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mad props to tube fab guys...

jekbrown

jekbrown

I am CK5
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holy schnikies. I've been working about 4 hours a day on my K5s cage for the last 4 days and I've hardly even made a dent in my cage project. If you are a newb to tewb and don't have all the bling tools it takes forever to actually get anything done. I'm making slow but sure progress and learning a lot... and enjoying it, but damn is it slooow! ;)

Unlike most web wheelers, I'm actually taking lots of pics along the way so other newbs will be able to see how mine went together. :thumb:

anyway, just wanted to give a nod of respect to you guys who do this stuff all the time. Its not until you try it for yourself that you realize just how tough and time consuming it is. :)

j
 
What are ya' out there bending it over you knee and using JB weld or something?




JK, what are you using to bend it with?

-Avery
 
Yeah, I hear ya. Im almost done with my cage, and it took forever... and mine was pre-bent :doah:. I bought a tubing notcher, and it fell apart the first time I used it. Now Im using a grinder :doah:. Its coming out alright I guess.

Should be done in about a week and a half. (I cant count how many times Ive said that though...)
 
MattK said:
nice! it doesn't hurt it seems you enslave your loved ones to do it for you!:D
Click to expand...

Yeah, child and wife labor is nice. :D My oldest daughter helped a lot too but I don't have any pics of her. Usually when she was helping though we both had our hands full and no way to get a pic.
 
wayne said:
Yeah, child and wife labor is nice. :D My oldest daughter helped a lot too but I don't have any pics of her. Usually when she was helping though we both had our hands full and no way to get a pic.
Click to expand...

I really like that design!

How dare you not have pics of your older daughter....:wink1:
 
wayne said:
I know the feeling. I have almost a week in bending and welding mine.


Dude, I love your cage....
Is there any way you could take some measurements and angles and junk for me? That is the exact design I want. With a little tweeking to make it my own of course;)
Click to expand...
 
SchnorrCS said:
wayne said:
I know the feeling. I have almost a week in bending and welding mine.


Dude, I love your cage....
Is there any way you could take some measurements and angles and junk for me? That is the exact design I want. With a little tweeking to make it my own of course;)
Click to expand...

Actually there is not much to it. Anybody bending a cage should read this and follow it. http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html I am not totally done yet either. I still have to tie it to the frame and want to add some stuff in the back. Eventually I will drop the front bars through the dash too. When finished with my cage, and new bumpers, I will have about $1000.00 in everything.
Click to expand...
 
jekbrown said:
holy schnikies. I've been working about 4 hours a day on my K5s cage for the last 4 days and I've hardly even made a dent in my cage project. If you are a newb to tewb and don't have all the bling tools it takes forever to actually get anything done. I'm making slow but sure progress and learning a lot... and enjoying it, but damn is it slooow! ;)

Unlike most web wheelers, I'm actually taking lots of pics along the way so other newbs will be able to see how mine went together. :thumb:

anyway, just wanted to give a nod of respect to you guys who do this stuff all the time. Its not until you try it for yourself that you realize just how tough and time consuming it is. :)

j
Click to expand...


That's why you are coming over to do my cage in a couple of months :p:
 
randy88k5 said:
I bought a tubing notcher, and it fell apart the first time I used it. Now Im using a grinder :doah:. Its coming out alright I guess.
Click to expand...

dude a chop saw is your friend!
 
damn, i'm getting scared. lol. i was thinking of biting the bullet & buying a chop saw & bender. i think i could save some money since i'd end up spending well over 2K for the cage, bumpers, sliders, etc. get a used bender & material & use a buddies welder, i think it'd be great. thanks for posting the pirate link, i'll be reading that several times over the next week. any suggestions or tips to make my life easier? or should i bite the grenade & pay someone to do it? i'd rather learn to do it myself but is there really that much too it?????
 
RGV72BLAZER said:
damn, i'm getting scared. lol. i was thinking of biting the bullet & buying a chop saw & bender. i think i could save some money since i'd end up spending well over 2K for the cage, bumpers, sliders, etc. get a used bender & material & use a buddies welder, i think it'd be great. thanks for posting the pirate link, i'll be reading that several times over the next week. any suggestions or tips to make my life easier? or should i bite the grenade & pay someone to do it? i'd rather learn to do it myself but is there really that much too it?????
Click to expand...

If you have any skills at all and know how to weld then go for it. I did mine with a Pro Tools 105 bender, Miller 175 mig, Harbor Freight chop saw, and a Harbor Freight tube notcher. I also used my Harbor Freight pipe bender. I actually made the dash bar with it. I bought my floor plates from Kert at DIY4x just to make life a little easier. Once you do a few bends it's not that hard at all. In total I screwed up 1 60" piece of tube. I was bending the front post and bent it backwards because I did not mark the tube for the direction of the bend before tossing it in the bender. I wound up using the straight pieces of that peice though for part of the seat mountings.
 
tools I use: 105HD bender, HF chop saw, Dewalt grinder... lots of levels, squares and magnetic jig thingies. I also have Bendtech 3D. Measuring eleventy billion times... cuting once. So far, I haven't wasted an inch of tube other than what I chop-sawed off for coping. I'm sure I will at some point... but at least it hasn't happened yet. ;)

UYB, as far as doing your cage, I think I'd be to nervous to do someone elses. If I **** up and waste 10' of my own tube... its sort of a "**** happens" and a waste of $25. If I waste someone else's tube... that'd suck. lol!
j
 
thats the only way you will gain the experience to do it yourself is just to do it.
 
Yep tube work is a lot of fun to me.you just have to take your time. After you tube a few trucks you will get the hang of it. then when you actually under stand the tube stretch and all that you dont even need to draw it out or use the fancy programs, that saves TONS of time.

Tip about notching. I to tried the chop saw method, I built about half my truck with it. Did it work? sure but I never got the kind of fitup in the amount of time that I got in my $30 HF notcher. but this may be my fault since I am a perfectionist and if theres a 1/4" gap ill start bending a new piece.
 
ow and another tip for the full tube rigs. The most important piece to have bent perfectly is the B-pillar. PLEASE take your time on this piece since EVRY other piece that gets added to the rig will be based off this.
 
85mudblazin said:
ow and another tip for the full tube rigs. The most important piece to have bent perfectly is the B-pillar. PLEASE take your time on this piece since EVRY other piece that gets added to the rig will be based off this.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Mine is just a little off. My mistake was using the level on the bender itself instead of the die. It was the very first piece I bent after bending the 90* for the tool like it mentions in the Pirate thread. It was also the only piece I laid out on the floor. Everything else just went from measurements from a center line. Like you said once a few bends are made you can pretty well fly through it.
 
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