Need 1 1/2" Steel Tubing!!

**Sambo_Eddo** · #1 01-26-2012, 02:58 PM

I need some 1 1/2" diameter tubing (doesn't have to be exact but something within a 1/4" of that or so. I'm not sure but I thought someone on here had a stock pile or access to steel. I want to do some tube style flat fenders on my Wrangler and instead of buying $100 worth of pre bent tubing on ebay I figured I would challenge myself to doing the entire task on my own. I'm not up to snuff on what the different grades of steel tube are out there but then again I don't plan on rolling this Jeep over either so it doesn't need to be drag race roll cage grade necessarily. I'm sure somebody has done this before or something similar (bumpers maybe) so any help would be apricot shitted. If you have straight bar or some mandrel bent scrap stuff laying around that's close to the diameter I'm in need of that would be even more awesome. I have the sheetmetal supply taken care. This is what I'll be doing the welding on.

**mtownneon** · #2 01-26-2012, 03:06 PM

Call here. Best prices and service in town...

AEDMotorsport.com

**eurobeaner** · #3 01-26-2012, 03:07 PM

Shits weak

**Yamaha** · #4 01-26-2012, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eurobeaner

Shits weak

Project thread needs made

**Sambo_Eddo** · #5 01-26-2012, 05:52 PM

I hate making project threads because I get a new "project" more often then I get new shoes......... and thats literally void of all exaggeration.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #6 01-27-2012, 12:41 PM

ok. I have the tubing priced out from AED for both ERW mild steel as well as chromoly. Both are .095 thickness but obviously the chromoly would be stronger and is a little more expensive. Either one will do and looks like will fit into what I'm wanting to spend. Now I just need to locate some "elbows" since AED does not sell anything but straight tubing. Service Pipe and Supply sells mild steel elbows but they were unsure as to if those could be welded to chromoly. Having never worked this extensively with tubing I do not know either. Any thoughts on that? This is obviously assuming the mild steel "els" are matching diameter to the chromoly tubes. Using a basic mig welder also if that matters. Below is a pic of the bumper I managed to put together using that welder.

**mtownneon** · #7 01-27-2012, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sambo_Eddo

ok. I have the tubing priced out from AED for both ERW mild steel as well as chromoly. Both are .095 thickness but obviously the chromoly would be stronger and is a little more expensive. Either one will do and looks like will fit into what I'm wanting to spend. Now I just need to locate some "elbows" since AED does not sell anything but straight tubing. Service Pipe and Supply sells mild steel elbows but they were unsure as to if those could be welded to chromoly. Having never worked this extensively with tubing I do not know either. Any thoughts on that? This is obviously assuming the mild steel "els" are matching diameter to the chromoly tubes. Using a basic mig welder also if that matters. Below is a pic of the bumper I managed to put together using that welder.

You can weld mild to moly. For what you're doing I'd skip using moly all together and just use mild. The only real advantage to moly over mild ERW or DOM is moly it's slightly lighter per foot than mild. For what you want to do, the weight difference isn't enough to justify the cost. Now with wanting to piece the bar together, remember to choose a heavier wall thickness so you can put a decent chamfer on the end of each piece for proper penetration. Also make sure you use some tubing that will fit snugly inside the tube to use as sleeves to help strengthen the joints. Plug weld the sleeve in one piece of tubing then slip the other piece over leaving about a 1/16" gap then weld the seam.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #8 01-27-2012, 03:40 PM

sweet. Everything sounds great besides lining up the elbows. I am really trying to avoid just cutting 45's on the straight tubing because let's face it, that's obviously not as pretty as having mandrel bent tubing around the corners. I have found some 304 stainless 90 degree elbows in matching diamter but for $14 each that seems hefty. The way I am thinking I should need maybe 6-8 elbows total at the max.

**Yamaha** · #9 01-27-2012, 03:48 PM

Dave knows more, but for some reason I'm thinking stainless will not work with mild steel.......

**eurobeaner** · #10 01-27-2012, 04:51 PM

Hehehehehehhehe. Dave said penetration.

**91silvia** · #11 01-27-2012, 05:45 PM

You can weld stainless to DOM, but chances are it won't look too pretty. I've laid down some pretty awesome welds like that but it takes a careful hand and some practice. Now whether it's a good idea in the long run, idk.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #12 01-27-2012, 06:00 PM

as far as looking pretty I already planned on grinding down all of the welds to make them pretty much flush not to mention everything will be coated with a super dooper thick coat of rhino lining so seamless smooth welds and corrosion should neither be an issue. I just didn't want to buy all of this mild steel tubing and then stainless elbows and then find out my wire feed mig welds wouldn't even hold at all to one of the surfaces.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #13 01-27-2012, 08:01 PM

alrite, after going back and forth all day, and not being 100% sure what material will weld to what I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some 304 stainless tubing and matched 304 stainless elbows. I'm worried that this won't be quite strong enough to withstand some hard rock hits but even if it does get dinged up quickly I'll live with it and possibly buy a complete set of tube fenders in the future. For now I'm just in the mood for a D.I.Y. project that may challenge me a little so $100.16 is a small price to pay for a fun little day's project of metal work and a challenge. I will be picking up my tubing next wednesday and likely getting started wednesday as well assuming it's not a blizzard or torrential downpour that day. Pics will be taken of the entire process if I force myself to remember to. If anybody has some experience with this type of work, has nothing to do and would like to lend a hand or shoot the shit feel free to join.

**mtownneon** · #14 01-28-2012, 01:56 AM

Have you welded stainless before?

**Sambo_Eddo** · #15 01-28-2012, 08:29 AM

yeah I've welded stainless. I have a pretty large stockpile of stainless tubing at the house but none of it was 1.5" diameter. I've used it for exhaust work and it didn't go to bad. Obviously with all of this project being on the upside of the vehicle I plan on prepping a WHOLE LOT more as well as doing some practice welding on the stainless to get all of my settings right.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #16 02-01-2012, 04:54 PM

It begins....

I ended up finding a place local that had everything I needed in schedule 40 mild steel, straight tube and 90 degree elbows! Steel House just north of downtown is THE SHIT! So I reversed my order of the stainless from another local place and went with the mild. I was like a kid in a candy store walking in there. I managed to pick up 21 feet of 1.25 pipe and 8 elbows all for about $80. The next nice Sunday we get I'll be whipping out the booger spitting machine and getting started.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #17 02-16-2012, 02:46 PM

Well I used the first half of yesterday (day off) without rain to see how this stuff was going to weld up and get my settings all dialed in on my welder. After a view little adjustments things started to lay out nicely. I finished the top bars that will come out from the grille, bend a 90 degrees and then travel all the way back to the cowl. It's a small start but I just wanted to get my shit dialed in and knock out the quick and easy part.
Beveled the edges of the elbows and pipe in an attempt to get a little better penetration.

40inch top tube attached to the elbow. (both left and right side)

Smoothed out the weld on both.

10inch front tube that runs to cowl attached to other end of elbow.

Smoothed and finished up top tube.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #18 02-20-2012, 10:06 AM

Well the weather wasn't too bad yesterday so I got probably about 99% of the work done on these. I tried to take pics as I went along. They turned out to be a HUUGE BITCH! I thought the hardest part would be getting the existing fenders off of the Jeep w/ old corroded bolts and shit breaking. That acutally turned out to be the easiest part.
Clearing out space to get the existing fenders off.

Took about 30-45 minutes to have both front fenders off.

Trimmed up the fenders to a little closer shape to the final product.

Laid out all of the tubing and clamped in place to start tacking.

Pretzeled the tubing back out of the fender skin and did the finalized welding on it.

And after quite a few little hiccups and readjusting of metal They were bolted back onto the Jeep.

All that is left to do is to trim the edges of the sheet metal to a neater finish and attach it to the tubing along the topside. And then of course I will be finishing it all in rhino lining.

**eurobeaner** · #19 02-22-2012, 10:34 AM

There's a guy at work with one of these and fenders like yours. His comes out a bit more and looks real good.

**Sambo_Eddo** · #20 02-22-2012, 04:26 PM

I've seen his parked back there in the lot. That jeep looks REAL sharp! Finalized pics to come shortly.

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