My welding skills suck so I haven't bothered getting a bender yet. However, I have seen inexpensive benders at Northern Tool and Harbor Freight - not all of them come with a 1 3/4" die but my guess is that they can be ordered(?). A lot of guys just tote their tubes to a local muffler shop for bending.

 

Unless you plan on using thin wall pipe, which I wouldn't recommend, I don't think there is an affordable bender. Well unless you find used or have a different view of affordable then I do.

 

For a good bender check out JD2 or JD Squared. Stay away from the harbor freight benders they will stretch and kink the tubing in tight bends.

 

jd2 model 32.

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I take back what I said, Northern does have a couple to look at, I'd opt for one with air/hydraulics.

 

Hey guys thanks for the replies. Sorry I just got back from the Jeff Dunham show in Wichita Kansas, it was awesome! Anyways, if you go to Affordable Tube Benders, tube notchers, metal fabrication welding you will see their bender. It costs $299 plus about $40 for shipping. It is real similar to the "speedway " bender. I am thinking if I bought the bender I could also make me a prerunner brush guard bumper and maybe some doors for my ranger. I will add a picture of something similar to what I want to build. And also, those 1 3/4 split clamps that you can weld a tube to are so expensive, I mean $35 a piece plus shipping. Any advice of those would be appreciated too. I want to do this as economically as possible, but I don't want it to look ******* either. (Not that there is anything wrong with *******, just not my thing...)

 

I am thinking something like this is what I am wanting...

 

Not to bad of bender, I might replace jack with air/hydraulics but I'm getting lazy in my old age. $35 is not bad for the joints, lot's of machining involved, if you had your own Bridgeport you could do it cheaper, but still would take some time.

 

What type of tubing do you plan to use? that bender says it will only bend up to .095" wall DOM tube, and most use .120 wall for roll protection.. If you plan to use HREW, it says it will bend up to .134".. so you should be good there.

 

Also, I have the Harbor Freight "pipe bender" and it doesn't work very well.. I added some tube to my factory Jeep cage, and on the HF bender, you have to grind the die for 1-1/4" pipe to fit the 1.75" tube, then it starts to deform the tube after about 20° bend. There's absolutely no way to make a 90° bend on it neatly...

 

Get the cheap 16 ton press from harbour freight and use pipe instead of tubing. The one from their isnt for bending tubing.

 

I bought some 1 3/4" od tubing I believe it is .065 wall. I do have a harbor freight pipe bender, and it is surely a tubing kinked. I have thought about going to 1 1/2" pipe .120 wall for strength. Still debating. Also, the tubing clamps are probably not a bad deal so I will most likely buy 2 of those.

 

Id use pipe. Itll still have strength

 

There is a difference between pipe and tubing, don't use pipe. The HF bender is a pipe bender and it bends pipe decent, it bends tubing poorly. Buy the tubing, figure out what you need bent and swing it by a local place that builds race cars or 4x4s and they should be able to bend it for you for fairly cheap. When I built mine for my rhino I kept it on a budget and only did 4 bends and the guy did it for me for $30 IIRC.
I don't know what your budget is but contact Offroad Powersports in Tifton GA. I just got my rear cage and seat on sale for $600 and they had a few left

The one I built for the Rhino, with the tubing, bends, seats and seat belts I had under $300 in it, doing all the work myself with the exception of bending the tubing.

And the one on my Ranger I got for $600 including the seat and two lap belts.

 

So today I called a muffler shop that put my flowmaster on my Yukon, and told the guy what I was wanting to do. Eight bends total, 4 90's, 2 45's, and 2 30's. And ask for an estimate. He tells me about $30. Damn! That is cheap! If I knew that I would have had this cage done already! So I take a piece for him to test bend. The attached picture shows the 90 degree bend he did. The other bend on that piece is a bend I did with a cheap harbor freight pipe bender. On the bend I did you can see how it kinked the pipe and distorted ot. On the 90 degree bend there is a little distortion, but not bad. I am heading back to the muffler shop Wednesday morning to get this tubing bent. I will post some pictures as this progresses.... Wish me luck! Oh, and Happy VD day everyone!

 

Ok. So I got the pipe all bent up some time back, I got some of it cut and welded. I have not had time to take pictures, but I will try to post some tomorrow. The weather here has been bad with the snow and the cold. Tomorrow is suppose to be decent so I will hit it in the morning. Also, I have been thinking about a plywood top when the cage extension is done, so I called menards and they can get me a piece of 1/2 inch plywood 5' X 8' for about $35 plus about $15 extra for shipping. I will probably go that route. Feel free to post any thoughts or ideas. Thanks!

 

Although plywood will work, you might consider something that won't rust or rot, like a sheet of aluminum or plastic.

 

Definitely post pics when you're done. I am kind of stuck on what to do for a roof also, since its 5 ft wide, most places don't carry anything 5' wide just 4x8 stuff.

 

Maybe if you could get marine grade plywood, wood would be good sound deadening.
I'm going to use aluminum tread plate but thinking about mounting it inside of the cage, all's I want is little cover to keep the sun off maybe a little rain besides might keep it from getting dinged on the edges. What do you think??

 

.....but thinking about mounting it inside of the cage,......

Outside is not only easier, but will allow you to stand on top of it as well. I use mine to prune the hedges and pressure wash the house. I'll let the wife drive while I stay on top and move from place to place.....makes the job go much quicker.

 

What is your hourly rate for your house washing services?:emmersed:
Good idea , will have to copy that for trimming the field road trees back.

 

I didn't get to work on the ranger today, my daughter got sick at school. I guess that is the perks of being a single Dad. Wouldn't trade it for the world!

So on the plywood I was thinking I would treat it, then use some kind of bedliner or under coating. It doesn't rain much here, and my ranger is garages when not being used.

Jerry, good idea using the ranger for chores.....

 

One can bend tubing with a HF bender.....just have to pack the tubing with sand.

 

I have the HF bender, and I tried the sand trick, and could not produce the results from the videos.. once it hits about 20-30 degrees it starts to flatten out... It is a little better looking with the sand than without, but not worth the hassle to me..

 

drifted...I had seen some videos of packing the pipe with sand, but for $35 to have a muffler shop bend the tubing seemed a lot easier. Sorry I haven't posted pictures. Been busy with work and my daughter was sick a couple of days last week. I am making progress slowly. Maybe by spring I will gt this cage and top done.

 

Finally got the cage done!

 

Very nice!