I'm wanting to put a roll bar in the bed of my truck. I have a few reasons for this:
1. I am tired of the 35x13.5" spare bouncing around in the bed.
2. I am tired of the 5 foot tall jack bouncing around in the bed.
3. My friend has offered to give me a set of NOS "smiley face" lights.
4. The truck already has sort of a 1980s retro feel (despite being a '96)

I'm thinking about having it fabricated locally and was going to put some ideas up for consideration.

I'm thinking single tube, just a pretty basic design, probably bolt or weld to the frame after cutting through the bed to attach it.

QUESTIONS:

Would you use regular mild steel for this, or pay the extra for chro-mo to cut weight?

Any other suggestions, such as tube OD / thinkness would be appreciated.

The TRUCK:

The truck is used for desert and mountain exploration and is pictured on the T-100 thread, if you are interested. It got some big pumkins a couple years ago.

Any other cool ideas for roll bars? Exo-cages are the rage here in PNW, but I'm not ready to go there right now.

 

Marty McFly's truck from one of the "Back to the Future" will serve as my inspiration:

 

Here you go, so you don't have to search for it: my T-100 in need of a roll bar.

 

Is it going to be a real Roll Bar or just a light bar and place to mount the Jack and the spare??

I would go with Chrome Moly not for weight saving but for the added strength if it is a roll bar.

People seem to use Roll bars as a term for any bar in the back of the truck.

 

The desert guy's fab a flat plate above and below the bed bolted together so you don't have to cut through the bed..

That way you can also remove the bed if needed without cutting the rollbar off.

 

Well I would like it to add to the safety of the truck, as long as I'm putting something in. OTOH: I think that to really achieve significant improvement a full-cage is really the way to go, and, I'm not there yet. (And might not ever be.)

So, yes, roll bar.

 

Thanks, that's a nice suggestion.

 

In what desert do they do it this way?

 

The Empty Quarter !!

 

Thought most of them tieD their tubes into the frame. ..

 

The thing with building a real roll bar very seldom does the truck ever get used as a truck

It all depends just what you end game is.

I have tied them into frame reinforcements

Done the plate to plate method.

The only time it get critical is if your racing and have to meet whatever criteria there rules demand.

After all it is your vehicle.

 

I am definately not racing this truck. Like I said it's a desert & mountain exploration platform. I do want to be able to use the bed, including getting my 450cc dirt bike in with the gate closed, just like I've been carrying it forever. That's one reason I want a custom bar, to have it designed to my specs.

 

The plate is welded to a tube welded to the frame.

The plates sandwich the bed with only bolt holes through the bed itself bolting the plates together.

You can unbolt the rollbar if needed.

I'm gonna go long travel with the shocks through the bed but the bedcage around the front of the bed so I can haul my YZ 450 and whatever else I want using the plate method so it can be removed if needed.

Fabrication ideas on tacoma world long travel section or desert rangers

 

I have not once seen any removable bed cage or functional roll bar done with the plate method as described above but that being said, I know that doesn't mean its not done. Every one I have seen is either welded directly to the frame, bolted to the bed mounting bolts (fords) bolted to the top of the frame with tabs like these http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/15OV.html or the best and easiest way it to use tube clamps like these http://www.kartek.com/Product/385/In...be-Clamps.aspx or http://www.kartek.com/Product/4640/S...e-Coupler.aspx these.

To put the shocks up towards the front of the bed, you have to move the gas tank and reroute the exhaust or run a really wide axle to mount the shocks on the outside of the frame.

 

Seen some tacos with plates on tacoma world, not my idea. Thought I'd throw the idea out there.

It is welded/bolted to the frame, probably gonna do my bedcage that way with the steel bed with glass bedsides

And yea I have a T100 axle to use on my 2nd gen 4wd pu to put shocks outside the frame rails.

Btw like to see some pics of your rig, sounds like a nice truck

 

Anyone have any suggestions for tube diameter OD/wall thickness? With either CroMo or mild steel.

 

I'm also looking to add a rollbar to my truck I was also wondering what size pipe I should use for the rollbar I will either go with schedule 40 3inch stainless steel or 2inch schedule 40 stainless steel. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

That's interesting. I had not thought of Stainless. I think stainless is as heavy as mild steel. I think CroMo is what the race-trucks use (required by some sanctioning organizations for cages), because it's the strongest at any given size, but of course because of that smaller / thinner tubes can be used.

The big custom roll bar guys at http://www.truckrollbar.com/ use 3" mild steel for theirs. " - 3"OD x 13 Gauge Wall Mild Steel Tubing - Mandrel Bent on 6” Centerline Radius"

I found this NHRA information on a Honda board:

""The NHRA requires a roll bar in every convertible that is 13.49 seconds or quicker in the quarter mile. For cars that are not convertible, their cut-off time is 11.49 seconds in the quarter mile. There is an exception to this rule. If the vehicle has the stock firewall and floorboard intact, it can run the quarter mile in as little as 10 seconds. The roll bar has to be constructed with 1 3/4-inch mild steel tubing with a wall thickness of 0.118 inch. Or 1 3/4 chrome-moly tubing with a wall thickness of 0.083 can be used."

 

Just be aware this is a difference in tube and pipe as far as strength.

In the way it is manufactured

although both may look somewhat the same.

While pipe is just fine for a light bar