My 86 K5 build

[Kay86K5]

What tubing did you end up going with? Same as your sliders and bumpers?

No, my sliders and front bumper are made from Sch. 40 pipe bent with a HR kinker. Sch. 40 is measured by the inner diameter. The outer is just smaller than 2" (1.9 IIRC), so I could not use that type of pipe in the bender I am using. I am using 2", .120 wall HREW tube for the cage (and that is what I used for the tubes off the rear bumper too).

Also, are you going back into the passenger compartment at all?

Yeah, I am going to finish the front half completely first, then move on to the rear. I have some ideas in my head for the rear. We will see what I end up doing

 

[GWeakland620]

No, my sliders and front bumper are made from Sch. 40 pipe bent with a HR kinker. Sch. 40 is measured by the inner diameter. The outer is just smaller than 2" (1.9 IIRC), so I could not use that type of pipe in the bender I am using. I am using 2", .120 wall HREW tube for the cage (and that is what I used for the tubes off the rear bumper too).



Yeah, I am going to finish the front half completely first, then move on to the rear. I have some ideas in my head for the rear. We will see what I end up doing

I have the same tubing to use as well, I just need to get a bender and some motivation

Are you thinking of going all the way to the rear of the tub? Or just bring it down at an angle behind the rear seat?

 

[Kay86K5]

I have the same tubing to use as well, I just need to get a bender and some motivation

Are you thinking of going all the way to the rear of the tub? Or just bring it down at an angle behind the rear seat?

I will probably have it connect at the floor at the rear of the tub, but it won't have a hoop that far back. I have seen some cages where they basically do a similar hoop (like what I did behind the seats) at the back of the tub and just connect them with a straight tube on either side. I am not a big fan of that. I will try and make it a little more stylish than that. I was thinking maybe another larger halo off the back too, then with tubes off that going down to the floor. I am kinda winging this as I go ....while looking at a lot of pics of other rigs for reference

 

[Kevmohara]

Mo tube mo better just curious why you went with 2" and what it's costing if you don't mind?

 

[Kay86K5]

Mo tube mo better just curious why you went with 2" and what it's costing if you don't mind?

Thanks. I originally wanted to go with 1.75" .120 wall HREW, but I was forced a little bit to go with 2" because of the bender I got to borrow. My buddy that I borrowed it from did 2" DOM on his K5, so he already had that die and didn't have a die for 1.75". So that would have ment I would have had to buy a die (freaking expensive) along with tube. Decided 2" was fine with me. It's a little big inside the cab, but not too bad. Plus, now it matches the size of the rest of the tube I have on my rig too.

Since you are in CO, I purchased from C&M metal off Santa Fe and Hampden (by Corvett's only). They sell them in 20' sticks and they are $45 a stick. So a heck of a lot cheaper than DOM for sure.

 

[Kay86K5]

It was freaking cold today, but wanted to take advantage of having a day off of work. Got quite a bit done on the front half of the cage.

Got some kick bars in



Added a dash bar (that took longer than anticipated cause I had to put a couple slight bends in each end to keep it away from the shifter). And bought a stick of 1" .120 wall tube for bracing.



Some bracing up top. This one was probably my best bend/notch. It turned out perfect

And some misc pics











I just have to build the connecting tubes underneath that connect to the slider tubes and then I will finish weld the entire front.....then on to the rear

 

[82355]

Putting a bar behind your seats?

Martin

 

[Kay86K5]

Putting a bar behind your seats?

Martin

I will eventually. But I think I want to wait until I purchase some bucket seats and make mounts for those seats. For the time being I will leave that part off. But yes it will happen in the future

 

[82355]

That is how my roll (or flop I guess) happened. Seat back broke.

Martin

 

[GWeakland620]

That is how my roll (or flop I guess) happened. Seat back broke.

Martin

Haha, that has always been a fear of mine.....

Guess that's something plus size men worry about

 

[Kay86K5]

That is how my roll (or flop I guess) happened. Seat back broke.

Martin

Haha, that has always been a fear of mine.....

Guess that's something plus size men worry about

Yeah, that's why i would like to have one eventually, but since I am only 5'8" and ~170lbs, I'm not as worried about it. It will be there eventually, but I want to wait until I get some seats and find exactly where I want that bar located behind the seats

 

[swettysblazer]

That is how my roll (or flop I guess) happened. Seat back broke.

Martin

Every time I am doing a hill climb in my truck I think of you and this happening... I have a death grip on the steering wheel just for that reason

 

[82355]

Haha, that has always been a fear of mine.....

Guess that's something plus size men worry about

Mostly it was because I was on such a severe angle, that when it started wheel hopping, all of my weight was against the back of the seat, not the bottom. It actually broke the recline mechanism.

Martin

 

[Kay86K5]

I know some of these updates seem small and worthless, but I wanted to update this as I progress instead of waiting until the end to upload a crap load of pics. But did a little more bracing on the front half of the cage.





And I also made my bracing down to my sliders which connect back to the frame





So this means the entire from half is done and tacked in. So the next work will be to fully weld it all in before I move on to the rear half.

 

[Ten_Bucks]

Just wanted to say congrats on your rig making it into the new issue of Petersen's 4 Wheel & Off Road magazine. Bottom right hand corner of page 21.

Scott

 

[Kay86K5]

Just wanted to say congrats on your rig making it into the new issue of Petersen's 4 Wheel & Off Road magazine. Bottom right hand corner of page 21.

Scott

Thanks! Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. I sent in that picture forever ago and actually forgot that I sent it in. Pretty cool though.

Not much of an update, but I was able to finish weld the entire front portion of my cage. I am planning to do a little more grinding and then get some paint on it. Then on to the rear.

Here is a pic of my rig in the magazine

 

[skunked]

Awesome

 

[jekquistk5]

Awesome response in the "anything to add"

 

[Kay86K5]

Been a while since I updated. My brother came into town and we decided to take the blazer and all of our kids somewhere close. We went to RAM offroad park in CO Springs. It's not a very big park but was still fun with our 4 boys all 4 and under. Had some fun lines to try out. Here are some random pics of the trip:

 

[Kay86K5]

Also had some time to get work done on the back half of my rig







bracing underneath that connects with my rear bumper



additional bracing up top