Fun with a pipe bender!!

durangotang · **Posted:** Thu May 03, 2007 6:01 pm

Well I have 4 days off from work starting tommorrow. I just bought a nice pipe bender so the next few days are nothing but bending and welding.

To do list:

Front bumper
Fender Flares
Rock Rails
Rear bumper
Roof Rack

haha if I even get one of them fab'd up and tacked I'll be happy. :roll:

I'll post pics as (lack of)progress is made.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Thu May 03, 2007 10:57 pm

durangotang wrote:

Well I have 4 days off from work starting tommorrow. I just bought a nice pipe bender so the next few days are nothing but bending and welding.

To do list:

Front bumper
Fender Flares
Rock Rails
Rear bumper
Roof Rack

haha if I even get one of them fab'd up and tacked I'll be happy. :roll:

I'll post pics as (lack of)progress is made.

Looking forward to pics of the festivities. Good luck!

durangotang · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 11:07 am

OK I managed to find a site that I can load pics onto haha.

This shows the pipe after it I made the bends and most of the general parts I used.

Here's the rack fully assembled for a test fit.

Test fit #1... No it isn't crooked just looks like it in the pic for some reason.

Another view from the front.

Well now I'm waiting for some epoxy to cure before I paint it and build the wind screen for the front. My welder quit working yesterday and is being repaired at the moment. I took this little project as a chance to show people that you can do this stuff just fine without a welder. This rack is pretty light (about 30lbs?), rustproof, and holds my bodyweight on the roof without any trouble. Once it's done I'll do a full writeup with all the sizes and everything. This took about 3 hours to do and cost me about $23.

Go build something.

durangotang · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 12:00 pm

OK here's 2 more I just took...I'm at work so the lighting is pretty bad. It looks a little crooked because of the angles I chose to go with. The top is slightly narrower than the bottom(about 2") just to make it a little stronger.

waddy whiteguts · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 12:39 pm

Got a closeup of what you used to fasten the tubes together? Is that 1/2" or 3/4" EMT?

durangotang · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 12:55 pm

Yeah I used 3/4" Conduit for the rack. I got a hold of the "clamps" that secure conduit to a wall and hammered them to the shape I wanted. Worked great and it'll all be hidden once I wrap the sides of the rack in sheet metal.

durangotang · **Posted:** Sun May 06, 2007 5:48 pm

Well I decided that the rack wasn't good enough as it sat so I decided to change it up. It howled pretty bad on the initial test run above 65mph. So I'm adding sheet metal sides to it with a grill over the back to allow air to flow through it. A metal windscreen will go in front of it and another grill is behind the windscreen to keep the goodies in.

The rack is upside down in the pic but here's the fairing on one side. The opening to the right of the fairing is where the rear grill/attachment points will be.

Again the rack is upside down but here's the grill on the front that will be behind the windscreen after it was rubberized and painted to match the Jeep. (Don't worry the foam was just there so I didn't cut myself)

I'll let you know how it progresses

Stuhlie · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2007 1:10 am

Nice looking rack you have made there! that gives me some ideas for one my self someday

spencevans · **Posted:** Sat May 12, 2007 12:00 am

I can't wait to see the fenders.

durangotang · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 4:56 pm

OK so the rack is finally done.

Here's a pic of it on the Jeep.

Here's the finished product on the garage floor. Like the bike? Oh yes.....

Now onto the wind fairing with some lights and whatnot....oh joy

kolesy · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 6:05 pm

Not to shabby man! I am not really a fan of the blue though.

durangotang · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 9:32 pm

The blue looks good on the back but I think the front would be better gray like the sheet metal. Maybe I'll just hide it behind the windscreen haha

kolesy · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 9:50 pm

durangotang wrote:

The blue looks good on the back but I think the front would be better gray like the sheet metal. Maybe I'll just hide it behind the windscreen haha

There ya go!

meh_kick · **Posted:** Mon May 21, 2007 10:21 am

Is there a reason why the rack is only half the size of the rails? To me it would look a little better (and of course hold more stuff) if it were longer.

Otherwise, I think I like it.

durangotang · **Posted:** Mon May 21, 2007 11:21 am

The rack is that size for a couple of reasons... #1- It's JUST the right size for me to fit a spare tire (34"), #2- I plan to have bikes on the roof and fork mounts will go behind the wind fairing once that is done. The basket is just the right size to hold the rear tires of the bikes with the front wheels inside it. I've had the large safari racks in the past and quickly realized it became a pain having to secure all of the gear so much inside of it....hence: the smaller and taller rack. I admit it's different but it cost me about $40 so far so no harm if I decide to toss it haha

gatorator · **Posted:** Thu May 24, 2007 10:23 pm

Where did you get the rack rubberized?

durangotang · **Posted:** Mon May 28, 2007 8:54 pm

I used the stuff made for tool handles that you can get at home depot. I just poured it into a flat tray lined with plastic and dipped the whole thing until it had good coverage.

gatorator · **Posted:** Mon May 28, 2007 10:10 pm

How well does it hold up?

durangotang · **Posted:** Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:20 pm

The rack or the rubber stuff...I weigh 185 and I can stand in the rack. The roof rails on the Jeep don't seem to happy about it but I had to try it. THe rubber stuff.... not too sure how it holds up. I've driven about 500 test miles with the rack on there and no signs of wear anywhere...just need to plug some ends.... she starts to make some noise above 70mph

durangotang · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2007 12:07 am

Well I just finished my most recent addition to the roof rack. I added the cross rails today as well as attaching my bike racks on as well. It all looks pretty good and the roof stuff is almost done. I just need to get the lights taken care of sometime in the near future then that part will be all finished. Any thoughts so far?

Fun with a pipe bender!!

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