Ok, i have been getting really into fabrication lately, my buddy and I built the front bumpers on our trucks, and now we are looking into building our rear bumpers, a cage for the bed (not so much as for rollovers, but for utility and a can-back style cage), and i am thinking about putting the bars along the side panels like 4rnr did.

My question is what are the different types of tubing good for? What exactly is DOM (seamless?)... We built our front bumpers out of 1.5" .120 wall, but not DOM.

Here is a pic of the front bumper:


And here is a pic of the cage that we are basing ours off of:

 

I used 1.5" .120 wall DOM. As far as I know it means Drawn Over Mandrel. I think it is the process by witch it is made. I think it has a higher carbon content wich must make it stronger. At least that is what ive been told, All I know for sure is it is freakin strong.

 

in regular tubing, the part where it is welded is waek, but in dom, in that same part it is jsut about as strong as the rest of oit... dom is by far better, but it costs a lot more.....

 

OK... makes sense... Now what would be good to use for my bumpers and such? For the front bumper i was able to brace the bumper really well and it is pretty strong... The rear should be the same. The sliders i am going to buy 4crawlers... But i want to put side protection like 4rnr which cant be braced. So i should be fine to use regular tubing for the front and rear bumpers, but it would probably be a good idea to use DOM for the side protection?

 

I was thinking about this the other day, too. My thought was that your major impacts are going to be taken either from the front, back, or under the rockers...these areas are covered by front/rear bumper, and sliders. So, I thought I'd want the strongest material and bracing on those areas. The side body protection is probably going to be more against glancing and scraping type damage, so it would probably be fine with non-DOM tubing. That's just what I thought, and I could be totally wrong. If I am, I'd love to know

BTW, that bed cage on that silver Taco is sick!

 

Well, i agree with you... But for me my front bumper is not all tube, it has the "bash plate" that connects to the frame, which is the strong part it has the d-shackle hangers, and receiver for use with winch or whatever. This is made of 3/8" steel, and is strong as heck, and can be pulled at, winched from, hi-lifted from, etc. The tubing is more of the bumper for like on the street just like stock bumpers, it doesnt see any offroad stress really, although the sides are braced well enough so that if i glance it on a tree or rock it should not be a problem. The rear bumper will be 2x4 rectangular .120wall steel (based off of seafleas bumper), with tube wrap around which will be braced really well. But the tubes that are going along the sides need the strength in themselves because they cant be braced at all, so i will use DOM on those. Thats the way i would think about doing it.

Oh and the rack is awesome, i am going to do the same way, but its going to be the full length of the bed, and slope down at the end with a swing-away tire mount on it, canvas will be on it, hi-lift and shovel mounts, and going to either custom make a roof-rack to mount on it, or get a yakima loadwarrior, and im putting reverse lights on it, side lights on it, and 4 KC daylighter 150w pencil beams on it.

 

I think I’ve seen that truck at Palomar. I don’t like the idea of a full length cage, because what if you want to put in a dirt bike? Or something that’s a bit bigger? Granted that one in the picture is totally awesome, and I’ve contemplated it myself. But I do like parking in a parking garage on occasion.

 

Its removable... Thats why it does not really serve as a roll cage, it is bolted on. I will probably run a tonneu cover in the winter to keep stuff in the bed dry, but have the cage on majority of the time. Or if i just want to run with nothing to haul some sand or gravel i can...

 

I would do DOM on the side hoops, escpecially if you decide to exo the truck, bc they will see the most load.

 

Yeah i will do DOM on the side hoops, mainly because they cant be braced, and they will see some beating. I am not going to exo the truck though, the side hoops are as far as it is going, i have no interest in a full exo.

 

I don't think DOM has a higher carbon content then HREW but I could be mistaken. i believe the manufacturing process is the only thing that differs. as far as carbon is concerned....actually never mind, I know way too much about steel, lol

 

Ok I have been wondering about this too. As I will be making my own cage soon but I don’t know enough about steel yet. I want 2" round and will probably use 3/16ths for the hops and 1/8th for the bracing. But I don’t know what type to get and I am willing to pay for it as it is saving my life. I have made a few different front and rear bumpers and a few other things and my welding skills are getting pretty good so I feel confident about putting my life on the line. I just need a little direction on witch is strong enough and what is over kill.??

 

well, DOM is the best option especially if you arent to concerned with cost (not that its that expensive realatively speaking, you could do an exo and then some for the price of a single bumper) The next step up is chromoly, and ummm.... if you use that I would love to see that.
Basiccaly DOM is the best choice for you.

 

what college major will learn a man such knowledge of metalworking?

 

woot woot, thats will be my rack within a few weeks, just slightly different, oh sorry, im morphias's friend.

 

The university of shade tree.

 

What about schedule 40 2" dia metal tubing? I saw some black metal tubing at the hardware store it was like $10 for 10 ft of it. The stuff is around 3/16" thick.

I was conciding how cheap it was per foot compare to DOM tubing at a metal place not sure on how strong this stuff is.

 

Check your local technical center/ community college. If you want to move, then there are place like wyotech.
Good luck---hijack off

 

This subject has been BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT to death on Pirate4x4. Look up "sprinkler pipe exo cage" or something like that.

 

DOM is overkill for exterior tube work. Save yourself a bunch of $$$ and stick with the HREW tube...

If you plan on really grinding your armor, use 0.188 wall HREW.

DOM is primarily use for race car structures that can withstand extreme impact or rolls. If I was building a comp buggy or recreational tube chassis, I'd consider using DOM for the occupant protection portions of the tube work. The rest would be HREW.

HREW = Hot Rolled Electric Welded
CREW = Cold Rolled Electric Welded
DOM = Drawn Over Mandrel

Yield strength of the following:

Carbon steel pipe: 25-30k psi
HREW Tube: 40k psi
CREW Tube: 33-37k psi
DOM Tube: 70-72k psi
MIL-T-6736 4130 Tube (Cro/moly): 95-113k psi

Main difference (besides strength) between DOM and H/CREW process is a consistant ID on DOM. It doesn't require ID trueing if you want to thread the tubing for links.

Later

FYI:

If you want to see a awesome tube buggy build up, check out:
http://azrockcrawler.com/_images/pro...ojectbmp1.html