TheSamba.com :: View topic - Sand rail identification <LOTS O PICS> turboblue

Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:55 pm

howdy yall. just scored this rail for free today, and was just wondering what model it might be. not sure if it is origional or not, but i'm pretty sure the rear was hacked off, or modified in some way, as the straight bars going down from the roof, to the bottm, seem out of place, but i may be wrong. i have a 952 berrien rail at home and see alot of similarities (the way the front floor bars are, the way the upper side bars are bent and made (the one you'd lean your arm on while driving), the gas tank mounts, and a few other things). here's some pics:

Any idea on an exact model?

Thanks
-Mike

Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:26 am

Oh and i posted turboblue, because he is the one who identified my other rail as a 952 berrien, so i'm guessing he's the resident rail identification guru, lol. Thanks in advance.

Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:34 am

It's looks home made.
All the bends I can see were made on a muffler/pipe bender style machine.

See how the tubing kind of sinks in at the bends?
Dead give-away............ :)

Don't know how those tree bars were bent though........ :wink:

Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:20 am

Ahh, gotcha. What are tree bars? sorry for the newbish questions, but i'm fairly new to the rail terminology, lol. thanks tho. i appreciate it. :D

Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:26 am

also, do you think the bottom part of the rail, might have been from a factory buggy? or that too? i ask because it looks so much like my berrien, and also it seems there were some modifications done. for example, if you lok at my first pic. look at the coke crate leaning against that barrel. then look about an inch to the left of it, where the angled tube is (the shifter is going over it in the pic). on the top part of the angled tube, you can see where a vertical support was, and someone had cut it at an angle to kinda match the diagonal tube. you can see where they cut this bar off, on the top, and on the bottom you can see where they grinded it smoothe. not sure why they cut this bar off. its raining really bad now, but i'll try to see if i can see any pipebender crushing on the bottom part anywhere. i can see pipe bender crushing on the top roof, and all the other add on stuff (side bars, etc.). The pics weren't the best, lol.

Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:15 pm

I'm liking the winch fairway mounted to the beam. That's not only a good fit but a great place mount the winch inside. I wanted to mount one to front but was thinking it would have to be outside the frame.

Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:02 pm

i thought it was pretty cool too. tho why the hell would i need a winch, if i get stuck, i'll just lift the car out, lol :lol: . but yeah, i might get one later on, but for now, just tryin to get it running.

I checked it out today, and the top foor, and windshield, all have pipebender crushing on the bends, but the bottom part (floor, and upper rail), are all clean bends with no crushing on the bends, so i'm thinking that was made by a manufacturer at some point.

also, i think the inside may be a little wider then my 952 berrien. it seems like the inside rails are a little farther apart then the 952. perhaps someone bought a knockdown kit, and made their own modifications? or maybe they simply rolled over the buggy, or just didn't like how low it prolly was, and made the roof higher. either way, i'm liking how tall it is. lots of headroom for my fat ass, lol. my 952 only has about 2 inches of headroom, with thin fiberglass seats bolted right to the floor. this one has way more.

Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:39 am

If that frame has sat outside for very long it is very likely it's rusting from the inside out.
Water will work it's way into the chassis tubes through all the holes I see..
Sometimes it will even freeze and split the tubing if it can collect in there.
I wouldn't trust the cage since it was obviously replaced and bent by the wrong method.
Don't see any diagonal bracing either.
Pretty important to have that in place, especially on a tall buggy.
Be real careful with that one Mike.

Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:59 am

turboblue wrote: If that frame has sat outside for very long it is very likely it's rusting from the inside out.
Water will work it's way into the chassis tubes through all the holes I see..
Sometimes it will even freeze and split the tubing if it can collect in there.
I wouldn't trust the cage since it was obviously replaced and bent by the wrong method.
Don't see any diagonal bracing either.
Pretty important to have that in place, especially on a tall buggy.
Be real careful with that one Mike.

Ahh, i see. actually on the other buggy you helped me identify, i noticed on the rear bars, that go over the motor, each one has a split, in almost the same spot as each other. water might have gotten in there at some point, and expended it. And its been raining for the past few weeks, so i might be in trouble :shock: .

Besides flipping over the rail to get the water out, what would be the best way to get all that water out from inside the tubes? can i just take a propane tourch to the bars and let the water steam out? i don't care about the paint, as its pretty ugly, and i plan to repaint it. Also if i do get the red one running, it will only be used around the house to move or haul stuff. and maybe one day in the future, i might use it to go down the street, but thats unlikely. but for now, it will bearly see 2nd gear, let alone 3rd. i'll prolly weld in some X bracing here and there just in case as well, on this one, and the 952.