Yoter

Ok I have recieved my bumper tubing from the scrap piles at a construction project at work. I have plenty of tubing to build something cool. I have my tubing bender on order but still need to find someone to weld it all together. But the welding can be figured out when that time comes. I need pics of rigs with sweet looking tube bumper setups. What I have looks to be inch and a half to three quarter tubing. I like the bumpers www.bigrocksoffroad.com builds. They look good but i want to weigh all options. If anyone has built their own tube bumpers and have designs and are willing to share that would also be nice. So lets see them pics. Ben

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Here ya go, from October of 2002 when I took my sliderz back to Badland Bumpers to get them powder coated.

http://www.pnw4runners.com/badland_bumpers/oct_2002/

The ones in my URL above are on Jeff's wife's 4 door Tacoma, but the design is the same for the front & rear for your's and my rig too.

Also look on Jeff's site above for the front/rear tube bumpers in his table of contents, and you will see YotaTech member seafarinman's maroon truck on there.
He has the tube front, rear, and sliderz from Badland's.
Jeff's products rock.

Robinhood150

Do you have a tube bender or a PIPE bender on order? There's a difference and a pipe bender won't bend tube well.

Yoter

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ME:B:EOAB:US:6

got this one, didnt wanna spend much on one.

Robinhood150

That's a good price for a pipe bender and it looks amazingly similar to this one from harbor freight: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=38024

But...It's a PIPE bender, not a tubing bender. Notice the HF description does NOT include tubing, only pipe. It'll kink your tubing if you bend it too far. I used a HF one for my 1" tubing and I couldn't bend it more than 40 deg before it would kink. Real tubing benders cost a fortune...like close to $1000 for the cheapest ones (rough estimate). Search around for this subject over on the fabrication board.

Now, if the stuff you picked up from the construction site is in fact pipe, then it will work.

Yoter

Thanks Steve

Robinhood150

You know, I might have just made a big deal out of nothing...Since the material is from a construction site, then maybe it really is pipe...?

sportJr

Dont think it qualifies as awsome, but I did make em out of pipe, no bends though, bought 90's
http://groups.msn.com/sportjrs4runner/shoebox.msnw

delboy

Can someone, PLEASE tell me what the difference between 'pipe' and 'tube' is? This is driving me crazy!
Thanks
Del

loosehead

delboy,
Pipe is typically used to refer to plumbing and is measured by I.D. Tubing is measured by O.D. and is more for fabrication. Thats the generic difference...

Blue-
When using that bender, cut your pieces to approximate length, but the "tail" or the length of tube beyond the bend, at least 6-8 inches longer than you want the finished piece. This way, once you make the bend, you'll have enough to trim it just right. Also, to prevent kinking the material, fill the tube up with sand and duct-tape the ends really good. This will give enough resistance to keep the tube from flattening too much. Don't get greedy with the bends, take it a little at a time. You'll also want to start with the round dies all the way out and then move them closer together as the bend gets tighter (ie smaller radius). Another thing to keep in mind is that you will actually have to go slightly farther with the angle you want, as it will spring back a tiny bit once you release pressure from the bottle jack. Nice bends can be had, it just takes a little patience.

Yoter

SportJr, Thanks for the pics. I like your design. I didnt want to lose my hitch in this project and I see how i can use your design to keep it.

LooseHead, Great advice thanks.

Ben

tenfourtyeight

Is tubing stronger than pipe?

BeaterToyota

I''m no metallurgist, welder, or plumber, but from what I understand they are rated for different types of strength. Pipe is rated for burst strength (think about water or gas pressure inside the pipe), and can have weak spots if used as a structural element. Tubing is rated for tensile strength, and would be better for structural stuff like roll bars, etc.

Shane

More like $300 for a bender and the cost of a die set, so $400-500. jd2, protools, mtech to name a few...
Apparently the writer of that ad is, that is NOT a tube bender no matter what the ad says. It will kink tubing. Now chill out, we don't appreciate attitudes like that around here.

Robinhood150

Oh cool, a lot cheaper than I thought. I was thinking the JD2 was close to $700 so I rounded up to $1000 in my mind. Hmmm...I guess a tube bender in my future garage isn't out of the question...

Yoter

So by buying that "bender" did I screw up? That will suck but will be a chaep mistake. I only paid $118 shipped. So what can I use this bender for? Sorry for the flame from my fellow Washingtonian, he didn't mean it. Right? I am eager to rip my factory bumpers off and start building custom stuff. Thanks for the advice guys. Ben

sportJr

Blue, glad to be a help, I used no bender, a 90 degree elbow cost about $4.00. Stronger because you do not thin the outside edge of the pipe by bending. You can also get them in 45's and cut to make 22's. Can't imagin anymore angles you need in a bumper. I fliped over my hitch in its cradle to get it off the ground a bit more after I took off my bumper, hope you get that lucky too to have that option. Otherwise depending on the style of hitch you have ya may have to cut the cradle to raise it. It is awfully low after you take off the bumper. No wonder it always hit when I dropped in a hole

The old guy at Dillon supply In Raleigh told me, Tubing is weaker that steel unless you are using it something that weight does not matter. Pipe is measured in two ways, schedule 40 and 80. 40 is for water and Gas, 80 is for steam. Tubing comes in thinner material and much thicker by special order. Schedule 40 pipe, What you would pick up on most all construction sites is considered weld pipe over 3 inches, because you do not thread it anymore. It is about 3/16 thick. Let me get my caculator for the metric peeps, ummmm..., thats .1875. IE pleanty strong for any role cages for trucks. Now, Roll cages are welded the same, but cooled differently. You can pack them in sand bags, so the cooling process takes longer. This makes more flexable welds. A 7018 rod, if properly done has a strength of 70,000 lbs. that is stronger than the seams of a weld on pipe or conventional tubing. That is how an old man in the Buisness explained it to me. I am sure one of the ridged Educated engineers that is collage educated will disagree, but I take experience over theory every time.

Shane

I sure hope you're not talking about welding low grade pipe to a CAST elbow! Thank god it's only a bumper, cause that's piss poor advice safety-wise...

Guess what, the old guy is wrong. Pound for pound (as in similar wall thickness) structural tubing is much stronger than pipe. The schedule number on pipe refers to the pressure rating of the pipe which is a function of the wall thickness, nothing else. Also on the topic of wall thickness, 2" sch40 pipe for example does not have the same wall thickness as 3" sch40.

Actually it would be 4.7625mm, but who cares we never could get switched over to that system. .120 wall is more than sufficient for a rollcage or any bumper/slider project, a lot of race cars use .095 and lighter in areas to save weight. You do not have to take any extreme means to preheat or cool the tubing, if you're a competent welder it will hold up just fine.

Shane

No, you can still use it to make cheap bumpers and sliders out of pipe. You just can't use lighter weight tubing in it, so a cage is pretty much out of the question.

Robinhood150

If you did get pipe then it's no problem. It can't hurt to try some tubing, packing sand might help but I've never tried it. Play with it and see what you can do.

Since this has pretty much turned into a fabrication thread I think I'll move it to the fab board.