You mean not as structural? You cant say 3/16'' thick "steel pipe" isnt structural just because it has a perfectly welded 3/16'' thick seam in it. Thats like saying theres no such thing as a structural weld.

 

And no. You DO NOT have to use DOM for a wheeling rig. Its been proven by THOUSANDS of people.

 

HREW and schedule 80 pipe are not the same thing.
Considering you can get 1.75x.120 HREW for less than 5 dollars a foot, there really is no reason to use pipe.

BUT with a crawler if you don't mind stacking on a bunch of weight, you could get away with using pipe. However, if you were building it for competition use, it would never pass any kind of safety tech.

 

any idea where I can pick up a decent tube bender for less than 300 bucks?

 

best bet is to look for a used manual JD or other manual bender like this one
http://www.pro-tools.com/mb-105-stan...ty-bender.aspx
probably could score some dies too.

 

Harbor Freight, but then again, you said decent...

 

Harbor frieght bender did this. Coarse it takes a man who doesnt ride a moped and wear skinny jeans.

 

Obviously, you have skills with harbor freight tools that far surpass the average hooman.

Edit: Nice wheelin rig btw.

 

Thanx.

And no I wouldnt recommend using one if you dont have to. But it can be done.

 

if u got the money for DOM use it but a pipe setup will work too. 1 1/4 or 1 1/5 schedule 40 is strong enough for what your trying to build. i like pipe its affordable and i can be wheelin but DOM is way more expensive.