Roll cage for a 72 blazer?

[LUBA]

What size DOM tubing should I get? I plan on building a decent family cage and tie it into the frame. I am building a bender and was wondering what size dies and tube I should buy? I was thinking 2 or 1.75 for the mains and 1.5 for the connectors? Also about how many feet of tube will i need? I plan on mounting my seats and rear bench to the cage too.

 

[bp71k5]

The amount of feet you need will depend on how extensive it is, but they used about 100ft. of 1-3/4" DOM for mine. No seat tie-ins on mine though.

 

[LUBA]

Thanks

 

[Big Blzn]

I have 2" tube and is just a basic 6 point cage. Not sure on the feet though.

 

[Greg72]

I've used both 2" and 1.75" DOM for cages, and personally I prefer the tighter radius and overall look of the 1.75"...

Plan on somewhere between 100' and 200' for the cage. Nobody wants to estimate based on mistakes or wasted tubing, but the fact is that unless you've built a lot of cages before, you will overbend some tubes or will rotate them the wrong way when doing a multi-axis bend.

I've used about 160' so far including the rear swinggate and front engine cradle and a 6-point cage with minimal triangulation (so far).

 

[LUBA]

I've used both 2" and 1.75" DOM for cages, and personally I prefer the tighter radius and overall look of the 1.75"...

Plan on somewhere between 100' and 200' for the cage. Nobody wants to estimate based on mistakes or wasted tubing, but the fact is that unless you've built a lot of cages before, you will overbend some tubes or will rotate them the wrong way when doing a multi-axis bend.

I've used about 160' so far including the rear swinggate and front engine cradle and a 6-point cage with minimal triangulation (so far).

So you used all 1 size for each cage?

 

[70jimmy]

Mine is all 2 inch and used 150 feet and alot of gussetts, rectangular etc, that does include the tube on the front bumper and sliders.

 

[LUBA]

Mine is all 2 inch and used 150 feet and alot of gussetts, rectangular etc, that does include the tube on the front bumper and sliders.

I actually have a pic of yours and I really like it and may duplicate it? Did you bend it yourself?

 

[70jimmy]

It was bent my Hartley truck and tubing and yes I did bend some of it myself, all done with handjacking hydraulic bender.

 

[LUBA]

It was bent my Hartley truck and tubing and yes I did bend some of it myself, all done with handjacking hydraulic bender.

How is the access to the rear seats with yours? Do your seat flip up or anything?

 

[rdn2blazer]

I think I have about 170' in mine and I'm close to done . I used all 2" DOM except for the seat bridge and some of the triangulation. I also used 1 1/4 DOM for my Aluminum dash build. Link to my cage build. I still need to tie to the frame, and build the rear seat brackets and a rear seatbelt tube. I based my cage build on some sort of spec. Score rules say anything over 4000 lbs MUST use 2" X .120 1020 or higher grade DOM, or Chromoly ofcourse but thats for the high dollar race guys, or guys with fat wallets which ain't me.


http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229674

 

[LUBA]

I think I will go with 2" DOM tube then.

 

[70jimmy]

Mine has a rectangle that you walk thru for access, none of my seats fold. there are vertical bars just to the inside of the driver and passenger seat and a bar that goes across the floor (driver side to passenger side) so you have to step over the two inch bar and duck a little under the top bar and walk thru.

I am 6'1 and 250 and do it no problem. access thru the side is limited to what can fit thru the bars.

I usually get in the passenger side to get to the back so I don't have to deal with the steering wheel. If you do a search for cages or just look at my photos in the library you will see plenty of pics with the cage in and out.

 

[LUBA]

Where are your pics? I searched your old posts,but the pics are not there anymore?

Mine has a rectangle that you walk thru for access, none of my seats fold. there are vertical bars just to the inside of the driver and passenger seat and a bar that goes across the floor (driver side to passenger side) so you have to step over the two inch bar and duck a little under the top bar and walk thru.

I am 6'1 and 250 and do it no problem. access thru the side is limited to what can fit thru the bars.

I usually get in the passenger side to get to the back so I don't have to deal with the steering wheel. If you do a search for cages or just look at my photos in the library you will see plenty of pics with the cage in and out.

 

[LUBA]

Nevermind I found your pics. That cage is truely awesome. Can you still use a hard top with it? Your seat mount tubes are those 2" also? And is there anything you would have done different or addes to your cage? Thanks for all the help/info. I will be bending my own cage and I think I will copy yours.

 

[ryoken]

the majority of mine is 2" .120 DOM.... the seat bars are 1.75... my console is 1.5

when I get the back done, I'll be around 200' total.....

 

[70jimmy]

Can you still use a hard top with it? "Nope, but I purposely put the bars above the windshield frame to offer some protection to it in the event of a rollover and give extra headroom. I use a safari top and a full soft top for winter built by a local upholstery shop. I still want to add a taller wider stinger to the front bumper so it will hit on that and the cage in the event of a rollover.


Your seat mount tubes are those 2" also? the rear seat mount is on the the 2 inch tubes and I used tube rings from DIY4x for those mounts and to mount the belts. The front seats are mounted using the seat mounts so the seats could be slid forward and rearward for different height people, those mount straight down using 4 bolts so we took 1" by 2" rectangular and spanned it between the side bars and I put an extra piece to the front of the seats for additional support. The mounts are mounted to some 1/4 flat bar that is welded on top of the rectangular.

And is there anything you would have done different or addes to your cage? I would have added oh my god bars to assist in getting in and some bars up high for the passenger to grab onto and on the bar in front of the passenger to hold on to. or you can do the handlebar thing on a receiver in front of the passenger. These could be done out of smaller diameter that is easier to hold onto than the 2". I like that better than the soft grab handles that in the case of a roll you could smash the top of your hands.

I love my tire carrier, however hoisting a 37" up there isn't something I wanna do repeatedly, I would look at a flip down carrier, and incorporate high lift and extra driveshaft mounts.

I highly recommend DIY 4x for the tube rings, gussetts, tabs, and especially he staked cage floor plates.

Thanks for all the help/info. I will be bending my own cage and I think I will copy yours.[/QUOTE] Feel free to copy

 

[rdn2blazer]

Nevermind I found your pics. That cage is truely awesome. Can you still use a hard top with it? Your seat mount tubes are those 2" also? And is there anything you would have done different or addes to your cage? Thanks for all the help/info. I will be bending my own cage and I think I will copy yours.

Not sure who your asking but YES I can use my hard top and I still meet SCORE rules head clearence distances by a good amount. My seat tubes are 1 3/4 X .120 DOM. Only thing I would ahve done different was instalation of certain tubes. Some thing have a sequence of installation. IF you don't do it a certain way and you weld some tubes in you weld yourself into a corner. I'm pretty happy with it, nothing I would do different to this point. I did not waste a single piece of tube building my cage. My machinist experience helped a ton with calculations. I did not use bend tech soft ware. Did all the bending manually.