unequal length A-arm design.
This is a common design that many teams and
companies use. The upper A-arm was designed and
manufactured on site to ensure that the shocks would
have proper clearance. The lower A-arms came from a
Polaris Predator. These A-arms were used because
they have been tested and proven for the past four years
on the four-wheeler. The cost is also low enough to
justify using OEM parts instead of designing and
manufacturing a new part. The front suspension uses a
coil-over Fox Shox Podium shock. This particular
shock has an adjustable pre-load which allows
adjustment of ride height, and initial stiffness. It also has
adjustable rebound and damping to tune the suspension
to all conditions. The frame was also designed with a
fifteen degree incline where the front A-arms attach to
improve the angle of attack and to improve suspension
geometry. See figure 2 for more detail.

Travel
The front suspension was designed to have 11.5 of
clearance and ten inches of travel. Last year the car had
eight inches of clearance, and five inches of travel, which
is comparable to most four-wheelers on the market.
Eleven and a half inches of clearance is an
improvement, and test drives confirm the increase is
needed. Ten inches of travel is also a great
improvement.
Alignment
The front alignment is adjustable to allow changes in tire
size and ride height. Caster and camber adjustments
are made by adjusting the ball joint in the upper A-arm.
REAR SUSPENSION
Design
The rear suspension is less common than the front
suspension. The original design on paper for the rear
suspension was an independent swing arm.
Figure 2: Side view showing the 15 degree incline of
frame front end using Unigraphics software.

Implementing that design proved to be too difficult, so
the final design is a modified multi-link swing arm system
with two radius rods. The rear suspension uses Fox
Shox 2.0 x 5/8 emulsion non-coil shocks, which use
compressed nitrogen. The uncompressed length is 31.1
inches with 12 inches of travel. For the last two years
the rear shocks used were custom air shocks. The
major problem with these is the slow rebound speed, and
they are starting to leak air pressure.
Travel
The rear suspension was designed with 14 of clearance
and 12 of travel. Last year the car had ten inches of
clearance and eight inches of travel. Last years design
included a composite leaf spring, which unfortunately
failed. That failure directed this years design process
which produced a suspension far superior to the
previous designs. More consideration was given to the
amount of suspension travel this year to increase driver
comfort, and control.
Alignment
The rear camber and toe-in is set by adjusting the Heim
Joints in the radius rods. The alignment was set
according to specs from a local ATV dealer.

DRIVETRAIN
The objective of the drivetrain is to transmit power from
the engine to the wheels. The design teams objective
was to produce a drivetrain that was simple to operate
and efficient since the rated power output from the
engine is only ten horsepower. The drivetrain includes a
ten horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine, Polaris CVT,
Yamaha forward and reverse drive, custom chain drive
gear reducer, GKN Visco Lok differential, and GKN cv
axles.
ENGINE
Engine speed is limited to 3800 rpm. With the limited
power, minimizing weight is an important factor in vehicle
performance. Tests were performed using a
dynamometer to measure actual performance. Figure 3
shows the results of the dynamometer testing. It was
found that the optimal rpm settings were at 2900 for a
maximum torque of 14.15 ft-lb at sea level, and at 3100-
3400 to obtain a maximum power of 7.7 horsepower at
sea level.
Torque and HP vs RPM
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1300 1700 2100 2500 2900 3300
RPM
Power (Hp)
Torque (f t-lb)
Corrected Power
(Hp)
Corrected Torque
(f t-lb)


TRANSMISSION
CVT
Part of the transmission is a Polaris brand Constant
Velocity Transmission (CVT). The Polaris CVT was
chosen due to reliability, ease of use, and maintenance.
This type of transmission uses two clutches, a primary
and a secondary, which transfer power through a belt.
The transmission gear ratios range from 6.3 to .7; this
allows for slow driving needed in the rock crawl, and high
speed driving in the endurance test.
Forward/Reverse
The forward/reverse drive comes from a Yamaha
Timberwolf 250. This one was chosen over a Polaris
brand forward/reverse, which was used two years ago,
because of the lighter weight. Past experience shows
that a reverse gear is desired by users. Test drives
confirm their desire, as reverse is used regularly. Last
year one of the problems encountered in the drivetrain
was an unintentional shift into neutral. The custom shifter
for this year was designed to ensure that changing from
forward to neutral or reverse was intentional, and
accidental shifting could not occur.
Chain Drive Gear Reducer
The objective of a gear reducer is to lower the final gear
ratio. The chain drive gear reducer is custom made and
uses Ramsey Silent Chain. Silent chain was chosen
for the following reasons: high efficiency in power
transmission, quiet in operation, and ease of
maintenance. The case is a prototype and only one was
produced, it was made of machined aluminum sheet and
billet and welded together. When the car is mass
produced it will be cast which will reduce the
manufacturing cost.
Figure 3. Dynamometer results. Corrected Hp and
Torque were found using a correcting factor for the
altitude of 4200 ft. Data obtained using Dyno-Max 2000
software.
DIFFERENTIAL
The differentials objective is to provide better traction
while driving straight, and allowing one tire to turn faster
than the other while turning. The benefit of a locking
differential manifests itself in low traction situations
where both tires need to turn for maximum traction. The
differential used is a GKN Visco Lok. This system
provides the best of both situations described above.
The differential automatically adjusts to the conditions
using hydraulic pressure to lock both axles together
when one tire slips excessively, but allowing one to spin
freely of the other when turning.
AXLE
Due to the width of the rear suspension, it was necessary
to modify the rear axles that had been ordered by
extending them four inches. For mass production
applications, it is recommended to purchase longer axles
to remove this process. The axles were cut in half,
center drilled, and the four inch tapered extension shaft
was welded between the two pieces of the original axle.
The axles have CV joints at each end. CV joints were
used because they afford better performance at greater
angles, which allows for more suspension travel.
CONTROLS
The objective of the controls is varied. The controls
includes the following systems: brakes, throttle, steering,
and transmission shifter.

BRAKES
Disc brakes were selected for all four wheels due to
weight and efficiency. The master cylinder was taken
from a Geo Metro and a proportioning valve introduced
into the system to optimize braking distribution between
the front and back. It has two independent hydraulic
systems, as required for safety purposes. This provides
that at least two wheels maintain effective braking power
in event of a leak or failure. The front brake rotors and
pads are OEM parts from a Polaris Predator. The rotors
are vented to reduce fade which occurs when brake
rotors are too hot. The rear brake rotors and pads are
inboard to protect from them from impact. They also are
OEM parts, but come from a Bombardier four-wheeler.

STEERING
The steering system contains the steering wheel,
steering column, rack and pinion, tie rods, knuckles, and
ball joints. The steering wheel is mounted with quick
release mechanism to decrease exit time from the
vehicle in case of an accident. The steering column was
originally designed with only one u-joint. After test
driving the vehicle the steering was too stiff at certain
points so a second u-joint was added to decrease the
angle in each u-joint. The Mini-Baja vehicle has rack
and pinion steering. One of the benefits of this type of


















steering is a lighter feel in the steering wheel due to a
gear reduction which is inherent in the design. It also
improves the feel of the road, and is more accurate and
precise allowing the driver to rely more on feel than
needing to see each bump in the road. It is also an
inherently simpler design with fewer parts and pieces
which leads to fewer repairs. The specific rack and
pinion that is installed in the car has one and three
quarter turns from lock to lock. The front suspension
was designed to maintain excellent steering geometry at
all suspension positions. This improves the handling of
an off-road vehicle since the suspension is seldom at the
normal ride height position. Bump steer is kept to a
minimum because of this steering geometry also. The
knuckles are OEM parts from a Polaris Predator. The
correct geometry, mounting methods and positions, and
cost were the reasons why custom knuckles were not
designed and manufactured. All the ball joints on the
vehicle are commercially manufactured to ensure safety.

MANUFACTURABILITY
Part of the purpose of this project is to determine the
feasibility of manufacturing 4,000 Mini-Baja vehicles per
year. In order to accommodate manufacturability,
several factors were taken into account. The frame was
designed using bent-tube construction. All welds were
MIG welded to simplify the manufacturing of this vehicle.
Joints were fish-mouthed using a belt grinder with
changeable dyes. This made grinding easier, providing a
fast method to ensure a tight fit at the joints. The
modular design decreases time to market. This method
is proven in other markets, and if applied to the
manufacture of this vehicle profits will increase.
ERGONOMICS
In designing the Mini-Baja vehicle, ergonomic principles
of aesthetics and driver comfort were considered. The
vehicle is easily operable, due to the automatic
transmission. Suspension was tuned to provide greater
ride comfort.
Figure 4. Steering column geometry after
inserting second u-joint drawn in AutoCAD.
Ease of service and maintenance were also considered.
Durable parts were selected in all subsystems to
minimize repair needs. In these ways, the vehicle was
tailored to consumer preferences.
CONCLUSION
Design and construction of the BYU-Idaho Mini-Baja
vehicle resulted in the production of a reliable off-road
vehicle which meets customer specifications. Design
goals were met, resulting in a final product that will
withstand the rigors of off-road travel while providing the
driver with the necessary comforts. The vehicle is
appealing to the customer in design, driver comfort and
safety, and maintainability. The vehicle is appealing to
the producer in manufacturability and reliability.
CONTACT
Ben Johnson, email: joh99047@byui.edu