trailblazr81
1/2 ton status
Does anyone know where I could find a bed mounted roll bar light bar form my 73 K20?
Thankks
Thankks
CK5
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Bed mounted roll bar
- Thread starter trailblazr81
- Start date
smittlybuilt still makes them but I don't think they are listed on the website
jcwhitney?
ebay?
ebay?
trailblazr81
1/2 ton status
I couldnt find anything on JCWhitney websight. Im still waiting to recieve the catalog. There were 2 on Ebay. Both local pick up and I didnt really care for the style. I just want a basic upside down looking U bar and 2 bars going back. I guess kinda old school style.
Which do you want??
Do you want an official "Roll" bar,that will protect you in a rollover,or just a "light bar" to put off road lights on??...
If all you want is a light bar,with a little added protection,you could make your own fairly easy--I made several from galvanized electrical conduit from Home Depot--they have pre-bent elbows,and its not hard to "splice" them together using a short peice of smaller pipe or tubing that slips inside the conduit and welding them together...
One such bar I made for a freind did get "stress tested" when he rolled his K10 over in a sandpit one night...despite the fact it was not a "roll bar" by any means,it did hold up rather well,and kept his cab from crushing in too badly!--cant say the same for his KC daylighters though..
--you could use schedule 40 or 80 plumbing pipe for added strength,but you would have to find someone to bend it for you...some guys use regular exhaust pipe and elbows to make light bars...cheap and easy to make...why pay big bucks for the same thing you can make yourself in a few hours??...(unless you cant weld,dont have a welder,etc--then nevermind this post! 
)
Do you want an official "Roll" bar,that will protect you in a rollover,or just a "light bar" to put off road lights on??...
If all you want is a light bar,with a little added protection,you could make your own fairly easy--I made several from galvanized electrical conduit from Home Depot--they have pre-bent elbows,and its not hard to "splice" them together using a short peice of smaller pipe or tubing that slips inside the conduit and welding them together...
One such bar I made for a freind did get "stress tested" when he rolled his K10 over in a sandpit one night...despite the fact it was not a "roll bar" by any means,it did hold up rather well,and kept his cab from crushing in too badly!--cant say the same for his KC daylighters though..
--you could use schedule 40 or 80 plumbing pipe for added strength,but you would have to find someone to bend it for you...some guys use regular exhaust pipe and elbows to make light bars...cheap and easy to make...why pay big bucks for the same thing you can make yourself in a few hours??...(unless you cant weld,dont have a welder,etc--then nevermind this post! )
trailblazr81
1/2 ton status
Hmmm.... My cousin and I have played with galvanized electrical conduit. We made some sick custom tail pipes for his 65 El Camino. I might try that then hit it with some flat black paint. I have a welder and grinder. The conduit is too thin wall for the tubing bender I have tho. 
dont need to bend !
If you get the pre-bent elbows they sell,you wont need a bender!(I dont own one!)...any angles the elbows are "wrong" for you can compensate for by cutting them at the right angle and welding the peices together!---I used chain link fence corner posts on one bar I built--I later learned it comes in schedule 40 as well,just like plumbing pipe--its pretty beefy,and you can get 3" size fairly cheap too!....its my favorite exhaust pipe lately--takes 5 years for it to rot out!
I saw one light bar a guy made from that type of tubing using some malleable cast iron things made to use with pipes to build stair railings,shelves,and other things,they accept the pipe and have an allen head setscrew to tighten down and pinch the pipe to hold it together...not somthing I'd trust as a roll bar ,but it was plenty sufficient for his lights,and he didn't have to weld anything!...W.W.Grainger sells those fittings--but they are pricey,they come in many styles..he got his from an old railing a contractor took down off a local school building..free!
If you get the pre-bent elbows they sell,you wont need a bender!(I dont own one!)...any angles the elbows are "wrong" for you can compensate for by cutting them at the right angle and welding the peices together!---I used chain link fence corner posts on one bar I built--I later learned it comes in schedule 40 as well,just like plumbing pipe--its pretty beefy,and you can get 3" size fairly cheap too!....its my favorite exhaust pipe lately--takes 5 years for it to rot out!
I saw one light bar a guy made from that type of tubing using some malleable cast iron things made to use with pipes to build stair railings,shelves,and other things,they accept the pipe and have an allen head setscrew to tighten down and pinch the pipe to hold it together...not somthing I'd trust as a roll bar ,but it was plenty sufficient for his lights,and he didn't have to weld anything!...W.W.Grainger sells those fittings--but they are pricey,they come in many styles..he got his from an old railing a contractor took down off a local school building..free!
