What tube size for bullbars

[olielux]

hey guys have decided to have a go at making my bullbars as the ones I want are abot two grand, and I miss my welder.

Just wanting to know what sort of tube people have used, am thinking abot 2 inch diameter would be a good size?

[coxsy]

42mm id is about right ARB bars are thin wall pipe heness that why they deform when they have a good hit

[Clint]

42 ID 3mm wall was what I used I think. If you get a std pipe size you can bend it with std dies in a dirty ol pipe bender plus buy tighter pre-made bends, giving you a few more design options.

Cheers
Clint

[olielux]

do you find the 3mm sting enough and how hard was it to work with?

Am wanting to do a sort of copy of an XROX bar but with headlight hoops, have just ordered a new cheep winch for it that will eventually end up under the deck and replaced with a better one after the ute chop

cheers

[De-Ranged]

depends on the truck its going on, how much "muppet" the driver has in him, intended use and what sort of look you are after

I've built bars with everything from 25 Nom through to 75 Nom pipe.... generaly the bigger the truck the bigger the pipe (it was a whale that I fitted the 3" pipe too lol) I used to tell people who wanted bar work to look on the net at what you like and I would tweek it for there trucks based on what I thought of them and there driving style

3mm is plenty strong enough if you have diameter

[Clint]

Good advice above!

This is my setup:



They have been plenty strong, taken a few good hits right on the end without bending. Only as good as what they are welded to of course - my uprights are 10mm plate & I think I put some slugs through them to support the upper 2 bars. The bends are pre-made ones as you can't go very tight with a pipe bender. It's easy stuff to weld.

Cheers
Clint

[olielux]

thanks for all the help guys, there going on my 80 series landcruiser and will eventually end up attached to side rails down to rocksliders and to the deck so was thinking 2 inch would(46mm) would work for everything,

I might have to start a build thread as there is a lot planned for it

[derk]

50mm is pretty hard to work with if your planning on putting it through a bender, don't try and over engineer your bulbar too much a bit of impact absorption (ie bending ) is a good thing a bulbar is easier to fix and deal with than a bent or twisted chassis

[olielux]

Thanks guys bulbar is built and mounted on truck, just need to get it dirty and test out the winch