Before you pull the tav plate off, get the driver and belt outta the way. Reach down and get a handful of both chains, and squeeze together. You should see where the flex is coming from. Or try a big pair of channel locks around both chains, make sure chain is tight. I'm sure you will see something move.
How thick was that square tubing????
These lil motors will twist and bend steel if anything is flexing. It jus gets worse and worse.
Yea that puppy is cool. I've never seen 1 like that. I know all about crap getting destroyed
The squeeze test revealed the culprit. It's the corner of the plate closest to the rear tire where the plate is welded to the frame. I put a lot of material on it but I guess I didn't have it hot enough to fully bond the material. It makes sense the corner furthest from the motor gets the most strain since the motor is suspended off the other side. All of the other welds seem to be holding pretty well.
I'll take the motor back off this weekend, grind some more of the fins down where the chain is rubbing, grind off some material off the plate/frame and weld that plate to the frame better.
The tubing isn't super thick. I forgot to measure it but it's the 2" x 2" tubing used for metal buildings and carports. I didn't see any flex in the tubing. The way I have it mounted, it'd basically have to bend all 4 tubes at once to make it flex. I have 6 bolts in the tubing. 2 through the motor into the tube (where it hangs over the plate), 2 through the motor and tube and plate, and 2 through the tube to the plate.