grams72

Last night while driving past a Tractor Supply Store I noticed the livestock panels in their lot. Nice even sweeps for the top corners, Welded T's / 90's. Looked like about 50' of tube to make one panel. A 60" x 10' panel goes for between $40 - $70 per panel. The diameter is like 1- 3/4" not sure of the gauge, Thought one said it was 19g. How much are you guys paying for the Tube to build your bumper and sliders? Do you think this material would work for such a project? I know I'm cheep, what can I say

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crawler#976

if it was 19G, it's only has 0.043 wall thickness-

used as a bumper it would be kinda like a beer can hitting a rednecks forehead after suckin' down a case of Pearl Beer.

waskillywabbit

Steel prices are at an all time high. We are paying about $0.65-70 per lb, which is almost double what steel prices were 6 months ago.

A 20's stick of 2" x 3" x 3/16" tubing cost me about $75 (5.59 lbs/foot), so don't expect to get stuff cheap unless you can find some drop.

crawler#976

My last purchase of tubing was HREW (hot rolled extruded welded seam) 1.5" x 0.12 wall x 20' lengths. It was $1.33 a foot. DOM is (drawn over mandrel) tube is about $4.00 a foot in the same size.

For bumpers and sliders, DOM is not required. IMO, DOM is not required for most applications- it's over kill for 99% of wheelers needs. If you were building a comp buggy, I'd consider recommending DOM for the actual cage structure, but for the rest of the rig, HREW is more than strong enough.

grams72

There is also a "heavy duty" one that is 16g. with an OD of 1 5/8"

With the high price of steel I thought that if you could find a product that was already bent you would be able to get a better bend and the price would be lower since a factory would pay much less for their stock comp. to mr. average joe off the street.

Thanks for the heads up!!!

crawler#976

16G is still way to thin- 0.06" wall........

maybe OK for show, but no go for real useage

grams72

So I could actually cut up my kids swing set and then build my roll bar out of PVC pipe..

crawler#976

I have actually seen a PVC "light bar" made up to look like a dual tube 3" OD Smitty Built...

It was painted black, and mounted on a S-10 P/U w/ Sonora, Mex. licence plates.

bain

im having to pay $2.89 per foot for 1 3/4 round 11 gauge (HREW).. and that crap goes up every week