exo cage

[gonefishin]

i am kinda new to the site i have never posted before but i have a couple questions

i am getting ready to start and exo on my 89 k5 i know for it to be strong i need to cross brace it on the inside of the cab to help in a roll over but how do i seal up the holes is there some kind of rubber grommet to keep water out as i do drive it on the street about once a week or so and it sits uncovered

that is the main hold up on me building it is not wanting open holes in my roof

also i have found some benders in the 400 dollar price range with the die but will only do up to 1 3/4 tubing is that big enough or should i go with the 650 dollar one that will do 2 inch and if i went 2 inch could i get away with hrew instead of dom

i have searched and looked for days lol there is almost to much info to look through



thank you in advance

 

[shady]

You should be fine with 1 3/4 dom. Thats what drag cars are legal with all the way into sub 10's. But personally I'd go with 2" dom. Its real hard to put a price on your safety or the safety of your passengers. As for going through the roof. Cut 3-4" discs out of sheet metal or flat stock. Put a 1 3/4 hole in the middle. Then split half of em. Put your tube through a disc, then through the hole in the roof into position and tack the disc to the tube. Pull it back out and weld it all around. Then when you put it back in permanetly you can silicone under the disc or use rubber. Then inside put another split disc up drill holes in the 2 haves through the top side and bolt it down tight. Hope this helped

 

[Stomis]

I cant wait to follow this. Please post lots of pictures.

As far as the HREW vs DOM debacle. DOM is no doubt stronger than HREW in a given structure IE a cage. BUT I have read that when it comes to rubbing trees and smacking rocks HREW is actually less likely to dimple or crater. I dont know how true that is but I remember reading a thread on pirate last year about dents in a DOM hoop that was replaced with HREW and the HREW stood up 100 times better.

If your on a budget I wouldnt look past perhaps making a DOM roll bar in the cab area on the inside and using HREW for all the exo. Myself I plan on using HREW for a few reasons, the price being one and the fact that I have a pipe bender and tube benders are spendy.

Just dont forget. Theres ALOT of places in the world where DOM just isnt available. Most of Australia being one and guys build and beat the **** out of HREW tubed trucks all the time.

 

[gonefishin]

thanks for the input

well i have decided to go with 1 3/4 dom for the cage should i use that for my rock sliders too or should i use 2x3 rectangle for that and how do you attach it to my frame do i just weld it or should i weld it to a plate and bolt the plate

 

[Stomis]

thanks for the input

well i have decided to go with 1 3/4 dom for the cage should i use that for my rock sliders too or should i use 2x3 rectangle for that and how do you attach it to my frame do i just weld it or should i weld it to a plate and bolt the plate

I would use some rectangle tube welded in place of the rockers then make tube sliders off of that.

As far as mounting to the frame I'd bolt it with plates.

 

[gonefishin]

do you got any pics of what that looks like or something i can look at to build off of