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Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:11 am

I'm looking for a creative solution for a fabrication problem:

I'm working on fabricating a full cage. Front and rear hoops are done, tied together so far only on the top with two bars above the tunnel and to the lift kit at the bottom.

Moving on to the sides, I've got room for about half of the diameter of a 1 1/2" piece of .120 wall DOM tubing to go between the seats and the inside of my buggy body on each side. To accomplish that, I could notch the tubing and box it. I would then have enough room to get it past the seats. Not real crazy about that idea for obvious reasons, mostly that I would be putting a lot of work into something only to make it weaker.

I think I am going to go over the top of the "door" sill with the tubing, as I could use a step there anyway. The body is high enough off the ground that anyone but a basketball player would need a stepladder to get in. I want the cage to be removable, so that means I can't have tubing passing through holes in the body on the sides in order to put the tubing under the door sill.

I've monkeyed around with some stiff wire as a pattern, but really haven't come up with anything that both serves a structural purpose and looks good. I've poked around here looking for a few pics but haven't found anything that was applicable. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:03 pm

You might be better to squash the tubing to an oval shape rather than cut & box it.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:33 am

Go thru the body and use flanges to fasten the tubes together.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:33 am

That seems to be a prevailing problem on buggies with Beard or other offroad style seats. Pics would help. Can you bend the tubing and dive under the seat rim? I was able to get the tubing bent so that it went forward just under the widest part of the seat and it worked fine.
Bill

Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:54 am

May not be as strong as round tubing but how about rectangulat tubing like 1X2 turned up on it's side? You can bend it the "ol' school" way by packing it with DRY sand and heating it a bit.

Other than that, flanging the main hoops and having a bolt-on side bar outside of the body is all I can imagine.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:00 am

If you did a bolt on side bar like John said, it could
be extended out away from the body like a nerf bar.
It would also act as a step.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:47 am

Here's a picture.

I will have nerf bars attached to the lift kit, but what I am talking about is a bar that will go along the top of the door sill between the front and rear hoop. Same problem with a flanged and bolted attachment..no room for flanges, large holes in the side of the body required to run it underneath to the outside.

Placement up high and inside is important because it's day to day function will be as a second step, the first one being the nerf bar at the floor pan/lift kit level, this one being at about the door sill. The top of the door sill is over 3' off the ground, so you can't really step into the car unless you are Wilt the Stilt. Of course some side impact protection is it's primary purpose. The lift kit is stout, but that is of course at floorboard level. Since this picture was taken, overhead bars between the front and rear hoops have been added.

I've got some 1x3 box tube that I can look at using, The complicated part of the bending would be at the rear hoop, which has a narrower track than the front hoop. Hadn't thought about squashing the tube...I'll try that on a throwaway piece and see how it goes.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Scott C

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:06 am

what if you run it over the seat bolster and once your clear of the seat have it dip down and follow the body line to connect to the front hoop. so there would be about a foot of visible tubing on each side?

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:26 am

I have a few smaller people that might be driving the car, so the clearance along the side has to go forward quite a distance before it can duck inside. If the seat was fixed it would be rather clean and even simple, but of course, that's why it won't work.

I can make something with my tubing bender that has a rather compounded bend close to the rear hoop, but the stuff I have dummied up with wire doesn't really float my boat. I think I just need to bite the bullet and take 5' of tubing and start bending until I see something that both works and doesn't look funky. Perhaps a cutoff 90 up front to attach to the front hoop and get the tube out over the body at an angle, then another bend upward to follow the body with another 90 at the top of that to attach to the cage.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I'm sure I'll end up using a bit of each of them in some sort of "frankentube" type thing.

Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:22 pm

is it possible to move the seats further inward?

Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:32 am

Tunnel gets in the way.

Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:19 am

why not use a smaller but thicker tube?

Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:00 am

wythac wrote: I think I just need to bite the bullet and take 5' of tubing and start bending until I see something that both works and doesn't look funky.

If it was me, I thing that I'd build a mockup out of something cheap,
like conduit, before a used tubing. That way if you screw it up, it's
not going to cost you a bunch of money. Just an opinion.

Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:53 pm

First post on the thread, I mentioned mocking it up with wire to get the shape, but at some point, I'll have to do it with the real thing. I won't be back on this until October now...too many other things going on for any quality buggy build time. That will give me some time to think and to try to incorporate/ponder/use the suggestions made here.
I have some 1x3 rectangular tube which might work the best, but I really should go to the metal supplier and look at the racks until I see the UCD (Universal Compensating Device) that I am looking for. I think when I get back on this if I pull up a chair and stare at it for awhile, it won't be the puzzler that it seems to be to me now.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:10 pm

I think the fram inside the body using flanges is the best idea. You could actually make flanged pieces coming of the front and center hoops and have them bolt right through the body sides. make a bar that rund under turned edge of the body and you could even glass it in so as to tie the body to it not have to play around with it but only once for the initial fab work.
Might even be able to run your wiring through it as well if your really creative.

Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:31 am

I always thought if I get one with side pods, I'd use the kind like on stock cars that are bent outward. If you don't want that drastic, don't notch squash or bend the tube, either use smaller tube or flat box tube cut flush against the outside of the hoop bar.

Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:57 am

I'll be back on this project this next week. I have some 1x3 rectangular tube I am going to look at first...even that will require a dogleg in it, I am afraid, in which case I doubt that it would add more weight than structure.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:50 am

I am hoping to do this.

I plan on having a side bar that will go to the outside of the body, but will be concealed by the side rail of the body.

Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:28 pm

Nice drawing. Planning on welding or flanging it? I definitely prefer your design from the standpoint of aesthetics.

Unfortunately,part of the function of mine will be as a step...The side of the buggy is quite a ways off the ground, and I'm not wanting anyone stepping/standing on the sill to get into the car. I'd rather have them step on something I can touch up with a can of Derusto black. I also want to be able to remove the cage and body separately.

Like I said, I'll be giving it the 1000 yard stare this weekend until I come up with something. If I get it fabbed, I'll post pics here.

SC

Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:20 pm

The design will hopfully be removeable. If you look closely at the drawing to the left, you will see that there is a seam line. There will be a captured nut inside the tube, and a bolt will go through the main hoop. I can create a better detail if you can't see what I am invisioning.

You could run the top bar hidden under the side rail, and then so something similar to the lower lateral bar that will extend out to form a step.