roll bar bends

[bluebronco69]

so i have a roll bar, and was looking at the bends, and it is slightly crushed in where they did the bending? is this ok? kinda like when you get an exhaust setup at joes mufflers or something and they crush bend it, but its not crushed really that bad, should i ditch the roll bar, or can i gusset that part or?
thanks

 

[Dusty]

Sounds like they made it on a pipe bender. I'd be suspicious of the safety value of this cage. That is a sign of the poor quality and workmanship that may exist throughout the cage. For instance, the tubing itself may be thin wall, low grade pipe, etc. And the welds may also be as unprofessional as the bends.

Cages should be made of structural tubing, not pipe. They should be bent with a tubing bender, not a pipe bender.

Just my $.02

Dusty

 

[bluebronco69]

ok ill have to check into the rest of the work later, it needed to be cut shorter to fit under a hard top anyways so i was going to cut it shorter and then weld new mounting plates on, so i can look at the tubing then

 

[Apogee]

Even tubing benders like the JD and Pro-Tool will slightly deform the tubes, the degree of which will depend on the tubing and die being used though. Most dies are designed with a specific radius and meant to bend a minimum wall thickness tube so as to minimize distortion and wrinkling. In all of the work I've done with a Pro-Tool bender, I've been impressed by how little distortion there is, even with a 2" x 1/8" tube and a 7" radius die.

Mandrel bends are best, but mandrel benders are big money and involve lots of tooling costs. The die/follower benders do an excellent job for what they cost if you follow their guidelines and stay within the limits of the benders themselves.

Post up some pictures of the cage and I'm sure you'll get more opinions that you'll know what to do with. Some cages should be cut up and scrapped before they kill somebody counting on it to protect them...this may be one of those types of cages.

 

[bluebronco69]

ok well i will get some pictures next time i am at home, since im off at college thats kinda hard
thanks for all the input

 

[welndmn]

Check this out
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html
Here you can see the deformation in the tube, all high quality benders leave a little dent.

This is an exhaust bend, its crushed.